Zines + educational materials
For those who don’t know, a zine (short for magazine) is a self-published, hand-made, DIY book. At Disengineering we love zines and have made a ton of them. We use them to teach workshops and classes and have exhibited them at art book fairs all around the country.
Our zines and educational materials are designed to demystify the world of audio electronics and promote repair culture. From illustrated guides on building electronic instruments, to essays on sustainable design, to handmade “Resistor Matchbooks”, Disengineering’s publications put creative reuse front and center of our educational approach.
The Disengineering textbook series
Ah, the pride and joy of our zine-making endeavors. The Disengineering Textbook Series presents three volumes of illustrated instrument building instructions as well as critical writing about sustainability, hacking, and other related themes. It’s completely beginner friendly and for anyone interested in subjects including, but not limited to:
The first two [2] volumes contain the actual instrument building instructions. Each new project comes with a poster and a corresponding fold-out instructional booklet – a zine within a zine. It folds out right to left (manga style). It looks like this:
VOLUME 1: Happy Fun General Playtime
Overview
Volume 1 introduces seven basic electronic musical instrument projects. It’s designed to help readers build a solid foundation in core engineering and audio electronics concepts, while developing familiarity with rewiring salvaged components. Why make a new microphone when a corded phone will do? Why throw away your old vape when its battery can be reused? Why let old toys collect dust when they can become hacked synthesizers?
Chapters
- SIGNAL & GROUND Building a speaker system and phone mic
- OSCILLATOR Breadboarding a polyphonic synth
- CONTACT MICS Sonifying the world of vibrations
- SLINKY REVERB A janky spring reverb made from a slinky
- VAPE MIC Using a vape battery to power a simple mic circuit
- POM POM POT Make a variable resistor using wool and conductive thread
- DESTROY CHILDREN’S TOYS Learn the basics of circuit bending
VOLUME 2: A continued exploration…
Overview
Volume 2 builds upon the projects in Volume 1, but is not necessarily “more difficult”. The six instrument building projects in this volume will continue to develop your knowledge of hardware hacking and audio engineering concepts, and bring you closer to being able to conceptualize and build your own weird and amazing instruments. Expect your room to be filled with screamboxes, rotting mushrooms, and discarded radios.
Chapters
- MUSHROOM “MUSIC” Moist knobs and the physics of food circuits
- THE MIGHTY 555 A beginner’s guide to a classic chip
- ACTION PAINTING IN THE TWENTY TRASHED CENTURY How to make a DIY wireless painting robot
- LAYING OF HANDS Transforming a radio into a touch sensitive synth
- THE FLYING PIG A framework for thinking about instrument building
- THE NOISE BOX A box that makes noise
VOLUME 3: Wasted Writings
Overview
The only non-instructional volume in the series, “Wasted Writings” is a collection of essays that explore themes including, but not limited to, obsolescence, sustainability, community building, and reinvention. This volume builds critically upon the hardware hacking projects in Volumes 1 and 2.
Table of contents
- “THE WASTES OF ADULTERATION” By Gibson Bernath
- NOT DISPOSING DISPOSABLE VAPES By Brandon Bien
- MOOGISM: THE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY THAT DISENGINEERING THE SOUND OF MUSIC By Sean Knox Krupa
- PERFORMANCE IS ALL WE HAVE By Ernest Braun
- I’VE MADE AN IMAGE WORTH KEEPING AROUND (PRINTMAKING AS OBSOLETE LABOUR) By Victoria Reshetnikov