A light-controlled multi-oscillator instrument.
The Janky Fondler, also known as the "3x Oscillator," is a small handheld instrument built around a hex Schmitt-trigger IC on a scrap of perfboard, housed in a repurposed eyeglasses case — built in 2015. Three oscillator stages come off the one chip: two are pitch-controlled by photocells, played by covering and uncovering them with your hand, and the third by a potentiometer. Power comes from a single 9V battery, with an on/off switch and output jack built into the case.
Rather than a speaker, its output is routed to a transducer laid inside a grand piano, exciting the piano's own strings and soundboard, with a contact microphone picking up the resulting resonance for amplification. Students played it this way in rehearsal for The Frequent Listener at Hull University, 2017 — turning the piano itself into the instrument's real body, with the Fondler just as the spark.
- Built in 2015 — a hex Schmitt-trigger IC oscillator circuit, hand-built on perfboard, housed in a repurposed eyeglasses case
- Also known as the "3x Oscillator": three oscillators off one chip, two photocell-controlled (played by hand/shadow), one potentiometer-controlled
- 9V battery powered, with an on/off switch and output jack built into the case
- Played by feeding its output through a transducer inside a grand piano, picked up by a contact mic on the piano
- No output volume control
- Used in rehearsal and performance of The Frequent Listener, Hull University, 2017
