Neal Beard and his Machines

Merry Christmas

2012-01-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas fellow lo-fi-synth-freaks...

Here Comes Santa Claus by Neal Beard & his Machines

Automated Mould

2011-12-21T08:47:00.000-08:00

This track didn't really fit in with the forthcoming Drone/Noise EP, so here it is...

(If you're interested it was made with a matrix mixer, some guitar pedals, a piezo sound driver sending sound through a high hat, a circuit bent speak and maths, some home made filters and feedback loops. The speak and maths was the only sound input.)

Drone Noise Soundscapes

2011-12-02T03:15:00.000-08:00

Recently Neal Beard and his Machines have experimenting with drone/noise sounds-capes largely inspired by the early tapes of the brilliant band Emeralds.

Here are a couple of experiments created using free running A100 oscs being modulated FM by random LSDJ sequences and guitar. The first example is more melodic, the second more fractured and noisy.

Experiment 1.47

Example 3.67

The ideas explored in these sessions are gradually evolving into two new EP's of improvised compositions which should be available for download soon...

Bleepotron

2011-07-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Another machine joins the merry throng.

The Bleepotron is a MIDI synth kit that uses a dsPIC digital signal processor. It's a very easy build and has a great lo-fi sound. It's even possible to edit patches and save on it!

A screen would have been helpful as it's easy to get lost in the menus when you try editing sounds... but hey it is cheap.

I housed mine in an old vid box.

I ran through all it's presets sounds here.

(sorry about the crap loop)

More info about it below...

Bleep-o-tron has the following features:

• monophonic

• 2 x oscillators (timbres)

• 8 x phase-modulation waveforms + combinations (36 in total)

• white noise

• 6 x ADSR (attack-decay-sustain-release) envelopes

• 6 x LFO’s (low-frequency oscillators)

• 6 x LFO waveforms (sine, square, triangle, rising sawtooth, falling sawtooth, noise)

• detuned second oscillator by octaves, semitones or cents

• connects to standard MIDI keyboard (velocity sensitive)

• keyboard transpose (up to +/– 2 octaves)

• keyboard split

• play notes using PS/2 PC keyboard

• pitch bend and modulation using PS/2 PC mouse

• ring modulator

• oscillator synch

• flanger (swept comb filter)

• portamento (constant rate and constant time)

• selectable MIDI channel #1 to #16

• 16 x preset patches

• 8 x user patches (non-volatile)

• master volume control + gain x 2

SD2iec

2011-06-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

The SD2iec board is a quick and easy way to save and load Mssiah projects.

I bought mine and the accompanying the daughter board from nk electronics.

It's cheap, simple, and works great. Just make sure you change the default device in Mssiah from 8 to 11. (that foxed me for days!)

I am using a power adapter to run it, but I think it is possible to take 5v from the datasette port instead.

Also in retrospect I wish I'd used a small ribbon cable to connect the two boards, rather than placing them on top of one another, as this would have made it a less awkward shape to house, but I was desperate to get it working as soon as possible...

Noise 567 sic box

2011-06-10T08:05:00.000-07:00

Another machine joins the merry cacophony.

This has to be one of the simplest schematics ever - but don't let it's simplicity fool you, it's an extremely effective noise maker! I tried adding a power starve but it didn't do much, so I changed it to a pot to work in parallel with the LDR.

Here's a film of one in action from getlofi.com

Samples to follow...

Old Casio Casio SA5 Tape

2011-06-06T04:48:00.001-07:00

I came across an old tape of a 60 minutes Casio Sa5 based improvisation - all recorded live in mono.

I can't imagine anyone else would want to listen to it in it's entirety, but I've posted it up as I found some of it's ideas interesting, and I thought I might like to revisit them later at some stage.

60 Minutes Casio Sa5 Improv

Noisy Power Pill (experiment)

2011-05-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

LSDJ + 2 channels of circuit bent distortion = Noisy Power Pill (experiment)

Noisy Power Pill (experiment)

MSSIAH Mods

2011-04-28T03:13:00.000-07:00

Mssiah has to be one of the coolest bits of software/hardware ever.

Rather than dive straight into modding my beloved C64 directly, I decided to make break out boxes for Analog Pots, Audio In/Out, Video Out and Feedback, to help fine tune designs.

Analog Pot box in progress

Finished Analog Pot Box

Analog Pot Box and Feedback, Audio In/out, Video Out box

For the feedback mod I used AlphA's amazing website

and for the external pot box I used InactiveX's schematics here...

New Neal Beard Music

2011-04-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

Two new Neal Beard tracks have just gone up on Soundcloud...

Failed BMSR with FM by Neal Beard & his Machines

The Devils Noise by Neal Beard & his Machines

Blast Fed Disaster

2011-04-20T03:04:00.001-07:00

Another new machine joins the merry band - a Blast Fed Disaster built from schematics by the excellent Squarewave Parade.

It's a very squirrely but fun synth. If you build one yourself I'd recommend putting the body contacts in as they are the most expressive way to play it. My enclosure is an old Sennheiser microphone box. The body contact plate was salvaged from a crappy electronic steel drum toy.

This new track called The Devils Noise uses it...

Here's what The Squarewave Parade says about it,

"here is an elaboration on Forrest M. Mims III's stepped tone generator, which has also been refered to as an "Atari Punk Console". my version has a little more potential for sound creation, from quantized synth notes to harsh variable digital static. a total of 7 knobs, a hand full of switches and two control voltage ( marked CV ) inputs."

Fridge Squidge (parts 1+2)

2011-02-11T02:56:00.000-08:00

More new music from Neal Beard and his Machines.

Two new tracks Fridge Squidge (parts 1+2) have just gone up on Soundcloud.

Fridge Squidge (part one version 5) by Neal Beard & his Machines

Fridge Squidge (after one week version 5) by Neal Beard & his Machines

Made using various oscillators, some circuit bent stuff, a korg Er1, a c64 running Mssiah and a guitar. Vocals by Victoria.

New Music Created

2010-11-30T07:54:00.000-08:00

Neal Beard and his Machines made some weird noises in a basement last night...

Fridge Squidge (after one week version 5) by Neal Beard & his Machines

Made using various oscillators, a Korg Er1 and a C64 running MSSIAH.

Matrix Mixer 3x3

2010-07-20T03:34:00.000-07:00

Another device joins the merry throng - a homemade 3x3 matrix mixer built using schematics from Nicholas Collins excellent book Handmade Electronic Instruments.

Tracks 2,4,5,6 use a circuit bent Casio Sa5, WSG, and an EHX memory man feeding back.

Track 3 uses an EHX Small Stone and an EHX Memory Man feeding back with no inputs.

Repetitive Textures

2010-06-10T04:14:00.000-07:00

Last night Neal Beard and his Machines experimented with repetitive textures and machines running at different tempos...

Instruments used

Circuit Bent Casio SA5

Circuit Bent Belcat 503

Various Filters

Homemade Oscillator

Modded Cry Baby

Homemade Sequencer

LFO controlling Atari Punk Console

Circuit Bent/Modded SK 322b

555 Vactrol Box

Circuit Bent Belcat 503

2010-05-31T06:46:00.000-07:00

Another machine joins the merry throng.

The Belcat 503 is a cheap delay pedal which (I think) uses a PT2399 chip. (The printing on the chip inside mine was hard to read)

I didn't study schematics for the chip but instead used the Reed Ghazala prod it and see approach...

There are probably more bends to be found but I was happy with these - three of the bends cause endless oscillation to distortion. The other causes glitchy noise bursts.

There's an 18 minute improvised recording using it here.

INSTRUMENTS USED

Circuit bent quid bleepy keyboard

Circuit Bent Belcat 503

Resonant Lowpass Filter + Holy Grail Reverb Pedal (these were set at the start of the recording and not changed so all the sound manipulation is done with the 503)

Towards the end of the recording I introduced a homemade oscillator and my circuit bend/hacked crappy SK 322b.

Basement Noise Track

2010-04-27T04:40:00.000-07:00

Last night Neal Beard and his Machines made a lot of noise in a basement using circuit bent keyboards and homemade oscillators.

You can hear a 5 minute excerpt here...

LSDJ MC2

2010-04-08T05:45:00.000-07:00

Neal Beard's first foray into the world of chiptunes! Having had a color gameboy hanging around since the late nineties, I decided to put it to use...

I bought a pre-flashed LSDJ cart from the excellent DJ Transformer website/shop, and because all my machines are MIDI integrated their DIY LSDJMC2 kit .

I also Pro-sound modded the gameboy for better sound.

A first track called 'The Gameboy Bajan Bee Song' here.

Drums are from a circuit bent DD10, additional keyboard from a Casio VL1.

A link to LSDJ's wiki site here and all the LSDJ manuals here.

And a link to firesARTer's MC2 schematics here.

Credit Card 'Scratcher'

2010-03-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Another cool device joins the mechanised throng, a homemade credit card 'scratcher' based upon an idea from Nicholas Collins' excellent book Handmade Electronic Instruments. The credit card reader was bought cheaply through ebay and I added a pre-amp circuit using a CD4049 chip to up the volume a bit.

Sound samples to follow...

New Tracks by Neal Beard and his Machines

2010-02-02T06:13:00.000-08:00

Two new tracks by Neal Beard and his Machines have been included on an anniversary compilation of circuit bent, chip tunes and experimental electronica by Audio Sodomy Records. The compilation is called Happy Birthday Audio Sodomy and is available for free download here. Their site is full of lots more circuit bent, chip tune and experimental electronic audio - and is well worth checking out...

NB EP 5

2009-09-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ep 5 is finished and available

for free download here !

Neal Beard and his Machines EP 5

01 Apple loop 9 1:13

02 Heard it before harp MT 3 2:40

03 Piezo 3 2:19

04 Is it meant to sound like T? 2:51

05 OSC wah 7 1:44

06 Messy beat 3 2:50

07 CATS THATS 3 0:35

08 THE SNAKE 3 1:46

Recorded July 2009.

ABOUT THIS EP

All the music was made using home made and circuit bent instruments and recorded by a human called Neal Beard with help from a human called Erica Lavender. Neal Beard and his machines hope you enjoy listening to their musical creations.

http://www.nealbeard.saftandboneless.co.uk/

http://www.nealbeardahm.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/nealbeard

INSTRUMENTS USED TO MAKE THIS EP

Circuit Bent Casio SA 5

Circuit Bent Casio SK-1

Circuit Bent Yamaha DD-10

Circuit bent vTech Apple Toy

Circuit bent Casio MT540

Casio VL1 with added Highly Liquid MIDI and Pitch Bend

Circuit Bent Roland TR505

Paia Ring Mod Kit

Paia Fatman

Home Made 6 x Oscillator

Circuit Bent Voice Changer Megaphone

Home Made 2 x Gated Oscillator

Circuit Bent Speak and Maths

Homemade distortion box

Another Homemade Oscillator

A Weird Sound Generator (MUSIC FROM OUTER SPACE)

African thumb piano with homemade piezo mike

KORG ER1 not circuit bent!

MIXING AND SOUND

Electro Harmonix Small Stone, Memory Man and Holy Grail guitar pedals

Frostwave Resonator

Various homemade switching devices

Soundlab Micromixer

Marshall Amp

INSPIRATIONS

'Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments' by Reed Ghazala

'Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking' by Nicolas Collins (both the oscillators were based on schematics from this excellent book)

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/

http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/

http://www.casperelectronics.com/

http://www.paia.com

Eye'm Watching You

2009-07-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

Neal Beard and his Machines track TIMESNEWRIPOFFDANTHI has been included on a new compilation of experimental electronica released by Audio Sodomy Records. The compilation is called Eye'm Watching You and is available for free download here. Their site is chock full of lots more circuit bent, chip tune and experimental electronic audio - check it out!

Casio VL1 gets MIDI added

2009-06-02T12:51:00.001-07:00

I've finally finished adding MIDI to my VL 1 using a retrofit from Highly Liquid.

There's not much room in the VL 1 so the kit has to be housed in a break out box. I decided to use a DB25 to connect the two, that way I can unplug the MIDI box and still fit the VL1 into it's leatherette case.

I also have the future option of adding 1/4 inch jack out to the midi box, and perhaps a pitch bend pot and body contact.

The MIDI box has Led's for pwr and activity and I added an on/off switch.

NB EP 4

2009-05-29T08:10:00.001-07:00

EP 4 is finished and is available for free download here

(The best yet!)

Neal Beard and his Machines EP 4

01 Fun Ramp Version 2 1:55

02 sampleloop v9 1:42

03 TIMESNEWRIPOFFDANDTHI 1:56

04 sample box version 2 0:34

05 MT 540 ERICA v2 3:24

06 It ends with a noize v3 3:40

Recorded May 2009.

ABOUT THIS EP

All the music was made on home made and circuit bent instruments and recorded by a human called Neal Beard with help from a human called Erica Lavender. Neal Beard and his machines hope you enjoy listening to their musical creations.

http://www.nealbeard.saftandboneless.co.uk/

http://www.nealbeardahm.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/nealbeard

INSTRUMENTS USED TO MAKE THIS EP

Circuit Bent Casio SA 5

Circuit Bent Casio SK-1

Circuit Bent Yamaha DD-10

Circuit bent vTech Apple Toy

Circuit bent Casio MT540

Casio VL1 with added Highly Liquid MIDI and Pitch Bend

Circuit Bent Roland TR505

Paia Ring Mod Kit

Home Made 6 x Oscillator

Circuit Bent Voice Changer Megaphone

Home Made 2 x Gated Oscillator

Circuit Bent Speak and Maths

Homemade distortion box

Another Homemade Oscillator

A Weird Sound Generator (MUSIC FROM OUTER SPACE)

MIXING AND SOUND

Electro Harmonix Small Stone, Memory Man and Holy Grail guitar pedals

Frostwave Resonator

Various homemade switching devices

Soundlab Micromixer

Marshall Amp

INSPIRATIONS

'Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments' by Reed Ghazala

'Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking' by Nicolas Collins (both the oscillators were based on schematics from this excellent book)

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/

http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/

http://www.casperelectronics.com/

http://www.paia.com

NB EP 3

2009-05-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

Another Neal Beard EP has just been finished for free download here

Neal Beard and his Machines EP 3

01 Erica song v1 1:28

02 GIVE IT ALL UP 3:57

03 Output 1-2 Distortion +sk1 (live improv) 5:14

Recorded January 2009.

ABOUT THIS EP

All the music was improvised on home made and circuit bent instruments and recorded by a human called Neal Beard with help from a human called Erica Lavender. Neal Beard and his machines hope you enjoy listening to their musical creations.

http://www.nealbeard.saftandboneless.co.uk/

http://www.nealbeardahm.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/nealbeard

INSTRUMENTS USED TO MAKE THIS EP

Circuit Bent Casio SA 5

Circuit Bent Casio SK-1

Circuit Bent Yamaha DD-10

Home Made 6 x Oscillator

Circuit Bent Voice Changer Megaphone

Home Made 2 x Gated Oscillator

Circuit Bent Speak and Maths

Homemade distortion box

Another Homemade Oscillator

A Weird Sound Generator (MUSIC FROM OUTER SPACE)

MIXING AND SOUND

Electro Harmonix Small Stone, Memory Man and Holy Grail guitar pedals

Frostwave Resonator

Various homemade switching devices

Soundlab Micromixer

Marshall Amp

INSPIRATIONS

'Circuit-Bending: Build Your Own Alien Instruments' by Reed Ghazala

'Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking' by Nicolas Collins (both the oscillators were based on schematics from this excellent book)

http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/

http://www.circuitbenders.co.uk/

http://www.casperelectronics.com/

http://www.paia.com

More Machines

2009-05-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

A circuit bent voice changer megaphone and a new and improved sample box based around a lo-fi-lo-res voice recording kit.

Distortion Box Finished

2009-03-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

Neal Beards Home Made Distortion Box is finished...

It uses a cd 4049 and a cd4093 and is based upon schematics from Nicholas Collins' book Handmade Electronic Instruments. See photo for more details.

A basic experiment with a SA5 plugged through it here.

And a couple of tracks using it, a Casio Sa5, Casio Sk1, DD10, TR505 and home made oscs here and here.

Work in Progress - New band members joining soon

2009-02-11T02:27:00.000-08:00

A distortion box breadboarded, switches mounted just need to get soldering.

A voice changing mega phone - line out added, pitch and feedback to add.

And a PAIA Fatman that is going to take AGES to build but should be well worth it...

Ring Mod

2009-01-06T12:24:00.001-08:00

Another new addition to the band - a RING MODULATOR - built using schematics from Craig Anderton's excellent book Guitar Electronics for Musicians built as a kit from PAIA.

The only problem is I haven't got it working properly yet, probably because I didn't give it a bi-polar power supply (whatever that is!)

Fingers crossed closer scrutiny of the book, and a bipolar power source, should yield a fully working unit...

Bi-polar power added - still no joy - bugger....

An email to PAIA swiftly followed by a fulsome and comprehensive reply from their tech support quickly located and solved the problem so it now works!

In case anyone else is having problems with this circuit pin voltages for the IC's from Scott Lee at PAIA below...

IC1 5532 IC2 (565)

The IC pins are numbered as shown above as viewed from the component side of the board.
IC1
pin 1 0VDC
pin 2 0VDC
pin 3 0VDC
pin 4 -7VDC
pin 5 0VDC
pin 6 0VDC
pin 7 0VDC
pin 8 +7VDC

IC2
pin 1 -6VDC
pin 2 0 to +1VDC
pin 3 0 to +1VDC
pin 4/5 appx. +2VDC
pin 6/7 +3 to +6VDC
pin 8 -4 to +4VDC
pin 9 appx. 0VDC
pin 10 +6VDC
pins 11-14 n.c. open circuit

2nd Casio SK1 Joins the Band

2009-01-06T06:40:00.000-08:00

I've finally finished circuit bending a second circuit bent Casio. This time I used Reed Ghazala's Schematics as I was curious to see what effects they created, and how they differ from the bends I've used before. I also added MIDI using a highly liquid retrofit.

New Machines Join the Band

2008-12-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

Some new machines have joined the band...

A WSG from Ray Wilson's excellent Music From Outer Space.

And a Frostwave Resonator made by the fantastic Paul Perry.

I also re-jigged a BCK volume foot pedal so it can be used as a CV control for the Resonator and made a foot switch for the WSG.

Both machines feature quite a lot on NB EP 2 and FROTYSOSS.

FROTYSOSS 2

2008-11-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

More new music from Neal Beard and his Machines.

A 15 minute improvisation called FROTYSOSS 2.

Neal Beard and his machines hope you enjoy listening to their musical creations.

Ambient Melancholy

2008-11-19T06:34:00.000-08:00

Today Neal Beard and his Machines made a new recording.

It's called Ambient Melancholy.

It was made using:

Neal Beard.

A new WSG.

A homemade 6xOSC.

A homemade 2x gated OSC.

Another Homemade OSC.

and a circuit bent Casio SA5.

It's a 10 minute knob twiddling tonal frequency based sorta thing.