Music Thing: The Cracklebox
posted March 25th 2005 3:55PM
It's a handmade, battery powered, vintage analog synth that fits in your pocket and costs just €50 ($64). The Cracklebox was designed in the late '60s by Michel Waisvisz, a Dutch artist who grow up playing with his father's shortware radios. He'd touch their circuit boards to make weird noises. Inevitably, he became the kind of experimental musician who talks about "fueling culture into cosmic dimensions." The cracklebox is essentially a half-working oscillator where the conductivity of your fingers completes the circuit to make whooping, bleeping, semi-random noises. The STEIM foundation sold 4,000 Crackleboxes in the mid seventies. Inspired by the original Cracklebox becoming a collectors item, and lots of interest from glitch musicians and laptop techno people, they produced another 1,000 in 2004, which are still available today.
And what you wanna do with this?
funny you'd ask that because i think that about 95% of the time, while you guys are drooling because 'it has...'. if it had Bluetooth, would you be more excited? maybe we could network a few of them....hmmm.
this is just as relevant as anything and maybe more so because 'you' don't think it is. it makes noises...and that one lights up!
where's the significance....oh but i forgot i need to camera phone in case i don't wanna forget?!?! insanity!
(wonder if it reads UMD's?)
I want on. It's looks like fun, but not 50 Euros fun. I guess I'd have to build one.
Reminds me of Rolf Harris' Stylophone!