About

Cryptwarbler is an experimental music / hardware-hacking project that asks: "How far can I circuit-bend a Casio MT-240," and "What kind of music can I make with it?" Since 2019, the New England based project involves live performance, recorded music, film scoring, DIY electronics, circuit-bending workshops, and delving deep into an idiosynthcratic art.

What kind of music can a circuit-bent Casio make?

Surprisingly, a variety! "Glitch-sounds" typical of circuit-bending are just the instrument's natural timbre- it's what you make of it that defines the genre. Cryptwarbler's sounds span ambient electronica to harsh noise, breakbeat to classical- all in the same track. They've performed live at over 150 shows, including opening for Jan Jelinek in 2025. Listen to their discography here, or catch them live at a show.

How far can you circuit-bend a Casio synth?

Pretty far, though some would call it hardware hacking at this point. The Cryptwarbler uses a all-homemade modular design - each part of the synth designed to exploit a specific part of the MT-240 circuitry. Cryptwarbler's unusual sound palette comes from extensive hacks to the ROM chip, as well as using an Arduino to sync two synths to the same keyboard. They've also reverse-engineered a full circuit schematic of the MT-240.

An idiosynthcratic art

The adage "limitations breed creativity" manifests in Cryptwarbler's music from two different angles. The ROM-bent synth can be patched in many different combinations, each with a unique sound but inherent performance limitations. For example, a ROM-patch may produce a tingling texture- but also invariably alter the tuning of particular notes. The challenge and fun of the Cryptwarbler is learning to harness these glitches into sounds with character and direction. But not all glitches are deterministic- "strange logic" adds a layer of aleatory which the circuit-bent synthist must embrace. Improvising is often a necessary mode when playing the instrument, and piloting is also navigating. Cryptwarbler's music straddles these two modes, patching sounds, transforming textures, negotiating with an instrument on the edge of chance.

Film Scoring & Circuit-Bending Workshops

Cryptwarbler has done a few film scorings, most notably, "Untitled Dirt Palace Film" (Exyl, 2025) winner of the Momo Distribution Grant.

They also do a recurring circuit-bending workshop series at the Firehouse Worcester, and do tutoring and consulting for artist-engineers involved with DIY electronic music.

Circuit-bending Workshops

Crypwarbler also runs a recurring circuit-bending workshop series at the Firehouse Worcester, and does tutoring and consulting for artist-engineers interested in DIY electronics and music.