How to Identify an Item for Circuit Bending

Video Transcript

AMANDA CLAIRE: Okay, so one question that a lot of beginning circuit benders ask is what can be bent? Like what kinds of things can and can't be modified? What things--kind of things can and can't be bent? That's really kind of a difficult question to answer because circuit benders never know what they're getting into when they begin to do something like a toy or little keyboard or something. But on the other hand, anything that has a circuit board and makes sound can be bent in some way or another. I mean just because--I mean what are you doing when you're circuit bending? You're basically short-circuiting the circuit board; you're connecting point that weren't connected before. So I guess the answer to what can be bent is on one hand anything can be bent but on the other hand, just because anything can be circuit bend doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to find interesting ways to bend that device. And I guess what I mean by that is every circuit board is different. I mean the circuit board that was in this toy from the manufacturer is totally different from the circuit board that was in this toy from the manufacturer, and so therefore those circuit boards have different structures, they have different possibilities. So you never really know what you're getting into when you crack them open. So if you're looking at a toy or a little keyboard, a little organ, and you're wondering, "Gee, I wonder if I can circuit bend that?" The answer is always yes but the most interesting question that you won't know until you try is, is it going to make cool sounds when I'm done circuit bending it and are they going to be sort of cool enough to be worth the effort from the end? Like I say, you never really know the answer to that until you get into it.

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