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mike walters

Mike Walters
photo by Jeremy Bales, NY 2009

Hello, my name is Mike Walters. Thank you for visiting Mystery Circuits. Well, it's been about five years since I've updated this page, except for some basic information changes a year ago. Hopefully this new writing will provide a more concise understanding of where I am now, as opposed to where I was 5 years ago, because I've since moved.  I've been living in
New York City now with my wife, Ruth, and our chihuahua, Rosa, since 2007. Before NY, we lived in Carrboro, North Carolina. I lived in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area for about nine years.

I play synthesizer in a band in Brooklyn called Fan-Tan. The band formed in North Carolina, but I didn't join them until they moved to New York about a month after me.

In North Carolina, I played in a lot of bands including Jett Rink from 2001-2006, Dexter Romweber and the New Romans from 2005 to 2007, and with Tara Busch in 2006. I've been in bands not stop since 1996.

Musically, some of my all time favorites (and some new old-favorites) include Gary Numan, Devo, Kraftwerk, The Clash, Magazine, New Musik, Roxy Music, Ultravox, The Wake, and Japan.

I started collecting analog synths in 2000 (that doesn't count my first synth, the Poly800, I got in high school). My collection includes a few Moogs, an Arp, a Hammond, some Korgs and Yamahas, mainly. I didn't bring up all my synths when we moved to New York, but a few of them have followed me up here later (like my Polymoog). I also bought a Prophet 08 after living here. In Fan-Tan, I play that and my recased Moog Prodigy.

In 2001, I started Mystery Circuits after messing with electronics about a year. I've never taken a class on electronics, but my interest grew as my interests in old keyboards grew. In 2000, I found out about a company called Paia, and decided to build their Theremin kit. After I got it making sounds, I found out about Circuit Bending, and have been building stuff ever since.

I've never had a shop either, so my instruments are created in places like my living room, kitchen, etc. Case fabrication and woodwork are done just with powered hand tools and spray paint. I'm more formally educated in woodworking as opposed to electronics, because I took a wood shop class in 8th grade. We built wooden airplanes and CO2 cars.

Mike Walters
Photo by Delissa Santos, NY 2009

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