Evil Cube of Black Noise

The Evil Cube of Black Noise began its life as a lame-but-kinda-cool electronic Halloween candy bag (see image below.) that featured a big plastic skull face with a flashlight for a nose and spinny red LED disks for eyes (There was also a Pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern version that had the same electronix inside). When you press the button on the handle, a really horribly sampled "scary" voice says: "Happy Halloween!!" while laughing "maniacally", then the eyes begin to spin and it emits what the designers thought of as spooky-scary-creepy noises that kinda just sound like "whoop-whoop-whooppy-whoooopedy-whoomm."
Did I mention the incredibly low sample rate? This makes it lame and shrill for the average consumer, but great for bending, as low sample rates sound great when slowed down--you can hear each and every lo-bit sample in all its crunchy glory.
Yum!
This gadget features a lovely heavy silver knob that lowers the pitch to a very crunchy noisy level, an optical resistor (under the black plastic cone on the left) that pitches up and down (I use it with those tiny flashy-flashy LED thingees that you can get at County Fairs and the like. Each flashy color effectively becomes a different optical sequencer), a DPDT switch to choose optical or potentiometer control, and a 1/8" output.
The housing started its life as a clear plastic box which I painted black and silver layers utilizing stencils to get the neat geometric shapes on the sides and top, the top silver paint lightly painted so the red spinny flashy disks can be seen when the gadget is operating. There is also a powerswitch on the "back" side to completely cut power from the internal batteries.

This is a very fun gadget and the new sounds are great and much creepier than the original manufacturer ever intended.

I have a few more of the skull bag thingees and plan on making an edition of at least 3 of these. If you are interested in one (sale or trade), let me know, and that will motivate me to do them...

This is what the Evil Cube of Black Noise started life out as, pre-mangling...
Oooooo...Scary!!
Completed: December 2002
Dimensions: 31/4"x 4"x 4"
Current Status:

Owned and driven occasionally by me (univac)

AudioBits:

ECBNflangy.mp3 The Evil Cube of Black noise sounds great thru effects; so, these are the only gadget sounds in the Gadgets section that are presented with effects (via KAOSS pad), this one with flange.
ECBNlopass.mp3 With a loPass filter.
ECBNskweeky.mp3 With a slight delay.
ECBNslodown.mp3 This one is without effect. It shows how sloooow it can go. Taste those samples.