08/22/2026
The TELE-PLASTIK
It's the first circuit bent noise unit that I built years back. I wanted to start with something simple to manipulate, so I bought this battery operated toy phone, which was made with various monophonic low-resolution customized tones that run through the circuit board for each button. I took it apart and added a circuit break button (red button on the lower right side) that cuts the audio from the device out and in when pushed and released. I also added a pitch bend control (black k**b on the back) that can drastically alter the pitch of the audio up or down, which creates completely different tones than what was made for the device at standard pitch. I also disconnected the internal speaker and installed a 1/8" audio output jack on the base of the phone, which was the largest size jack I could fit into the space allotted in the internal housing, but I have a 1/8" to 1/4" converter adapter that plugs into it. It's simple and limited, but I've sampled a few sounds from it that were used on visual media jobs, so I've gotten some use of it. Since this one, I've built a couple more circuit bent noise units out of other devices, which offer a little more audio manipulation. Perhaps, I can shoot a Youtube video of them, the audio would give a much better understanding of what they do.
