Introduction and Newb question.

[stusvend]

Hi there folks. First off, nice to find a forum for my newest obsession. I find that these kinds of places are worth more than any amount of technical books, manuals and FAQs. Already have found some useful info and I appreciate it.

Well let's see, I'm no stranger to electronic music, recording, composing, playing yadda yadda yadda. I am completely new though when it comes to circuit bending. I'm very ambitiously starting a new album project and I really wanted some fresh sounds. This led to the discovery of bending. Usually, I go for very clean sounds (ie accoustic guitars over smooth pads with clear sine waves and hip-hop breaks.. that kind of thing) but I want this album to be fresh for my listeners. I want some "dirt" in there and I want people to be like, "what is that?" I think circuit bent sounds will add a nice fresh texture to my stuff.

So the question.. I've got a few casio's and toy drum pads on the way from eGay that I plan on getting serious with, but my first successful bends (I trashed the first couple toys) have come from a VTech talking animal sound desk thingy. Mostly just glitch, distortion and some random looping but that's all I really want it for. I plan on using body contacts for some of the bends but I've run into a problem.

I've got one glitch that just goes mad when I ALMOST touch the body contact, but when I actually touch it, the sound interrupts. Like my finger will be a millimeter away and the glitch is just brilliant but as soon as I touch it, it goes quiet. Would I be correct in assuming that a resistor inline with the body contact bend would help me here? Do you suggest a resistor or a trim pot. If so, what values? Are trim pots more difficult for a newbie like me?

Thanks so much to anyone who has time to help me out here. See you guys around.

[stusvend]

Really? Nobody?

[Lorenzo]

hi!

I think circuit bending is try and try... so you have to try ;D

Try with resistors... 1k, 10k, 100k... try some potenciometer... 10k, 100k, 1M, 5M... maybe it will work!

Yours is a quite common "problem"
and maybe you would find other connections that work better
if add a pot is not the solution...

ciao ciao

[electri-fire]

While often touchcontacts work like a resistor, this one seems to behave like a capacitor. An interesting option might be to attach your contact to a large metal plate or foil, it may be more responsive to approach (larger range) and maybe would be fun to use of this as a feature.

[Lorenzo]

[stusvend]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll try all of those options and see if that improves things. I'll report back what I find so this maybe will help someone else. THanks again.