best gear mod, ever?

[cassettefetish]

What's the best gear mod you've done? Seen?

I took one of those little toy electric drumkits and unwired the internal speaker, then drilled a hole in it and added a 1/4" jack.

Not too interesting, I am sure y'all can top that.

-Nick

[Mangobob]

http://www.stucki.com/krhen/downloads/aurora/

[dstroud]

So? do I get instantly banned if I say "Duck tape on drums?"

-Dan

[leigh]

So? do I get instantly banned if I say "Duck tape on drums?"

You use Duck tape? That's so inhumane. Have you seen the factory farms where they raise those poor ducks?

Cassettefetish, I did the same mod to a kid's toy called the Saxaboom. It's a plastic sax-shaped thing where each key plays a different little lick, plus it's got one little beat that it plays in the background while you "solo".

I wired up a 1/4" out, parallel to the speaker. But even cooler, I found the input on the sound chip that sets the playback speed. There weren't very many inputs to the chip, so this was just by trial and error. The voltage on this input sets the clock speed for the samples. So I wired up a pot to it to be able to change playback pitch on the fly.

Leigh

[cassettefetish]

I once wanted to do a whole ep using these kinds of modded kids toys.

For some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time... oh yeah.. pot.

--Nick

[dstroud]

You use Duck tape? That's so inhumane. Have you seen the factory farms where they raise those poor ducks?

That's it Leigh? you and me. Outside.

Bring the tape.

Actually, there is "Duck Tape" branded duct tape? which I was obviously using. Yes, that's it. Not an embarrassing typographical error. See.

-Dan

[lsn110]

But even cooler, I found the input on the sound chip that sets the playback speed. There weren't very many inputs to the chip, so this was just by trial and error. The voltage on this input sets the clock speed for the samples. So I wired up a pot to it to be able to change playback pitch on the fly.

If you used a slider pot, you could play it like a trombone.

[Mr. Dipity]

I once wanted to do a whole ep using these kinds of modded kids toys.

For some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time... oh yeah.. pot.

--Nick

http://www.11345.com/band.php?artist_id=3849

[leigh]

That's it Leigh? you and me. Outside.

Go outside? And ruin my studio tan? No thank you!

Leigh

[dMiurge]

I once wanted to do a whole ep using these kinds of modded kids toys.

For some reason it seemed like a good idea at the time... oh yeah.. pot.

--Nick

Already been done. The Band is called "Self" and the album "gizmodgery". Pretty cool stuff. Nothing but toys.

[andrew embassy]

You use Duck tape? That's so inhumane. Have you seen the factory farms where they raise those poor ducks?

That's it Leigh… you and me. Outside.

Bring the tape.

Actually, there is "Duck Tape" branded duct tape… which I was obviously using. Yes, that's it. Not an embarrassing typographical error. See. :oops:

-Dan

Did you know that Duct Tape was originally developed in WWII to form a watertight seal around ammo canisters and it was actually called Duck tape to begin with? Crazy, huh? Most people start out thinking it's 'duck' tape, then find out it's actually 'duct' tape, and then find out it was originally called 'duck' tape!

Did I just turn into a complete geek or what?

[dstroud]

Did I just turn into a complete geek or what?

Yep.

-Dan

[Scodiddly]

I had one of those tiny Casio keyboards, which was sort of a synth. It also had a calculator, and if you keyed in certain values and stored them in the calc memory you could customize your sounds. A few basic waveforms, ADSR envelope, and tremolo were the parameters.

Anyway, it already had a little headphone jack, so I added guitar strap buttons. Then I started messing with the two trimpots I found inside... pitch change heaven.

If you stumble across a rack-mount flanger made by "Systech", you can remove a resistor inside to get a wet-only output. Use it with a mixer and you get a lot more control, a lot less noise.

[object88]

It also had a calculator, and if you keyed in certain values and stored them in the calc memory you could customize your sounds.

Are you saying... "by pressing on this special key, it plays a little melody"?

[Scodiddly]

It also had a calculator, and if you keyed in certain values and stored them in the calc memory you could customize your sounds.

Are you saying... "by pressing on this special key, it plays a little melody"?

No, you'd look up the little chart in the manual, and key in something like "5448832", which would mean something like "Flute (sound 5), Attack = 4, Decay = 4, Sustain = 8, ...", hit the "M+" button to store it in the calc memory. Then you'd push the switch from "Calculator" to "Music", and put the sound switch into the "Custom" (or whatever it was called) position.

Genius, sheer genius.