Glitch Modular development thread...

Shortly after the release of information and photos of my circuit bending work I got some pretty serious offers. When building the Sample Smasher prototype I learned from it and I thought of things I could of done different. One of those was to build a modular system based purely on circuit bending. So instead of taking the money and building them Sample Smashers I honestly told them I could do much better. After sharing my ideas I had gained a lot of interest. After lots of discussion they decided they much rather have the modular system. And I had one artist so excited he fronted the money despite no prototype being built. Since I am building this for the first time and its quite an undertaking I think I will post my development progress for fellow benders to follow.

Instead of opting for the usual normal module size I opted for 19 inch racks. The reason being was the availability of parts and the price. I wanted something someone could get into for a reasonable amount of money and wouldn't have problems finding the cases or rack extras they preferred.

The SK-1 module had to be small enough to take up only one 1U rack space. The logic of this was to make it where you don't even have to buy it for the purpose of building a modular but just to have a circuit bent SK-1 for your rack.

All the other modules I chose to take up 2U. 1.75 inches I felt was too narrow for the control options I wanted, and by switching to 2U everything would fit in cleanly but more importantly I could fit more controls in for cheaper. So far almost all the planned modules will give you 16 controls per a module. So say if you have a knob module you will get 16 patchable knobs. Or if you have a toggle module you will get 16 patchable toggle switches. More importantly the SK-1 module is not required. These will be compatible with any bent instrument.

Pricing I felt like had to compete with two things. It needed to sell better then other circuit bent gear and it definitely had to be cheaper then real analog modular modules. So if all possible a standard module will run about $30-$50. Despite the price I still did not cheap out on my parts. All the modules plates are made of steel and the same strong controls I used for the Sample Smasher.

I have about 10 modules planned including a glitch stick module for those who where wondering. This particular client modular should feature all of them making it the perfect device to document. I will spend the next few days on it hopefully to post another worthy update soon. I expect to hit a snag soon because I am low on parts and I will have to play the waiting game for them to be shipped to me. I hope to have this completed, tested, shipped, and in use within the next month.

The pictures below are of the new modular so far. The client wanted it where he could feel good about touring and porting it from studio to studio. We decided on a 10U by 6U flight case that opens and closes easily. The last picture shows a "test rack" for the SK-1. Basically I mount all my circuit boards to it and build the face plate. Once I get it all working I will have the rack enclosure custom built so its the perfect size. It also allows me to tear it in and out of the modular to work on it without much of a hassle.