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What Is Circuit Bending?
Circuit bending is the manipulation of existing electronic circuits to achieve unpredictable and exciting
results. The technique was pioneered by Reed Ghazala in the 1960s and has garnered a cult following in
the world of electronic music.
In practice, circuit bending usually involves finding two points on a circuit board which, when connected,
will cause the device to operate in a different manner than originally intended. For example, if you create
short circuits between the data lines of a digital instrument, the audio output will become jumbled.
Certain devices lend themselves especially well to circuit
bending and have accumulated a standard set of document-
ed bend points. These include the
course, the Texas Instruments
series.
Recommended Reading
3
Reed Ghazala
Cage, J., 1961.
Silence. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press.
Cascone, K. (2000).
The Aesthetics of Failure: “Post-Digital” Tendencies in Contemporary Computer Music.
Computer Music Journal, 24(4), 12–18.
Ghazala, Reed.
Circuit-Bending Build Your Own Alien Instruments. Whiley Publishing, 2005.
Russolo, L. (2009).
The Art of Noises: A Futurist Manifesto (1913). In L. Rainey, C. Poggi, & L. Wittman (Eds.),
Futurism: An Anthology (pp. 133–139). Yale University Press.