Circuit Bending and Toy Instruments
Many of my live performances feature toy instruments, both acoustic and electronic, as well as circuit-bent instruments and DIY synthesizers. You can hear examples of circuit bending and other toy instruments in the following recordings:
| Performance at Y2K4 Live Looping Festival, Santa Cruz, CA, October 9, 2004 Live performance including circuit bent keyboard toy, Cool Keys toy, and photo theramin. | ||
| Circuit-bending example of Vtech toy phone from CatSynth.com | 
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 Stage setup featuring toys and electronics at Galapagos in Brooklyn, New York, November 25, 2005 |
Fishy Jr. taking his bows after a photo-theremin solo at the Rio Next Door in Santa Cruz, CA
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For those who are not familiar with circuit bending, it basically the process of modifying the electronics in existing audio devices, usually simple analog circuits in musical toys. In the process, one can add new expressive controls to create a unique, albiet "lo fi", instrument. A great introduction on circuit bending can be found at Reed Ghazala's Art of Circuit Bending. Additionally the blog Get LoFi has a wealth of information and circuit bending projects and instruments.
You can read more about my experiences circuit bending a Vtech toy phone, including photos and audio examples.
I am also interested in experimenting with DIY synthesizers in the spirit of circuit bending. One such instrument, which I hope to acquire soon, is the "kittennettik fyrall"