« Back to Store
Bent Brooks, front view - a decorated skull with a crystalline white finish, long black ringlet curls, and a draped iridescent purple-and-green cap, built to look like Brook the singing skeleton from One Piece.

Circuit-Bent Module · One-off

Bent Brooks

ISD1820 Lo-Fi Sampler Available · 1 of 1

Brook is my favorite Straw Hat. This is his laugh - “yo-ho-ho-ho-ho” - loaded onto an ISD1820 voice-recorder chip and stuffed inside a decorated skull with an iridescent cap. Hit the play button and Brook laughs; twist the pitch-bend knob and he goes from graveyard groan up to chipmunk squeal. Not a guitar pedal, a standalone noise thing: jack it into any amp and let a skeleton sing at your friends.

  • TypeLo-fi sampler module (one-off build)
  • HeartISD1820 voice-recorder IC
  • PreloadedBrook's singsong “yo-ho-ho” laugh (One Piece)
  • ControlsPlay button · pitch-bend knob (that's it)
  • OutputOnboard speaker - no amp needed
  • Power3× AA batteries
  • MemoryNon-volatile - the sample survives power-off
  • HousingDecorated skull - curls + iridescent cap
  • StatusAvailable - one of a kind
$75 Email to Buy

What it does

The ISD1820 is a dirt-cheap voice-recorder IC - the kind that lives in talking greeting cards. It records a few seconds of audio and plays it straight back, and because the memory is non-volatile, whatever you put on it stays put even after the batteries come out. On its own it's a toy. Bent to a purpose, it's a gloriously grimy little sampler.

Bent Brooks is loaded with the one sample he will ever need - Brook's signature singsong yo-ho-ho-ho-ho laugh - in a skull-shaped body to match: a sugar-crystal finish, a mane of black ringlets, and a draped, oil-slick purple-and-green cap. Hit the button and he cackles; ride the knob and that cackle sinks into a demonic groan or shoots up into a brittle little squeal. He is a one-trick instrument and the trick is the whole point.

Demo

Demo filmed by Onion Madder on the actual unit.

Controls & play

Play button
Sets Brook off - press to fire the preloaded laugh.
Pitch-bend knob
Sweeps the sampling / playback frequency: crank it one way for a deep, dragging, half-speed groan; the other way for a fast, brittle, high-pitched squeal. Everything in between is fair game.
Want the full story on how he was made - or to build your own? There's a build log over in Projects, plus my guide to the blue breakout board he's built on: Four Modes, One Chip: the ISD1820 Breakout » I also mirror the classic ISD1820 pitch mod (lift R4, drop in a pot) from Darren Shaw's guide: Modifying an ISD1820 into a Lo-Fi Sampler »

Brook is a character from One Piece (© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha / Toei Animation), referenced here in tribute only - this is an unofficial, one-off fan build, not affiliated with or endorsed by the rights holders. All circuit work, wiring, and finish by Onion Madder.