Re:Wow, That's Awful . . . not! (Score 1)

I'm kind of surprised how many people just write off things like this. One of the reasons this is Slashdot-worthy is that when you bend many of these devices and plug them into an amplifier, they can make far better sounds than the original toy. Not just subjectively, well, never mind, that would definitely be subjective. I have a really cheapo toy keyboard that sounds horrible normally, but when you plug it in, it is a completely different thing. When plugged in, I definitely consider it an instrument, otherwise, merely a toy.

With the great sound of some of these toys once bent, if you listen to just "normal" music, I'm sure there are some bent instruments slipped in. If you listen to any electronic music, the probability is almost 100% that you've been liking the sounds of these things already, possibly even as some of the main instruments in your favorite tracks.

Bands like Nine Inch Nails, Meat Beat Manifesto, and I'm sure many others use these things in their music. Some of the people I have been doing visuals for have been using bent instruments and I've been playing with them for a while now. You'd never know that toys were making some of the sounds. I would assume that everything was created somehow on the computer if I didn't know better from firsthand experience.