Casio PT-50 translated

Maff — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:51:49 +0000

Inspired by the Colour of Sound Weekend I dug out my old Casio PT-50 childhood keyboard with the idea of bringing my toy of the 80′s into the 10′s. I knew she would come in handy one day so was stored with my other nostalgic 80′s electronica. Despite a few dodgy slider contacts no doubt clogged from 3 decades of forgotten toy cupboard dust, with a new set of batteries and a good shake the PT-50 was ready to be wacked into the mac to see how she fared in a new digital age. And I must say, even just using Garageband for a bit of extra echo, reverb and fuzzbox it actually sounds half decent! And so, research pointed me to the idea of Circuit Bending where I found an example of that very keyboard…

Reed Ghazala – self styled multi media artist, hailed as the Father of Circuit-Bending, pioneered the transformation of the existing circuitry of basically any sound making toy or device. His other-worldly creations, controlled by transplanted switches, movement and sound itself saw a new kind of instrument genre. Musical artists such as Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel, Faust & Towa Tei wishing to push musical boundaries were quick to commission instruments for themselves.

The legacy continues… poor teletubby

matt:littlemore » circuit bent

Casio PT-50 translated