Mega Circuit Bent Toy Piano

When it comes to circuitbending, it's easy enough to source reliable bends, and mostly possible to get them soldered in - but often putting everything together in the case comfortably results in hot glue, broken plastic, and often blood covering the outer casing. Here is one of the finest looking circuit bent kids toys I've ever seen, with not only minor modifications but lots of additional circuitry to expand it's capabilities. 

The project is covered in 8 parts, for those who want to see how it was all made. Fascinating! 

Part 1 https://www.noystoise.com/2026/03/fishers-project-pt1.html

The Fisher Price 3810 Piano was a common toy during the early 90's. They were well made, and are still available in good condition on ebay, and sometimes can be found at thrift stores. The keyboard measures around 23 inches long, 8 inches wide, and about 2 inches thick. There are 32 keys that are slightly larger than standard mini-keys of the era. Despite the sturdy build quality and uniquely 90's design, the sound quality and functionality of the toy is curiously limited...

 

On the right hand side of the keys are located the volume control wheel, and five push-buttons to turn the 'Power' on/off, play the 'Demo' songs('Saints Go Marching' & 'Around the Mountain'), 'Record' a melody(40 notes), 'Correct' notes in record mode, and a 'Playback' button to play the recorded melody one step at a time. 

There is only one sound available. It is an 8-bit sampled piano that is actually two very different samples split at C#4 and D4. The piano voice is heavily filtered to alleviate the presence of aliasing noise from low-cost components and circuitry. The low quality sound gives the keyboard a dark and endearing tone that sparks the imagination–despite its flaws–and sets itself apart from other hardware-heavy toy instruments of the time like Casio's, Yamaha's, Vtech's, and even GPX's to name a few. 

More from NOYSTOISE on Youtube. 

• VC-01 Voicecrafter: Vocal Synth & Sequencer 09-Oct-26
• Bubblegum: Free Pitch Editor 08-Oct-26
• DestroyFX Buffer Override 08-Oct-26
• Oxygene 50th Anniversary 07-Oct-26
• The Great Debate: Firmware Hacking 07-Oct-26