Thats a tricky one to answer as most machines are good at different things but as a rough idea of what would be the best machines for certain sounds:
Coleco Talking Teacher - Organic glitching sounds Speak & Maths (earlier models) - Dirty noise loops & throbbing glitch loops Casio SK-1 - Random Sample grinding and alien washes of noise Yamaha VSS-30 or VSS-200 - Noisy circuitbent sample loops Roland TR-727 - Best circuitbent 'extra percussion' sounds Alesis HR-16 - Probably the best all round circuitbent drum machine but the Kawai R-50 comes a close second
There are loads of mods on the net for the 303 if you look around a bit. Something as simple as installing an external filter cutoff CV input can be done in about 5 minutes using a minijack socket and a piece of wire.
I agree though, modding something like a 303 can be scary
So far my best experiance is with a 80's tape deck/radio. But I broke one of the main rules if you want to call them that, I bent something that plugs into a wall. anyhow, I get rad sounds out of it like strange pulses, screeches, beeps, static. sadly its very limited. so I want to add some simple boards from childrens toys. I don't suggest playing with things that plugs into a wall unless you know what you are doing or you really don't mind a good shock or even a hospital.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2006, 04:45:45 AM by Dirt »
personally i love a good 150 volts or so up the arm, theres nothing i like better than lying on the floor twitching for a few minutes unable to speak but no, i wouldn't recommend it at all . When you open up a PC monitor and theres a big sticker saying WARNING 26,000 VOLTS! its time to start worrying