Squidfanny - Circuit Bent AMSTRAD CKX100 (may 2010)

YouTube via squidfanny — May 12, 2010 — "Lush sounding Wavetable/Glitch synth from the 1980's. Now modified well beyond it's factory specifications.............
I love this machine, but there's a whole pile of them in my workshop patiently awaiting some tender 'bending, so this one's going up for sale on ebay in a day or two.....

+36 Glitch mods (with instant reset button) housed on rotary switches, toggles and push buttons to make to best use of the limited space.
+Precision oscillator with 2 x LFO's, Sweep knob, Fine tune knob and Photo-cell.
+An array of flashing LED lights, and LED's next to each switch so that you can see what you're doing in the dark.

The Amstrad CKX100 is a great vintage machine with loads of character and a unique sound. It has chord managment features like an Omnichord, Grainy digital drums, simple sequencer and loads of rhythms, accompanyment, auto harmony, Strange midi output, tape save and 10 electronic instruments which obviously sound nothing like their acoustic counterparts."

Update: via this auction.: "First part of demo is Glitched Drums with a little bit of instrument.
3:54 Shows Pitch Modulation, LFO's and Light Sensor played with the GLITCHED Chord.
5:14 is a quick run through of some of the GLITCH arpeggios and other strange effects played with Chord and Instruments.
6:57 Shows the Auto Accompanyment being GLITCHED/Downgraded to bare digital Noise.
8:03 Shows how to completely destroy an Abba song.......
(It's possible to record your own sequence into the CKX100 and destroy it in a similar manner)"

"AMSTRAD CKX100 is a sweet sounding digital machine with a warm and pleasing LO-FI sound.
10 electronic instruments with Vibrato and Sustain, Grainy and Rough digital Drums, Lush Chord with OMNICHORD style features, Rhythms with Accompanyment, Auto Harmony, Single Finger Chord, 8 high quality corruptable demo's and a simple 'Play and Record' Sequencer with Tape Save facility and a strange MIDI OUT.

36 Glitch modifications and a bunch of new circuitry expand this classic wavetable synth into a Bitchin', Pitchin', Glitching Digital Mega-Beast.

A total of 53 Modifications (yes I did say 53!) have been made to the original machine, including a new Precision oscillator circuit for ultra-stable pitch modulation. New Punk LFO circuit, Light Sensor (Opitcal Theramin) and 11 Flashing LED Lights.

Internal Speakers have been removed and replaced with 16 new Knobs, Toggles and Rotary Switches to access the full array of brand new weird and wonderful sounds...
New controls are mounted on nice shiney green PCB (Circuit Board), and gleefully adorned with rusty metal, round washers and shiney pieces of engineered steel for cool Industrial Glitch/Manga look......

* 4 GLITCH Buttons and a toggle switch drive Granular Drum synthesis (similar to those Aphex Twin sounds heard in modern electronic music)on the drums and all kinds of mangling and destruction when used on the chord or instruments. Use the toggle switch to LOCK the Granular effect in place leaving hands free.

* 2 x 6 way Rotary Switches contain 12 Increasingly dramatic GLITCHES which allow a Range of complex Glitch Arpeggios, Textures, distortion, Flanging, Echos, Noise and Extra Oscillation. Each Rotary Switch has a Toggle next to it to allow the Glitch to be turned instantly ON or OFF. The Glitches can be combined for increasingly complex sounds.

* Another Silver Rotary Switch and a 2 way toggle switch contain 18 Ring Mod Glitches which provide tonal filtering when used with the instruments and Ring Mod effects when used with the drums.

* Instant Reset Button allows the user to completely Glitch & destroy the sound and then instantly return it to it's normal Non-Glitched state by pressing the button. This can be done LIVE as it doesn't Crash the machine or Stop the music (mutes the sound only for the duration of the button press).

* Punk LFO's are selected using a 2 way toggle switch and modulated using the soft touch knob next to it. The Toggle switch has 2 Flashing LED lights below it to indicate which LFO destination is active.

* Fine tune knob

* Big Pitch sweep Knob, which is also used to set the low pitch for the light sensor.

* Light Sensor (Photo Theramin) is used to modulate the pitch of the machine with light and shadow. It also modulates the machine's Tempo, which is handy for DJ effects.

* Light sensor Switch, used to activate the Photo theramin, and has an Orange LED light to indicate ON or OFF position.

* An array of very nice WHITE and BLUE Flashing LED lights which dance along with the sound.

* Most of the switches have LED lights next to them.

This AMSTRAD CKX100 is Very Reliable and totaly stable. It doesn't ever crash or Lock up and the addition of an Instant Reset Button means that the machine never needs to be re-booted or powered off.
Although some of the machine's Glitching is chaotic, it is also very predictable, and as such is easy to work with making this machine a powerful live performace instrument."