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Synths & Noise Boxes

Instruments rather than effects - things with their own voice that do not need a guitar in front of them. Built from scratch, not bent.

Garden Variety - a square tin lid printed all over with blue, purple and white pansies, with six brass knobs, six brass toggle switches, a jack socket and a small indicator lamp set into it, and OUT, ON and VOL hand-lettered beside them

Garden Variety - CD4093 Drone Synth in a Floral Tin

A CD4093 quad NAND drone synth on my own stripboard layout, in a tin covered in pansies, with far more bends on it than it has any business having. Six knobs and six toggles: one toggle is power, one knob is volume, and the rest only mean anything in combination. Its own amp and speaker plus a line out, 9V battery. One of a kind.

$165

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A red Texas Instruments Speak and Spell held up in one hand, its green display lit and its keypad untouched

Speak n Synth

A drone synth living inside a Speak & Spell, sharing its speaker. Nothing was bent to get it there, so the toy still spells, on its own AA batteries. Six knobs and three toggles through the back, a power starve on the synth, a 12V rechargeable pack with a charge port, and a line out carrying the toy and the synth together. Made to order on a donor toy, so no two look the same.

$225

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A square tea tin painted with birds and flowers inside a mottled blue border, with two black knobs, two toggle switches, the photocell eyes and a touch probe on a black lead set into the lid

Duet Deluxe

Two 555 theremins in a tea tin, wired together by nothing but light. One sets the tempo, the other makes the tone, and your hands play both through two eyes in the lid. Its own amp, mixer and speaker inside, and a touch bend on a flying lead. One of a kind.

$150

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A round toy monster covered in shaggy red, orange and yellow fur with a hard plastic scowling face and dark photocells set into its eyes

Screaming Creep

A 555 optical theremin living inside a gutted Grumblies rage-monster, with photocells for pupils. Light is the instrument - shadow it, cup an eye, sweep a flashlight past it. Plays through its own speaker, no amp needed. One of a kind.

$150

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Kawasquawki - a dark blue Kawasaki toy keyboard with a carry handle and a big orange and yellow speaker grille, kawasquawki hand-lettered on the panel, with four added black knobs with blue pointers, a red record button, a black play button and three toggle switches

Kawasquawki - Oscillator and Recorder in a Toy Keyboard

A Kawasaki toy keyboard whose own circuit was beyond saving, with an NE556 Atari Punk Console built dead-bug inside it and an ISD1820 recorder beside it. Catch a few seconds of the oscillator and play it back at any speed, or run both at once and let them squeal over each other. Photocell pitch, 3.5 mm line out, and an RGB LED across the speaker. The keys still do not play. One of a kind.

$125

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