Circuit Bending at Moogfest 2014: Inside the Wild Mind of Dr. Blankenstein
It’s the dawn of Moogfest 2014, and scores of synth-heads are set to descend on Asheville, North Carolina.
Drew Blanke — “Dr. Blankenstein” — zinging his thing.
Many will be there to listen, and many will be there to make music with all the Moogs they can eat – an audacious outpouring sparked by the mind of Dr. Robert Moog.
(Now said like Rod Serling): Among those enthusiasts will be one Drew Blanke AKA Dr. Blankenstein, a man so heavily influenced by the machinations of Moog that it has shaped his entire existence. From a personal furor over knobs and sliders, he has delved even deeper into the purposely primitive art of circuit bending.
(OK, you can go back to your normal reading-to-yourself-voice) The founder of his own prolific NYC-based workshop of custom synths and designer effects, Blankenstein will be part of the “Music Makers” event at Moogfest, happening Thursday, April 24th.
Tweaking, hacking, and bending technology in new sonic directions will be the order of the day there, and Blankenstein will have plenty of company as he and his cohorts urge attendees on to make machines do things they were never intended to – in glorious fashion.
Blankenstein has a sharp focus coming in to his portion: the little instruments used by Kraftwerk to create their famed song “Pocket Calculator“. That’s where he’ll string together a series of eccentric devices that he, and subsequently everyone in the audience, can bend (just not break!) to their heart’s content.
What set the good doctor on this curious path – one that’s not only amused his mind, but become his profession? Read on for a highly inspiring interview with an MD of musical mischief:
Why are people interested in circuit bending and “lower-tech” approaches now, more than ever, with so many sophisticated sound-making options available?
That’s a great question, one I also find myself thinking about. I feel the answer is a perfect storm of sorts, let me explain. A combination of three social phenomena happening at the same time, and growing at an almost exponential rate.
The first being an overwhelming surplus of outdated and forgotten electronics. From powerful but outdated computers to old baby toys, we have been producing it all at low cost for some time now… and it’s starting to build up in heaps!
This makes for a low cost risk environment for experimentation on just about any electronic device you can think of. When it’s the only one you have, and you paid a lot for it… the thought of you popping the screws out of it, figuring out what makes it tick and going at it with a solder iron doesn’t even occur to someone.
Next we have an overdose of “smart” devices and “virtual hardware”.. stating the obvious.. laptops, tablets, virtual instruments (computer-based versions of previously-used-as-hardware musical equipment) Garageband and so.
For years music production nerds, and general musicians alike pined for the recording, sampling and sound productions toys of the big boys. Over the past 20 years, year by year we have gotten them… and year by year they have gotten cheaper. At what point does moving a computer mouse around, or rubbing your finger across a screen not feel like old fashioned creativity anymore?
Lastly we have INFORMATION, documentation, step by steps, organizations such as MAKE, and more documentation. Nine times out of ten if you are thinking about opening something up and starting a DIY project, a Google search will result in any number of different websites, videos, blogs etc of others who have done a lot of the work for you already.
Since nothing sucks more than spending a bunch of money on something, opening it up and breaking it… you can see how these three things would lend themselves to some serious DIY action.
How has Bob Moog been a particular inspiration to you in your work?
Elmo…Circuit Bent.
That’s kind of like asking a beaver what he thinks of wood — what CAN’T I say about Dr. Moog!
I can tell you that I remember the very first time I touched a Moog synthesizer, and that it had monstrous effect on what would be the rest of my life. The year was 1983, and I was six years old. My love for everything space, UFO and Sci-Fi had already been supercharged by movies such as E.T. and Star Wars, leaving an uncontrollable need to turn knobs, push buttons and make “things” light up… anything that would put me at the control of the spaceships I longed for on the silver screen.
Simultaneously, I was becoming more and more aware of music, how it was played and the different instruments its made on. Being both a fan of the Beatles and the current breakdance music scene (which of course included Kraftwerk) gave me a constantly improving good basis to make my judgments on.
It was also becoming increasingly clear to me that the sounds I enjoyed most from both genres of music seemed to be coming from keyboards, not keyboards as I had thought they all were (pianos and such). No, there were magical keyed machines that could make any kind of sound one could imagine, and with the push of a button it was an entirely new thing.
But the Casio keyboards I was coming across in my travels, at the guitar shop my brother took lessons from, toy stores etc… didn’t look like the keyboards I had seen on the newly launched MTV, nor did they sound like them. I think I had even talked my parents into buying me my first keyboard, it was a Casiotone VL-1 (very similar sound to the calculator used in Pocket Calculator) and soon after the Casio Sk-1 Sampling Keyboard. I was confused, where were all the knobs and sliders I had seen on TV?
This was foreshadowing to a larger esthetic and performance limiting issue that would plague keyboards for the next 15 years to come. Not coincidentally, both of those instruments would wind up becoming two of the most circuit bent and modified keyboards ever — I suppose I was not the only one wondering where all the knobs had disappeared to.
Finally, on a trip to Radio Shack, on a top shelf, in the far back of a store by the amplifiers and hi-fi systems and such… my eyes first met a Realistic (Moog) Concertmate MG-1 synthesizer. Now THIS was the keyboard from outer space I had pictured in my mind’s eye! I asked, no… begged the employee to plug it into one of the available amplifiers for me.
Knowing with all confidence by my age, and apparent lack of money I wouldn’t be purchasing this machine that day… but having sympathy for my young tech loving mind and eager hands, he begrudgingly plugged it all in for me. Leaving me to the machine he stepped back to do some other work, I was surprised to find it didn’t really make much of a sound at first. So I pushed, pulled and turned every single knob and slider on that thing almost at one time… and suddenly…BANG! A sound like I had imagined in a dream or had seen on a Saturday afternoon Sci-Fi film, on a machine that looked, and felt like I was operating a spaceship.
Although I would never own that Concertmate synthesizer, I knew I was sold… it was a meeting with a machine I would never forget, and a day that would change the course of the rest of my life. That was the day I first met Dr. Bob Moog.
That story sent serious shivers down our spine! Now flash forward, and tell us about what you’ve got planned for MoogFest: First off, what is the unique appeal – for you and others – in Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator”?
The good Dr’s. “Man Machine”, kreated for Kraftwerk.
Well the appeal for me, and what made the song a huge success originally might not be the exact same thing. In fact, that is partly what my talk at Moogfest is about. The song was, and continues to be a great success because, well… it’s a GREAT SONG.
But what my talk is about, is the bigger message hidden beneath. Without giving away all the surprises I will get into it a bit:
First we had vacuum tubes, we used them with excellent success for years and years, but nothing much changed, machines got more powerful and got equally larger as their power grew. Generators, computers, audio equipment…better and better…bigger and bigger.
In the early to middle 1950’s we met the Transistor, soon after in the early 70’s we have the Integrated Circuit, and this of course shrunk down our electronics, made portable wonders like the transistor radio, solid state amplifier and mini Moog synthesizer etc… possible. This was a fine improvement to their almost furniture predecessors, but they were still VERY expensive, generally LARGE, and out of the reach of most folks.
As the 1970’s would continue so would begin a progression of shrinking technology that we are still surfing the wave of to this very day. Some would use this moment to point out Moore’s law.
So that brings us back to “why pocket calculator”? Why now? What Kraftwerk was saying with the song wound up being more than, “Hey look, we are German, we are weird and cool”. It was more like…. “Look, we are making HUGE and powerful music, and it didn’t cost a lot of money! More importantly, look how small our instruments are! So small, we can finally step away from these massive machines and be free.”
Considering the band was touring with most of the gear from their Kling Klang studios at the time, this was an exciting new prospect for them, one which they would shrink down to the current setup they are using today (and at Moogfest).
What they were saying is… these small devices are here, they are affordable and they will free us ALL! For those reading this from their smartphones, while simultaneously checking on an eBay auction and tweeting at the same time… I would have to say there was much truth to this prediction.
I have three of the four instruments — the drum part will be supplemented with a modern drum machine — they wrote and performed the song with on hand for Moogfest, they have all been modified and or built from scratch by me. I plan to demo them, walk folks through the “Pocket Calculator” story as I see it and let them play with them all when we are done.
That’s a fascinating perspective. So can you tell us specifically what kind of setup you’ll have at the Music Makers performance/presentation?
The “Bee Gees Keyboard”, another level at Moogfest 2014.
I will have a Mattel “Bee-Gee’s Rhythm Machine” modified with my ILLUMIRINGER Audio Device modification kit. Next I will have a built-from-scratch Stylophone stylus keyboard, which also includes the ILLUMIRINGER effect. Lastly, a Casiotone Musical Calculator, very similar to the one used in making “Pocket Calculator”.
The idea behind the ILLUMIRINGER fits in nicely with my “small” but powerful theme for Moogfest, since the effect’s circuit board takes up about a square inch of space, and produces MONSTEROUS results, which include almost Theremin-like control. It’s kind of a gateway drug into the world of circuit bending and instrument modification, since it’s low-cost and can be added to any device that produces audio.
We have sold more than 400 of them to date, in more than 25 countries worldwide. I want people to see how low-cost common electronics, or even built-from-scratch devices can be turned into audio powerhouses just by adding a little bit of custom circuitry. Again, small but powerful.
I plan to put all them through a mixer, which will then be ran through a loop pedal… this will allow me to layer all the instruments together into a song.
I am excited to show it all off, I think people (especially Kraftwerk fans like me) will get a big kick out of seeing the old original instruments all together again, and to get to mess around with them themselves… ever better!
I figured, I love speaking about how the semiconductor changed the world forever — I can go on endlessly about it, Kraftwerk was one of the first, if not THE first, popular act to make point of it with “Pocket Calculator”, and I and others like me involved in circuitry are excited to continue it.. So why not pull it all together into one musical story for Moogfest?
A better chance to tell it there will NEVER be, this year’s Moogfest being probably the biggest and greatest collection of synthesizer geniuses and music acts ever assembled… which includes none other than Kraftwerk themselves. I simply couldn’t help myself!
OK, you’re getting us seriously excited! What have you found happens when you take your creations out of the lab and start working with them live, in front of an audience of fellow circuit-benders?
As for out of the lab, T.S.A. certainly gets excited when I come into town, that’s for sure! I usually just meet them with a smile and an open suitcase. Why beat around the bush? Best to meet the inevitable with a good attitude (laughs).
But seriously, I get the most incredible responses from folks when they get a chance to see, or better even, PLAY with one of my creations. The children love it the most, I think the kids of today have a natural connections to strange new electronic devices, it’s the norm to them… they get it.
Moms LOVE the baby toys! It’s as though an instantaneous need to get into circuit bending is born upon first seeing my devices. A powerful urge to break open that PILE of unused bleeping and buzzing toys they, their friends and family spent SO MUCH money on and had annoyed them ALL for years. To take control of them, make them useful again and turn them into devices they can now bother their kids with and be proud of — revenge is a dish best served LOUDLY — it’s a beautiful thing.
Other circuitry people, circuit benders and such are usually quick to share ideas, give suggestions, offer inspiring words when pushing through a hard build or complicated schematic problem. We are a competitive bunch, but in the end, us geeks stick together. Always have, always will.
A good time will definitely be had by all. Lastly, what’s the newest invention that you’re working on now in your NYC workshop? Give us a sneak preview of what to expect next!
Yes, Drew Blanke sees the sun sometimes!
We are always working on new and exciting things here in Blankenstein-land.
The rest of this year has some really amazing surprises in store. A lot of which are new versions of previous favorites such as the Atari Punk Console, Sonic Crusher (originally created and given to Squarepusher at Moogfest 2012) and the Rasta Dub Siren. There are also plans in the works to take the ILLUMIRINGER modification kit to the next level with larger production and possible national distribution.
One of the new inventions I am sure people are going to go nuts for, and that we can’t wait to show off is the “Boom-a-Ring – Electric Didgeridoo of the Future”. I can’t get into the nuts and bolts of it right now, since we have yet to officially unveil it, but I will say this: This thing is out of this world. Could very well be the biggest thing to happen to the instrument in the past 2000 years or so, maybe longer.
Now if we could only find a talented enough didgeridoo player to do the demo in Harlem, NYC. A seemingly more difficult task than inventing and building the thing. Where are my didgeridoo players out there? You know where to find me! In short, if you like strange audio devices.. keep your eye on the Dr Blankenstein Website, Twitter and YouTube… because we’ve got a pile of them coming at you!
— David Weiss
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