Spring Break
Circuit-benders generate music from cast-off devices
Ataris, Commodores, resurrected by programmer as an electronic backup band
By: Doug Bedell
Issue date: 5/27/04 Section: News
"The only problem with circuit-bending is that it's so hard to control," Slocum says. "It's so hard to make music that's not just noise."
Rather than let the modified machines dictate the musical output, Slocum controls his machines with detailed electronic programming. Only minor physical modifications are used.
The Epson printer head, for example, produces sounds by striking paper based on how Slocum manipulates a box of push buttons connected to the printer's font cartridge.
"It took me probably about three months to get it to do what I wanted," he says. "Now it's evolved into kind of an art installation piece."
The Epson was featured in last month's Bent 2004 circuit-benders show in New York City (thetanknyc.com/bent). Slocum has just been invited to Denmark to speak about his Epson instrument and its music.
Tree Wave is largely a labor of love for the Dallas couple. But some circuit-benders _ including Waterhed (billtmiller.com/circuitbending/waterhed) _ make their livings scrounging for cheap electronics on eBay, hacking them to produce new noises and selling their creations to musicians.
One pioneer, New York-based artist Reed Ghazala, has circuit-bent instruments on display at the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim and the Whitney permanent collections. He has also built experimental instruments for Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson's Pat Mastalotto, Faust and other artists.
Slocum says he doesn't anticipate fame. "But I tend to think this sort of thing ought to be growing more than it has," he says.
For now, he's moving on to his next mod project _ an automatic bank teller machine that he's ripping apart on his office floor.
___
(c) 2004, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Rather than let the modified machines dictate the musical output, Slocum controls his machines with detailed electronic programming. Only minor physical modifications are used.
The Epson printer head, for example, produces sounds by striking paper based on how Slocum manipulates a box of push buttons connected to the printer's font cartridge.
"It took me probably about three months to get it to do what I wanted," he says. "Now it's evolved into kind of an art installation piece."
The Epson was featured in last month's Bent 2004 circuit-benders show in New York City (thetanknyc.com/bent). Slocum has just been invited to Denmark to speak about his Epson instrument and its music.
Tree Wave is largely a labor of love for the Dallas couple. But some circuit-benders _ including Waterhed (billtmiller.com/circuitbending/waterhed) _ make their livings scrounging for cheap electronics on eBay, hacking them to produce new noises and selling their creations to musicians.
One pioneer, New York-based artist Reed Ghazala, has circuit-bent instruments on display at the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim and the Whitney permanent collections. He has also built experimental instruments for Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, King Crimson's Pat Mastalotto, Faust and other artists.
Slocum says he doesn't anticipate fame. "But I tend to think this sort of thing ought to be growing more than it has," he says.
For now, he's moving on to his next mod project _ an automatic bank teller machine that he's ripping apart on his office floor.
___
(c) 2004, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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