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/// Joan Rue - Designer // Illustrator // Circuit Bender

ABOUT GHOSTIX LABORS

I am a Circuit Bender and I use old machines from the trash, to give them a new life, with new unexpected possibilities! Most of the used components are recycled ones. All instruments will get fully serviced and an individual look, which represents their inner personality, to the outside world.

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/// “Circuit Bending Dreams” >>> Into Reality ///

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Nobody can say this accident was bad! I saw a video about Circuit Bending in 2009 and was bored, so I searched my room for a sound emitting device. All I had, was a smoke detector, which used to go off, in the middle of the night for no reason. So I opened it up and it reacted to the touch of my fingertips. I had no soldering iron and so, I did it without it and some junk from broken items. This one had the old style components and I went on and got my first circuit bent device in a cigar box. And it works until today. From this day on, I searched for broken devices and little toys, to modify them. And the story goes on ….

I use to collect plastic parts on my path, when I walk through the streets at night. Sometimes, somebody lost it, got rid of it, or it accidentally fell off. The best part of this behavior is not the fact, that it wouldn't remain in the nature, or in the streets. Round objects are a good start for example, because they'll fit together, very often. You can create real artifacts, out of these random objects, which are considered trash. But not in my viewpoint, as well as the little toy keyboards, which I use to modify. I don't talk about the new models, which are built very cheaply. The plastic housing is thin and they don't sound so well. The people from the eighties did a real good job, when they created the early Yamaha and Casio product line, of toy keyboards. But they aren't toy keyboards. The only fact, that they sound a little bit harsh and not so clean, doesn't make them obsolete and the reason for this is a missing filter section and that they were not created for the use in a studio. The lower sound resolution is also a reason for this problem. But we talk about problems and I like to solve them. Just take your old Casio or Yamaha toy keyboard and plug it into a filter, or any effect-section. The result is often a true surprise for many people, because most of them would think, that toy, which was made for children, can't have a great sound. And the fact, that they were made in this decade and had to withstand more stress, makes them really reliable and portable. What comes out of these little machines, is the same basic waveform, like from a great synthesizer model. And again, I have to note, that the resolution of the waveform is not the same. And especially this, is something, which is a part of their personality.

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