What's already there

I have spoken already about the crackling Public Address system, neglected on a dark street corner in Shibuya, Tokyo. I must double-emphasize that this is the source of much of what I do, for it is "what is already there".

Circuit artists such as Jessica Rylan will research intensively how certain chips will work under all circumstances, including when they are driven hard or "out of normal operating range". The famous olde chip, 555, is great at sucking up a lot of current while it oscillates, and in many modes it has no protection against over current. One time, in Portland Oregon, I got a quad 555 to bust its cap on my face, shooting hot silicon/epoxy at my glasses. Thanks for being glassed, the danger-boy says.

Chips can be damaged by the heat of over-current, alchemizing them into retarded beasts that sound like dying ducks.

The crackle-box by Michel Waisvicz, exploits the LM709 chip, an olde opamp with extra "compensation pins", originally intended for "general purpose audio amplification". But when used OUTSIDE its intentions, it creates those famous dying duck sounds that are quite diagetic in many a noiser's sets. You should read the schematic and look at the actual arrangement of transistors within the chip, noting that it is more "primitive" than current opamps such as the TL084, TLV2474, or LM324.

Now, Momus has pointed out that the unconscious is on the surface in Japanese culture, nothing is hidden. Likewise, transistor amplifiers are allowed to decay on the street, or in subway stations, becoming subtle noise installations that emit crackling and sometimes even synthesized tones, for natives to absorb directly into their collective subconscious.

This is where i prefer to start from, what is "already there" in a chip. A long time ago, I said to myself, "making CDs is bogus, i never liked being slaved to these discs. I eat chips instead, digesting them and farting them, and this is my art." remember the OLESTRA oil-slick chips?