This band arent japanese, but the japanese word for cute is ‘kawaii’ & the Modified Toy Orchestra are sickly cute, like candyfloss…
Nothing in that tune feels too modified, but check the little drum solo one of the guys does at 1’11″ in this video – fantastic!
Wahooo! I had a bit of luck at the VEIMA auction early this morning. The time difference between UK & NZ meant the auction began closing at NZ 3am so I had no choice but to put in a bunch of proxy bids & see what came through… The first two things I checked were what I was really after & success! I now own a Doepfer G3 + G6 case! Doesnt sound so exciting, but my Doepfer suitase is full & I have a few modules sitting here waiting for a case (and an AFG & Z3000 VCOs on their way) so that should solve that problem… I also picked up a few modules; a Doepfer noise source A118, an A148 dual sample & hold and an Analogue Systems RS310 BBD Reverb/Chorus… But the most interesting items I won in the auction is a small collection of circuit bent gadgets;
Apart from the two bent drum machines, theres a FreakenSpeak, a Babelbox, 2 toy keyboards, a photo theremin built into what looks like an alarm clock & then that crazy looking device on the left with the 7 note keyboard! I cant wait to load them all up with fresh batteries & see what chaotic sounds they produce!
I also picked up a cheap bent Radio Shack delay – love the auction description:”Circuit-bent by an unknown hand, a neat ‘electronic reverberation control’. Unpredictable but often interesting and meaty results, though does tend to self-oscillate annoyingly if no input signal present”
Expect some heinous demo samples once all these gadgets travel around the globe to their new home! Oh theres also an unbent Casio VL tone included, which I already have one of, but could be kind of fun to try some Steve Reich-like lofi beat phasing!
I have one of these (the original that is) stashed away, beside an MC202, an SH101 and a few other gems (i love my tiny yamaha cs01) that get roped into service whenever I am seriously in analogue music mode… & no doubt with the doepfer modular slowly taking shape they will find themselves being used more often… But this, THIS must surely be the ultimate TR606: the beast – click image for large version.
Apart from the inverted colour scheme, I’m not sure you could get much more modded, nor more slickly…. Way cool!
I have a couple of Casio SK1s, partly for nostalgia reasons & partly because I intend to bend the living daylights out of one of them as/when time allows – the other being handy for finding my way back… But this has to be the ultimate bent/modified SK1 (via GetLofi)
runner up/previous champion was this inspired version (love that mechnical sequencer!)
I was going to post an original ad for the Sk1 but its kinda lame (watch it here if you like) but this ad for the CZ101 is just too crazy! If you’ve been living in denial that the 80s ever actually happened, here is the irrefutable truth!
