circuitbenders.co.uk

I know we make a lot of sometimes hellishly noisy kit, but if you make "white power electronics" or similar laughably tragic right wing bullshit then please feel free to just fuck off and grow up. We really don't need or want your money.

It's blog post time! Some thoughts on the avalanche of shit. www.audiodamage.com/blogs/news/s...

"I just got a TR505 and when i set it to 110bpm on the screen, it actually runs at 108bpm so i have to sync it to my DAW" Welcome to the wonderful world of vintage hardware, and allow me to introduce you to a thing called 'tolerances'. You'll get used to it. PS: thats why clock sync exists. 😉

- "Can you send me free schematics for these mods?" - "Sure" *sends scans of absolutely incomprehensible scrawled diagrams and scribbled gibberish* - "This makes no sense..." - "...and thats exactly what you're paying us for. To try and make sense of our own baffling modding notes." 😉

This remix has a hell of a lot of circuitbenders modified Zoom 1201 FX on it. Its weird the way digital noise and glitching immediately startles your ears and grabs your attention I'm not sure if any of the people involved are on here apart from @woodfordhalse.bandcamp.com

Do people expect a eurorack power lead to be included when they buy a module? If i'm selling something 2nd hand i'll include one if theres one kicking around spare, but I think i view them like IEC mains kettle leads. Its nice if theres one there, but i certainly wouldn't get annoyed if there isn't.

Kudos to the guy who has wilfully rejected all the conveniences and demands of the modern world, who then emails to ask us to redesign our shop checkout so he can buy things without a mobile phone, online banking, paypal, or a debit/credit card. On some level you have to admire the audacity of it! 😉

We have kits to add a switchable operating system to an Alesis Microverb 1 or 2 to give it the reverb presets of both units in one. We also have component upgrade packs to turn a MVB1 into an MVB2, and a new modding guide to reclocking either unit. Look here: www.circuitbenders.co.uk/forsale/MVB/...

I always forget that IC manufacturers are happy to give you free samples of many parts. We needed a couple of dual matched transistor IC's to try something out. Found the SSM2212RZ, but they're £10+ each plus shipping from most places, or 4 for free with 2 day shipping from the Analog Devices site.😉

Obviously what the synth world really needs is every operating system reverse engineered and rewritten using AI by people with plenty of enthusiasm, but no quality control or UI skills. I look forward to a world where every bit of 2nd hand hardware is running its own custom bug riddled nightmare.

We're done with trying to ship to the EU. Even if we navigate the idiotic PPWR recycling rules that'd cost us £1000's, or the idiotic GPSR rules that'd cost us £1000's, or the fact that every separate item on the customs form will have a €5 fee as of 1st Nov, it'll just be something else next week.

Absolutely devastated to say we had to say goodbye to Assistant #1, AKA Wilson last night. Rest assured that next time the inkjet printer has the audacity to print something, we'll be staring it down on your behalf. RIP.

I see the Alesis SR16 is into its... *Checks notes*... 36th year of production! I do hope the 'vintage' ones from the 90s are mysteriously worth extra money, for some reason. Quadraverb, SR16, 3630, ADAT. Alesis really had a talent for massively selling units back in the day.

Well, will you look at that! An Alesis Microverb I converted to a Microverb II that runs the preset reverbs of both units, with an added reclocking knob. Theres something you don't see every day* *unless you work here...

eBay accounts that normally sell boating gear or chainsaws inexplicably selling a synth, and listing it as used, but fully working. Ask them if it's actually tested and they reply saying "oh we don't know how, we thought you could send it back if it isn't" Yeah, I'm not sure that's how it works. 🤔

See this? This is Trent Reznors Hate Echo. He said he didn't want the uber goth black text on black case one, because at his age he needed to be able to see what he was doing... Loser😉 Anyway, for some reason this probably means you need to buy this orange one circuitbenders.etsy.com/listing/1173...

I remember getting vinyl mastered at a studio in London around 1999, and the engineer saying that at that point there was literally one old guy in the country that knew how to service a vinyl cutting lathe and the industry was terrified as he was about to retire. Presumably they found someone else!

Day 2 of an inexplicably popular Facebook post, and predictably along come the muppets who don't know who you are and have no context for what you do, but still feel the need to explain basic audio and electronics concepts to you at great length like they're doing you a favour. Every Single Time.

One of the most baffling eBay AI descriptions I've ever seen. For a start it's for an Alesis Microverb II and literally every single claim is completely wrong, but a frequency range of 240v? Tabletop unit? 7 different sound settings? Does the colour contribute to the ease of connection? What?

Every Monday morning your circuitbenders team arrive at work and recite the company motto "there is no pound worth enough to tell an idiot that they're right"... and then its straight on to stupid noises and being disgusted with humanity. We're circuitbenders, so you don't have to be....

21 days from wondering if it was doable to a finished product! Switchable operating system on an Alesis Microverb 1/2 giving the 16 presets of both units in one. Here swapping between the reverse reverb of the MV1 and the small room of the MV2 in the same effect slot by switching the OS live.

There are very few technological advancements in the last few years that i've enjoyed more than hobbyists and small electronics makers taking the nightmare black art that is SCSI, and turning it into an easy plug in SD card and USB storage thing, just because they could. My 90s samplers thank you!😉

Due to inescapable mission creep, once again a simple task such as getting a cheap AES/EBU to SPDIF box has ballooned into hours of research on format converters and the purchase of a obsolete firewire MOTU interface to act as a standalone convert anything to anything else box. It was inevitable. 🤔

Never quite been able to work out why every single week we get 4 or 5 emails from people saying "i was just looking at these mods on your site, they look great, can you tell me how much they cost?" You were just looking at the page with the prices clearly shown! Where else are they going to be? 🤔

This is a drawing of my friends sadly deceased cat Colin watching an episode of Midsomer Murders, expertly executed on Microsoft Paint. We liked it so much we had 1000 stickers made, which seemed like a great idea at the time... 🤔