Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking (Paperback)

by Nicolas Collins (Author)
Key Phrases: clock resistor, jumping speaker, solid hookup wire, Schmitt Trigger, Radio Shack, David Tudor (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Here we have, at last, an electronics book that caters to people who have ideas first, and electronics second…Collins offers a splendidly integrative look into the history of sound art, basic electronics, and junk revisioning. --Make Magazine

Nicolas Collins wants to tear apart your CD player... --Wired Magazine

...a brilliant, hands-on guide to electronic music making....[Collins] never ceases to amaze me with his latest bit of music or techno-logical innovation. --TapeOp Magazine

Product Description
Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking provides a long-needed, practical, and engaging introduction for students of electronic music, installation and sound-art to the craft of making--as well as creatively cannibalizing--electronic circuits for artistic purposes. Designed for practioners and students of electronic art, it provides a guided tour through the world of electronics, encouraging artists to get to know the inner workings of basic electronic devices so they can creatively use them for their own ends.
Handmade Electronic Music introduces the basic of practical circuitry while along the way instructing the student in basic electronic principles, always from the practical point of view of an artist. It teaches a style of intuitive and sensual experimentation that has been lost in this day of prefabricated electronic musical instruments whose inner workings are not open to experimentation. It encourages artists to transcend their fear of electronic technology to launch themselves into the pleasure of working creatively with all kinds of analog circuitry.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; Pap/Com edition (March 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415975921
• ISBN-13: 978-0415975926
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #224,012 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rediscovers the simple facts of electronic music, January 7, 2007

By	calvinnme "Texan refugee" (Fredericksburg, Va) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Ever since products such as GarageBand took over the low-level tasks of producing electronic music and turned us all into application users, much has been forgotten about making music with low-level electronic components. In the case of younger electronic musicians, this may be an art form they never even knew in the first place. Although there is an advantage is computer musicians speaking a common language through a common application, something fascinating in the realm of experimentation has been largely lost. This book returns to the days of yesteryear with some projects in making your own electronic music with basic devices.

The book starts with some brief information on the tools you'll need plus the author's seven rules for experimentation. Part two is dedicated to listening. He shows you how to use radios and coils to find hidden electronic music, how to use the speaker as a microphone and vice versa, and how to use piezo disks to pick up tiny sounds, among other topics. Part three, on touching, shows you how to transform a portable radio into a synthesizer, change the clock circuit in toys to produce new sounds, and use photocells and pressure pads to "play" the modified toy. Part four, Building, shows the reader how to breadboard up some oscillators along with some controlling circuitry and produce gating, ducking, tremolo and panning effects. Part five, Looking, concerns translating video to audio using commonly found devices. The final section goes into depth on mixing circuits, how to build a good but cheap amplifier, connecting sensors to computers via game controllers, and a section on power supplies.

The book is written such that you should proceed from beginning to end, since the devices in earlier sections are used to assemble the devices in later chapters. By the time you finish you should have entire experimental musical instruments that you have assembled yourself.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Go Beyond Circuit Bending, October 13, 2006

By	R. O. Smith (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Circuit Benders - if you are ready for something different get of a copy of Collins' informative book. It covers a wide variety of approaches for creating unusual sounds (and sights) in a low tech, user friendly manner. For example, the chapter on making an oscillator uses photos of the breadboard as well as schematics. As someone who finds electronic diagrams intimidating, Collins' approach made construction a snap. It also helped me better understand how to read schematics. Creating visuals with LCDs and by altering video cameras further expand the realms of hacking. The included CD features work by artists and musicians using devices found in the book. What a great idea. Very inspiring. I wish the Ghazala book (which is also great)had a similar CD. Sources for parts, websites and additional information galore make this a must have item.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you can't crack it open, it doesn't really belong to you., August 14, 2008

By	R. K. Hobbs (Beltsville, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A great guide to taking apart old electronic noisemakers and turning them into something new. Also includes simple DIY electronic circuits with all the steps. The projects are compelling and workable. Give this to a young person and change their whole outlook on DIY.