I've always loved gear that spoofs interfaces. My first job was with a company making add ons for old telephone exchanges that worked that way. The exchange thought it was just grabbing stuff from its ferrite core memory (very old tech) but it was being manipulated in real time by an alien being like those parasitic barnacles that make male crabs female so they nurture the baby barnacles.
I circuit bent my own casio keyboard and yeah it mostly does this when activated. As in mostly noise. But it can sound dirty as hell for when you need that sort of thing. Another great video, get better soon!
Paul at Circuitbenders is a total dude. He MIDI retrofitted my Roland TR-77, and can also retrofit pretty much any of the classic 70's drum machines from the likes of Ace Tone and Roland.
Cool to see Circuitbenders UK being reviewed. Another cool product they offer, which requires soldering, is the Audio 2 Trigger. So you can send like an audio rim shot or short percussive sound from your DAW or drum machine from a separate output and Audio 2 Trigger will convert it to a Eurorack gate. Useful for syncing a drum machine to eurorack.
My lifelong habit of bending audio gear circuits was finally cured when I fried something I couldn't afford to replace. For the tenth time. This looks relatively safe, so say we, "ROCK ON!!!"
Yessssss, that r8 was just itching to be circuit bent. I would also suggest having the SR-16 bent if you still own it. It does involve soldering the PCB but it's one of the coolest, easiest and most musical sounding bends of all time. There are some really cool sounding demos on RUclips, none of which are as noisy or harsh as the R8. (Provided, it has to be labeled as 16-bit and not 24-bit on the front panel. The 24 bit version is unbendable.)
Not to mention the Alesis HR-16 and HR-16B. These are particularly worthwhile because of their weird 8bit data turned into 16bit audio via bitshift trickery. If you "bend" those, it results in utter awesomeness and sounds very powerful. They're also electronically simple enough to make your own custom sound ROMs using a standard EPROM burner. There are tutorials online about how to recreate and use the bitshift pseudo-16bit trickery. Fun and worthwhile!
I know of a U-110s and U-220s that have been sitting dusty, unloved and unwanted in a 2nd hand gear shop near home. At budget friendly prices too. I've resisted so far but if I could my hands on this ... The possibilities. Thanx as always. B.
The 1st sounds you've made with this thing reminds me of my experiments with the Volca Beats and the WMD Geiger Counter. R.I.P. WMD - you'll be missed!
@@bengencarelle7881 A couple of weeks ago they said on their website they couldn't produce any longer due to chip shortage. But now this text has gone. So let's hope for the best. I'm still hoping to get a Geiger Counter Pro one day.
Circuit bending is a work of art and a great way to dip one's toes in building instruments and engineering for that matter. Look up "Look Mum No Computer" and you are in for such a treat!
Hey, I just did something super similar to a Yamaha RX8! Just put a video of it on my channel yesterday. Didn’t think to try bending the cartridge slot though
@@AudioPilz Thanks dude!! Big fan of your content by the way. Whenever im about to buy some piece of vtg gear, I always check to see if you have a video on it first
Awesome! I have been waiting a U110. This box looks like a great accessory for it. I hope you feel better soon. We will be here when you get back. And so will Korg. LOL
Brutal, on our speakers too. I question the remaining lifetime of my tweeters after this. Also I'd like to extend your warning about circuit bending (as an old Electronics Service tech and enthusiast): Please Do Your Research before attempting circuit bending. Just randomly opening a device and randomly trying to short various solder points in the electronics will most likely lead to destruction of your device as various (especially older) chips will potentially get exposed to overvoltage and parts will be shorted which can result in instantly damaged components. Here's a tip for the potential Circuit bender - please acquire a schematics for the device, check out the chips datasheets and specifications on what voltages it can handle, and have at least BASIC knowledge of electronics - this is not hard to learn, fortunately electronics is very simple to learn and you don't need a ton of math. Just learn a little Ohms laws basics, how capacitors, transistors, diodes and resistors work before you do it. It's well worth it for you all, youtube have plenty of beginner electronics tutorials. And to encourage you to learn: Remember... An electrolytic capacitor CAN EXPLODE and it's not fun to get Metal-Shards from a capacitor or Glass Pieces from a Diode in your eyes - stay safe - stay informed!
This is like the drum machine version of when your NES malfunctions because the connector is dirty and every character in Super Mario Bros was actually represented by a brick.
Ooh this is the thing I always thought about when researching circuit bending, I have a ton of stuff that I'd like to bend but don't have the heart to Frankenstein my gear, very cool!
I got the same sounds out of a zoom mrt-3b drum machine that I circuit bent. I only stopped circuit bending because I went through a string of bricking the f*** out of everything I bent. It really is a great and fun and easy Hobby
What a refreshing episode… the idea of using the Rom card to short circuits is genius… Love the the start and end clips with the korg M1 00 universal program … 👍☢️
Speedy recovery gear Sensei. This one tickled the funny bone that was my third synth (and first rack mount unit, the U220)! If only she was still in the collection...
I feel like I broke my wow a long time ago. Cheers to the return of Better - so get better soon so we can return to shoveling out the poop on the other end of this channel.
@@AudioPilz ever since the editing process of the waveRex sample import card didnt really work for me, the R8 has been sad and quiet. this is delirious and noisy.
I’m huge into industrial so with a mininova, Cycles elektron, microfreak, and a circuit bented portasound 270 (using the Roland arp from a sh-1 engine and with 3 eproms from an1x and this thing) i love the great risk and the high reward of working with circuit bending you get mr. Oizo, errorsmith and idm sounds out of it
wow circuit bending through the rom card slot is wild. i don't have any circuit bent audio gear but i have a ton of circuit bent video gear, like mixers and video enhancers. it would be so cool to just be able to plug something into the serial control port of an Edirol V8 to get the kind of effects that require a ton of intricate soldering and risk of breaking expensive rare gear. super cool also too bad this doesn't work with something like the JV-1080
Nice unit. If I could go back in time to a TR-505 that I got tired of, I would use some sort of piggyback method on the sample roms to clean my job up a bunch, and also use these proper patch bay sockets instead of the thick RCA ones I got from cheap thrift store equipment. It got a lot more useful and interesting the way it ended up, could still work with its defaults sounsd and act as a sequencer, just had far too much wiring inside to properly stay screwed together.
I've yet to hear a circuitbent version of an instrument that I've liked, this being no exception. The R-8 sounds great as is, and the circuit bending just sounds... Well, let's say "not for me." Thanks for the video though, it's always interesting to see and hear new ways of using old gear.
I circuit bent an old Akai S01 a few years back. Sample some vocals and drum loops/hits and it weirdly combines the two. Lots of glitchy madness but also some more musical results.
@@AudioPilz Your videos are one of the highlights of my week, regardless of whether or not I like the particular piece of gear. Your ability to come up with different ways of using all these different instruments, in a short amount of time, quite frankly boggles the mind. Keep up the good work :)
Had a couple of R8s over the years. Both wrecked, I had to import a key membrane from Japan to fix the first one, and the second was so bad I used it as spares for an R5.
@@AudioPilz as I remember, I had to dismantle the whole damned thing to get at the key membrane, layered circuit boards with stuck connectors. Worth it in the end, but I never "gelled" with the R8.
Be soooo careful with soldering them though, TI used oversized holes for the ICs so solder can drip through the board and melt the chips. Did that once. :c
@@gelatinous6915 - I've always found that the oversized holes make modding easier. Once I find a good mod with probes I can heat the pad/pin and slide another small wire right into the hole. Much more robust than tacking fine wires into pins like in my TR-707. But yeah, a few broken devices tend to be part of the learning curve.
Hi I was wondering if you would consider doing one of those Zoom RT drum machines? They are all over eBay and quite reasonably priced (cheap). The RT-123 seems to be the cheapest and most common, but the RT-323 has quite a few more features. Would be a good piece of gear to feature.
I'm not saying I'm going to buy a setup like this. But I'm certainly going to price and fret about whether I can or should. I've been doing a lot of non-input synthesis lately and it's a lot of work to try and get actual musical use out of the results. This seems a lot more practical.
Don't know what's going on? ruclips.net/video/mk2eXZxsn3s/видео.html
Full Tracks, Extended Jams, Sample Packs: www.patreon.com/audiopilz
Hope you're feeling better soon :)
Get well!
Get well soon, Florian! Although Better Gear is always much appreciated, a Friday without proper Bad Gear episode is only a fifth day of the week :(
Thank you!!! Trying to get back to the traditional schedule asap
@@AudioPilz
Stress is an underlying factor for balding.
Dont stress your recovery, just plan a BAD GEAR - health recovery special :)
This is so sick, incredibly industrial sounds straight out of a NIN record!
Yeah, probably the most hifi circuit bend I'm aware of
NIN used the R8 quite a bit allegedly
Yeah, It feels like something NIN would use.
Hope your feeling better mate, all the best.
Thank you!!!
Dude that makes it sounds SOOOOO sick this is so badass
Yeah, that thing is unique!!!
Get well soon dude, and thank you for another awesome episode!
Thanks for watching!
I've always loved gear that spoofs interfaces. My first job was with a company making add ons for old telephone exchanges that worked that way. The exchange thought it was just grabbing stuff from its ferrite core memory (very old tech) but it was being manipulated in real time by an alien being like those parasitic barnacles that make male crabs female so they nurture the baby barnacles.
Still a better love story than Twilight...
I circuit bent my own casio keyboard and yeah it mostly does this when activated. As in mostly noise. But it can sound dirty as hell for when you need that sort of thing. Another great video, get better soon!
Paul at Circuitbenders is a total dude. He MIDI retrofitted my Roland TR-77, and can also retrofit pretty much any of the classic 70's drum machines from the likes of Ace Tone and Roland.
Legend!
Great content! We need more better gear episodes, all of them are a joy!
Thank you!!!
Feel better soon!
Thank you!!!
Cool to see Circuitbenders UK being reviewed. Another cool product they offer, which requires soldering, is the Audio 2 Trigger. So you can send like an audio rim shot or short percussive sound from your DAW or drum machine from a separate output and Audio 2 Trigger will convert it to a Eurorack gate. Useful for syncing a drum machine to eurorack.
Their bends are the best!
My lifelong habit of bending audio gear circuits was finally cured when I fried something I couldn't afford to replace. For the tenth time. This looks relatively safe, so say we, "ROCK ON!!!"
It's almost too convenient - such a clean solution
Circuit bending is so much fun! I just did it to my Yamaha RX-17 and it's made it soooo much better :)
Nice!!! RXes are ideal for that
It adds an appreciable degree of kaputtness to the R-8! 👍😀
Agreed!
great video!! That box made the R8 sound amazing. you should release a sample pack of it
Thank you!!! Just uploaded a sample pack on Patreon (end of plug;)
Industrial heaven. Was not expecting to want this so much.
Yeah, I instantly knew I needed it;)
We're learning about this sort of thing in school right now! How timely!
Nice!!!
Yessssss, that r8 was just itching to be circuit bent. I would also suggest having the SR-16 bent if you still own it. It does involve soldering the PCB but it's one of the coolest, easiest and most musical sounding bends of all time. There are some really cool sounding demos on RUclips, none of which are as noisy or harsh as the R8. (Provided, it has to be labeled as 16-bit and not 24-bit on the front panel. The 24 bit version is unbendable.)
Yeah, heard about the unbendable 24 bit version
Not to mention the Alesis HR-16 and HR-16B. These are particularly worthwhile because of their weird 8bit data turned into 16bit audio via bitshift trickery. If you "bend" those, it results in utter awesomeness and sounds very powerful.
They're also electronically simple enough to make your own custom sound ROMs using a standard EPROM burner. There are tutorials online about how to recreate and use the bitshift pseudo-16bit trickery. Fun and worthwhile!
@@AudioPilz wouldn't be surprised if I was the one who mentioned it sometime before, I have the memory of a soggy piece of pickled fish.
Sounding loud, clear and relatively crackle free.
The circuit-gadget-thingymajig sounded pretty good too. 😁
That was recorded pre-illness but thanks;)
@@AudioPilz I guessed as much. Get well soon, bro.
Eureka you’ve done it again! Better gear is a great idea
It was about time! Thanks!
Jam 2 sounds like splatoon story mode music (in the best way possible)
😀Thanks!
Roland Patch box will be on my Christmas Wish list
I had to join a waiting list, maybe order it now;)
This mod is just beautiful, everything about it.
😀
Get better Florian, love from the States
Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️
I have one of their last modded MB33's! great stuff from circuitbenders
Nice!
Beautiful man! Thanks! For a second I thought I was going to have withdrawals from my favorite gear channel.
Thanks!!! Don't worry;)
I’ve been keeping an eye out for a cheap R8 for a while now just so I could get one of these. I’m glad you got one!
Funnily enough it seems like they're a bit cheaper than usual atm
Ooooh, yeah, I'm gonna have to get this. Will be keeping a close eye on that etsy page.
Just write them a message, there's usually a waiting list
I mean... wow! So, Roland can produce good sound, but it was hidden from us!
Lol, shots fired;)
I know of a U-110s and U-220s that have been sitting dusty, unloved and unwanted in a 2nd hand gear shop near home. At budget friendly prices too. I've resisted so far but if I could my hands on this ... The possibilities. Thanx as always. B.
Totally get the U220 - great strings!
glad to find your second channel:)
Very cool, sounds great! I was jamming with my circuit-bent HR-16 earlier today, by coincidence! I'll post a vid of the jam later :D
Nice! HR16 is a circuit bending classic!
I killed one of the channels on mine whilst probing about - any idea of a fix?
Excited to see this. Love all your content! This spin on bad/better is great. Dope info for the masses,
Thank you!!!
That mod box makes the sounds totally brutal!
Yeah, one of the most hi fi circuit bending sounds I've ever heard
AUDIOPILZ IS FINALLY RUNNING OUT OF BAD GEAR, REJOICE FRIENDS! REJOICE
Dream on;)
At the second glance this item is switching all the switches.
True that😂😂😂
Thats pretty awesome! And very cool that you don't have to permanently alter the hardware.
Yeah, love the concept!
Gotta love non-destructive circuit bends.
Yeah, really like the concept of this one!
dude this is the coolest shit ive ever seen
😀😀😀
Hope ye feel better dude 🖤
Thanks! Getting better by the hour!❤️❤️❤️
The 1st sounds you've made with this thing reminds me of my experiments with the Volca Beats and the WMD Geiger Counter.
R.I.P. WMD - you'll be missed!
Always wanted to have one of these!
what happened to WMD?
@@bengencarelle7881 A couple of weeks ago they said on their website they couldn't produce any longer due to chip shortage. But now this text has gone. So let's hope for the best. I'm still hoping to get a Geiger Counter Pro one day.
@@strelokknoize a lot of folks have gone under. Sucks.
Circuit bending is a work of art and a great way to dip one's toes in building instruments and engineering for that matter.
Look up "Look Mum No Computer" and you are in for such a treat!
LMNC is a bending master!
Hey, I just did something super similar to a Yamaha RX8! Just put a video of it on my channel yesterday. Didn’t think to try bending the cartridge slot though
Nice, just left a sub!
@@AudioPilz Thanks dude!! Big fan of your content by the way. Whenever im about to buy some piece of vtg gear, I always check to see if you have a video on it first
Another great vid. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!!!
I can tell you had a blast and couldn’t help to smile 👾
Yeah, that thing is super fun to use!
Awesome! I have been waiting a U110. This box looks like a great accessory for it.
I hope you feel better soon. We will be here when you get back. And so will Korg. LOL
Much recommended for the U110! Thanks!
Brutal, on our speakers too. I question the remaining lifetime of my tweeters after this. Also I'd like to extend your warning about circuit bending (as an old Electronics Service tech and enthusiast): Please Do Your Research before attempting circuit bending. Just randomly opening a device and randomly trying to short various solder points in the electronics will most likely lead to destruction of your device as various (especially older) chips will potentially get exposed to overvoltage and parts will be shorted which can result in instantly damaged components.
Here's a tip for the potential Circuit bender - please acquire a schematics for the device, check out the chips datasheets and specifications on what voltages it can handle, and have at least BASIC knowledge of electronics - this is not hard to learn, fortunately electronics is very simple to learn and you don't need a ton of math. Just learn a little Ohms laws basics, how capacitors, transistors, diodes and resistors work before you do it. It's well worth it for you all, youtube have plenty of beginner electronics tutorials. And to encourage you to learn: Remember... An electrolytic capacitor CAN EXPLODE and it's not fun to get Metal-Shards from a capacitor or Glass Pieces from a Diode in your eyes - stay safe - stay informed!
Get well soon!!!
Thank you!!!
It’s been too long a wait for a better gear episode, sad it only took you getting Ill to make it happen. ;)
I had originally planned to release it next week on Wednesday but it totally came in handy in this situation
get better soon!!
lg aus wien 😎
Danke dir!!!❤️
This is like the drum machine version of when your NES malfunctions because the connector is dirty and every character in Super Mario Bros was actually represented by a brick.
Aren't there actual NES circuit bends out there?
How rad is this? I just sold my R8, but seeing this use of the machine makes me happy.
😀😀😀
This is really cool and useful! I'm gonna have to look into this, and I hope more things like this can get developed!
Agreed! Circuitbenders always have awesome stuff on their webpage
@@AudioPilz they were one of the companies that got me into the subject in the first place
Omfg the circuit Alesis HRb is amazing....
Alesis stuff is ideal for that too
Had to go straight to the jams for this one. Soz Introduction and friends.
😥
Ooh this is the thing I always thought about when researching circuit bending, I have a ton of stuff that I'd like to bend but don't have the heart to Frankenstein my gear, very cool!
Yeah, the concept of this is just too nice!
good stuff, I've been looking at that CB box for a while 🙂
I really liked that one!
I got the same sounds out of a zoom mrt-3b drum machine that I circuit bent. I only stopped circuit bending because I went through a string of bricking the f*** out of everything I bent. It really is a great and fun and easy Hobby
The "I brick everything" phase is something every bender needs to go through obviously;)
yes! Phinelli, signature drumsound!
True that!
What a refreshing episode… the idea of using the Rom card to short circuits is genius…
Love the the start and end clips with the korg M1 00 universal program … 👍☢️
Thank you!!! Love that preset!
Oh cool.....I must have one!
Much recommended!
@@AudioPilz It's like very complex, gear-specific distortion pedal. I wonder if it would work with my D-50?
A lot of this reminds me of the music from the club scene in Robocop.
Needs more orchestra hit;)
That was awesome! God I need this :)
😀
Speedy recovery gear Sensei. This one tickled the funny bone that was my third synth (and first rack mount unit, the U220)! If only she was still in the collection...
Thank you!!!
As someone who listens almost exclusively to industrial, I like this one a lot.
Ideal for that genre!
Waw, i think my U-20 and U-220 are going to come back in my productions !!!
Yeah, I really want to try it with these two as well!
I feel like I broke my wow a long time ago.
Cheers to the return of Better - so get better soon so we can return to shoveling out the poop on the other end of this channel.
Thank you❤️❤️❤️
im crying i need this
I feel you
@@AudioPilz ever since the editing process of the waveRex sample import card didnt really work for me, the R8 has been sad and quiet. this is delirious and noisy.
Awesome stuff!
😀
Jam 1 slams! I had to switch from laptop speakers to bluetooth speakers to give it justice. Feel better.
Thank you!
Very cool! It is like a Skinny Puppy - VIVIsectVI - shake-and-bake DYI kit box.
True that!
Bravo, that's a good one.
Thank you!!!
Great card!! Great instruments!! TB-3!!😁👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼🔥🔥🔥🤟🤟🤟
❤️❤️❤️
Awesome Heal up my guy.
Thank you!!!
cool episode thanks :D
Thanks for watching!!!
I’m huge into industrial so with a mininova, Cycles elektron, microfreak, and a circuit bented portasound 270 (using the Roland arp from a sh-1 engine and with 3 eproms from an1x and this thing) i love the great risk and the high reward of working with circuit bending you get mr. Oizo, errorsmith and idm sounds out of it
Portasounds are great circuit bending victims!!!
That is really cool!
😀😀😀
wow circuit bending through the rom card slot is wild. i don't have any circuit bent audio gear but i have a ton of circuit bent video gear, like mixers and video enhancers. it would be so cool to just be able to plug something into the serial control port of an Edirol V8 to get the kind of effects that require a ton of intricate soldering and risk of breaking expensive rare gear. super cool
also too bad this doesn't work with something like the JV-1080
Yeah, the overall concept is just too cool! Totally worth getting an R-8m just for that
Now I see why you recommended this hahah. Breakout boxes are cool.
😀
Get well soon
Oh so THIS is how they made the Cruelty Squad Soundtrack!
You might be onto something here;)
This is seriously cool… would love this combo for sound design and feel like it’ll make a very good part improv live tekno rig
Agreed, great chaos machine in a more serious setup!
Yeah!!!! Bad..Now Better…Fantastic!
😀
Nice unit. If I could go back in time to a TR-505 that I got tired of, I would use some sort of piggyback method on the sample roms to clean my job up a bunch, and also use these proper patch bay sockets instead of the thick RCA ones I got from cheap thrift store equipment. It got a lot more useful and interesting the way it ended up, could still work with its defaults sounsd and act as a sequencer, just had far too much wiring inside to properly stay screwed together.
TR-505 hacks are legendary!
I've yet to hear a circuitbent version of an instrument that I've liked, this being no exception. The R-8 sounds great as is, and the circuit bending just sounds... Well, let's say "not for me."
Thanks for the video though, it's always interesting to see and hear new ways of using old gear.
I agree , it mostly sounds awful. Just plugging it into guitar pedals would sound better
I circuit bent an old Akai S01 a few years back. Sample some vocals and drum loops/hits and it weirdly combines the two. Lots of glitchy madness but also some more musical results.
Circuit bending is indeed an acquired taste. Thank you!!!
@@AudioPilz Your videos are one of the highlights of my week, regardless of whether or not I like the particular piece of gear. Your ability to come up with different ways of using all these different instruments, in a short amount of time, quite frankly boggles the mind. Keep up the good work :)
Had a couple of R8s over the years. Both wrecked, I had to import a key membrane from Japan to fix the first one, and the second was so bad I used it as spares for an R5.
Yeah, some of these have seen quite some use over the years
@@AudioPilz as I remember, I had to dismantle the whole damned thing to get at the key membrane, layered circuit boards with stuck connectors. Worth it in the end, but I never "gelled" with the R8.
This is "circuit bending" like a Game Shark is "beating the game."
But it sounds sweet!
True that!
Brilliant.
😀
I like how it looks like the R8 is wearing a crown 👑
True that, didn't see it that way!
Get well soon!
Thank you!!!
Circuit Bending is finally going mainstream! Time to break out all my Speak & Spells I've been hoarding!
You're talking about your pension fund?;)
Be soooo careful with soldering them though, TI used oversized holes for the ICs so solder can drip through the board and melt the chips. Did that once. :c
@@gelatinous6915 - I've always found that the oversized holes make modding easier. Once I find a good mod with probes I can heat the pad/pin and slide another small wire right into the hole. Much more robust than tacking fine wires into pins like in my TR-707. But yeah, a few broken devices tend to be part of the learning curve.
i likw it Audiopilz bad gear is awesome but a bit of better gear is a bonus
Thank you so much!!!
Hi Florian, get well soon!
Would you consider a video on the Roland SH-01A Boutique? Danke! 🙏
Danke!!! Great suggestion!
Hot damn that R-8 sounds good.
So brutal, love it!!!
I love that scene in T2
Just recently watched T2 in 70mm❤️❤️❤️
Hi I was wondering if you would consider doing one of those Zoom RT drum machines? They are all over eBay and quite reasonably priced (cheap). The RT-123 seems to be the cheapest and most common, but the RT-323 has quite a few more features. Would be a good piece of gear to feature.
Thanks for the suggestion! I'm still trying to find enough hate on one of these
@@AudioPilz Yeah the problem is that people actually like them! Still they are not the famous drum machines.
I'm not saying I'm going to buy a setup like this. But I'm certainly going to price and fret about whether I can or should. I've been doing a lot of non-input synthesis lately and it's a lot of work to try and get actual musical use out of the results. This seems a lot more practical.
I have one with a u220..had it about 2 years..pretty cool.
Nice!!!
Great video.
Thank you!!!
i just subscribed again even when i was subscribed to audiopilz hahahah
😀