3rd ward — anyone wanna go to this with me?

Electronics Through Circuit Bending

Instructor Mike Rugnetta
Wednesday, January 23 + 30 (7p-10p)
Registration Deadline Jan 19

Material Fee $20 Due by Jan 19 (optional)
Member Price $Free
Non-Member Price $AlsoFree

This informal workshop will cover the basics of electronics (components, their functions, soldering and schematic reading) through the magic of hacking electronic children’s toys into mutant instruments. Circuit Bending, pioneeered by Reed Galzaga in the late sixties, is the practice of opening simple, low volage electronic devices – usually children’s toys which make sound – and purposefully short circuiting them to create controlled malfunctions. With a little electronics background and practice, it is easy to take your Frankentoy from fun experiment to Performance Ready Noise Monster. Add custom pots, buttons, patch matrices, or even continuous touch controllers for less cash than you spend daily on lunch.

All the while, you’ll learn what a capacitor does, what resistance really is, and some of the finer points of soldering (pun intended). If theres time, we’ll also touch on custom case mods. Participants are encouraged to bring their own toy to bend (theres plenty of info on the web regarding which devices work the best) or to arrive with a pre-bent toy to show off or to continue working on. If you’re too busy to get your own toy shopping done, just pay the small equipment fee and we’ll have one ready for you.