Announcing the winners of the 2007 Circuit-Bending Challenge!

Note: All the entries were excellent, and we have a little prize lined up for all of you, not just these top picks. *See below for details

It was very hard to choose three winners from all of the entries- the variety and quality of submissions was amazing. So, we tried to select those that most embodied the spirit of the contest- creativity, within a set time limit, and using only those materials that can be scraped together quickly.

And that didn’t narrow it down much. It was a tough call to be sure, and it makes me think that we’ll be seeing increased stiff competition next year. So, while these three will receive a special prize, we’ve got something lined up for everyone who participated.

Without further delay (ahem), here are the top 3 entries in no particular order:

George Lazenbleep’s Mini Furby:

El Colin’s Bent Guitar:

And Squelchbox’s “The 15 Puzzle”:

Since I forgot to do this at the beginning of the contest-
everyone who entered, please use the createdigitalmusic contact form and send us a message containing the following information:

• Your name
• Your display name
• The piece you submitted to the contest
• Your address and contact info (email is fine)

I will be in touch to make sure you receive your prizes in the mail.

Thanks again to everyone for participating, thanks to our generous prize-donating benefactors, and let’s do this again next year!

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Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Furby and Jesus, keyboards and guitars and laser gun blasters, pre-natal heart monitors, toys and instruments and strange unidentifiable electronics — in one day, all these things evolved from one thing into … something else. Babies and bigger adult people took to their shops, spent huge amounts of money (one dollar! two dollars!), and came up with remarkable designs. Some were beginners trying their first simple bends, some were serious builders, constructing really playable (if glitchable), convincing instruments. If you’ve never considered bending before, this could change/blow your mind. And for bending lovers, we have quite a range. Thanks to our friend Circuit Master at GetLoFi and Mike Una here on CDM, here come pages of results from the Circuit Bending Challenge I… -PK

(See also GetLoFi’s round-up, especially if you like all your videos on one page.)

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It’s on! The Circuit-bending challenge is officially underway!

A quick review of the guidelines:

1. Bicycle, walk, or swim to your nearest secondhand store.

2. Locate and purchase a cheap electronic noisemaking device.

3. Take it home and bend that thang!

4. Document the process and end result, then upload it to the internet in some fashion- Youtube, Flickr, etc, all with the tag “circuitchallenge.” (and createdigitalmusic, of course). Still images, audio, and video are all fair game. Bonus points for all 3.

5. Add a comment to this post with links to your entry. I will add them to the post itself as they are received.

You have until midnight on Sunday. Go!*

(* or whenever you like, because we don’t know what time zone you’re in … see comments for further disclaimers.)

An auto-updating slideshow of all flickr’d entries can be seen at getlofi.com, thanks to the esteemed Circuit Master.

Here are the entries, in order received: