Theremin fiddle project?

You can get that with a pressure-sensitive strip, the position controls the pitch and the pressure controls the volume (you can do tap-tremolo)

Hum for the XY pad, is it discrete or quantized? If it works with a limited number of position-capture cells, it doesn't worth it for me (a tone and pitch control with the XY could be cool, and volume by pressure..)

There are lots of possibilities here and they all sound cool.

Cool.. Hum i'm just waiting for it, how much time did it get to arrive for you guys?

It took several weeks. I allmost gave up on them.

It's also kind of difficult to get them to understand what exactily you want, so be specific when ordering.

Mine came in just a few days but that was last year.

I am probably going to incorporate some of the things they sent me in some circuit-bent projects but I would still like to do the cello thing.

I'd like to do that too, but for now, the fiddle's probably a more realistic goal for me just now.

What kind of circuit bent projects are you workinging on?

Circuit Bend... i've got to try this, it's been a month that i'm earing of it anywhere on the web..

Ok for the delays, thanks

I have two toy keyboards that I am just going to poke around with in true anti-logic circuit-bending fashion.

I did a little kid's toy call "Apple Park" it has animal buttons that make animal sounds and an apple tree with apple buttons that do different kid songs.

It also has little keyboard keys along the bottom. There are a few glitch buttons that make different bell sounds in different pitches and patterens. I also have a pitch knob that slows it all down to a crawl.

I have a toy Yamaha keyboard that has a pot that varies the battery power by lowering the voltage. This slows it down and makes the sounds really low-fi. It has a couple og glitch switches that turn it into just noise when certain keys are pressed.

In addition to the Speak and Spell, I have an unmodified Speak and Read that I am going to modify according to some plans that I have found online. I have found several different board scans and pics of the thing with different mods so I will probably do a combination of two or more, picking my favorites from each.

The Speak and Read is what I will probably use the ribbon potentiometer I got as a sample.

I also have a Radio Shack digital recorder chip I want to make into a looping circuit and add it to either the Speak and Read or the Speak and Spell.

I don;t have the heart to crack open my beloved Casio SK-1 so I am looking for another one to molest.

If you are going to start with circuit-bending I would suggest you do it on something that you don;t cherish. I have been luck in that I have only fried one keyboard, a Casio PT-10 that I bought for a quarter at a flea market. I had found a few good points on the circuit board and was ready to start soldering when I touch something to the power supply and fried the whole thing.

When you find one at a thrift store or flea market the first step would be to open it up and start touching the various points on the PCB with your fingers (moist fingers work better). You will probably find a point that drops the pitch when you touch it. This is the clock and you can put a body contact control on it.

After that, just start connecting random points and see what happens. Stay away form the power and the LCD if there is one and you stand less of a chance of frying it.

One note....Only do this with battery operated devices. If it plugs into a wall (even with a transformer) you should not mess around unless you know exactly what you are connecting and why.

What is fun on a low voltage toy can turn into a funeral if you try it on something that uses 110 or 220 volts AC.

It only takes less than a tenth of an amp to stop the heart, at the right voltages. It's amps that git you.

I remember touching the sound circuit of a toy space ship that had an engine sound that would increase in pitch when the ship was pointed up, and lower when the nose was pointed down. I got all kinds of strange, and cool sounds out of it, utill I touched the IC legs, and that was it for that toy.