"Cryptwarbler is music from a circuit-bent Casio MT-240." Since the start, the project had two goals: 1."How far can I circuit-bend this synth?" and "Can I make music with it?"
It began in 2020 when my friend found a Casio MT-240 at a thrift store, and said we should try "circuit-bending". We poked at it randomly with metal tweezers, and it made all sorts of bizarre sounds which entralled me. This was the first version of the circuit-bent Casiobone:
In 2021, I started playing around with it more and writing down my findings in a book. This was really helpful in allowing me to figure out it's patterns of behavior, and taught me a lot about music.
But the reason it made weird sounds still remained a mystery. I had to learn more, so I spent a lot of time making a schematic for it, which taught me a lot about electronics. This led to making controllers that were more reliable and a bit more systematic.
In 2023, I started performing under the name "Cryptwarbler". I played a lot of shows from 2023-24.
By fall of 2024, the instrument was falling apart, and I wasn't making any music that I liked. I knew there was potential, but it needed an upgrade.
2025 was the year the "Cryptwarbler 2.0" came to life.