CIRCUIT-BENDING A VINTAGE CASIO AN ′80S SYNTHESIZER IS REBORN AS AN AVANT-GARDE INSTRUMENT

I'VE BEEN INCREASINGLY INTRIGUED BY ELECTRONIC music, sparked in large part by covering an exhibition of designer theremins for IEEE Spectrum in 2013, followed by watching documentaries such as 2014's I Dream of Wires, which traces the history of the modular synthesizer. One notable cohort in the modern electronic music scene are the circuit benders. These folks modify all sorts of audio-enabled equipment, including children's toys and digital keyboards, to produce sounds definitely not intended by the designers. So when I came across the Casio SK-5 keyboard I'd received for my 14th Christmas lurking in my parents' attic, I pounced. · Released in 1987, and aimed at younger players, the Casio SK-5 was never intended to be used by serious musicians. The keyboard had only 32 "minikeys" sized for smaller fingers, and it could play just four notes simultaneously. The SK-5 could mimic a number of instruments, but its killer feature was that you could create your own instrument sounds through sampling audio (at a whopping 8-bit resolution).