Circuit Bending a Video Mixer for Glitch Art

I've been spending a lot of time on video art over the past few months, and one of the main components used by many visual artists is the circuit bent video mixer. There are a bunch of cool devices out there made by some really talented and creative folks, but they are often fairly expensive as boutique products, so I decided to try my hand at it.

The first one I made didn't really work out (I blew it up), but I had better luck with this Vivanco VCR 3014. It has four added knobs, two switches, and even audio reactivity. In this video I walk through some of how I did it, including how I found the bend points and added the audio reactivity... then I demo the different effects. Hopefully this will inspire other folks! There are pictures of the PCB with a better view of the bend points in my Patreon.

Timestamps below:

0:00 Video Mixer Intro
1:58 The Vivanco Mixer
3:11 Circuit Bending
7:06 Mods Walkthrough
18:59 FX Demo with Music

and a whole pile of other stuff...

Get in touch for possible collabs/offers of large sums of money, etc: allmyfas at gmail

[SCWood]

These effects would go hard in a hostage tape

[DonkeyWerks]

To anyone who lived through the 1970's, this was what telly looked like anyway! Great work. Might fish out my soldering iron...

[cyberpunkav]

Got here from r/Videobending -- we only just started experimenting with bending, this is so helpful! Thank you for making this!

[LabRatWarfare]

This is one of my personal favorite projects from you! So cool how you documented all of this (including the blow up 😁) and had a lil build up on Patreon and Instagram too! The rats from LRW were really looking forward to this video and you really freaking came through man! 🙌 And yes, It is certainly hard to find these! lol I have the 3014 added to my search list to keep an eye out on! If you get any more of these to bend and sell... LRW wants to be first on the list!! 😎🤘🐀

[KentBuchla]

Love all your video stuff that you are sharing on Muff’s.

[allanroney]

Takes me back to the days when Ch4 first broadcasted.

[vifx]

My friend that was so nice. I’ve learned how to bent by my own and that was the worst way since I’ve burned many rare boards… anyway I would appreciate very much if you could share how to make your tester. It was so cool to see

[alllfonz]

Dude! I am new at this shit and I love it! Strictly CRTs Keep making these videos!

[Rik_bS]

Great vid, thanks for sharing your learning journey.
Another modwiggler here 👋

[Sgaxx]

Hi! great video, thanks a lot. Can you tell me the name of the "chewing gum" that is used for finding the bending points instead of the alligators? what is the material? Thanks again

[semyonboyk]

Love the aesthetics, but I'll never be brave enough to try and bend something like this myself lol

[nuancesdengrais]

would be possible to get the PCB for the bending point ?
I would be to scared to circuit bend with electricy running, how is not batterie.

[atschun]

Thanks for sharing this amazing insights! Which range of potentiometers you are using for the modifications?

[cade]

Awesome work here, i am about to jump into my first attempt at modifying a video mixer. Is there anywhere i can go for more info on how to identify the power and ground lines? I am new to working with circuit boards.

[wojmedia]

highly enjoyable content man <3 might be a reach but do you know any cheap or reliable places around glasgow that sell glitch art gear? like crts and general audiovisual stuff

[stix]

cant you just use a multimeter on the IC chips to find the the power so you know what pins to stay away from?

[jupitor]

I notice everything goes to old school tv’s.. I know it’s a stupid question but can this be run to a more modern wide flatscreen?

[Noname-yuqw]

I have a similar device, how do I know how to make a glitch machine? are there any tutorials ?

[circuitbent]

Hi! Which type of photosensitive resistor did you use for the audio reactive glitching? I tried a 5506, the lowest I could find, and the led still doesn’t get bright enough to resist low enough to show anything.

[alo]

Do you have any idea how to take levers (?) out? I have another Vivianco model (3044) and I can't take faceplate :(