MTO's debut release on 7" Vinyl from 2002 is now a digitaly available to download for free,( https://modifiedtoyorchestra.bandcamp.com/ ) with 5 previously unheard and unreleased tracks from the same period.

What Lies Beneath The Hiss?

Modified Toy Orchestra explores the hidden potential and surplus value latent inside redundant technology; a process creating sophisticated new electronic instruments from abandoned children's toys.  We have been at the forefront of a worldwide underground movement called circuit bending which involves rescuing children’s electronic toys and converting them into new strange and wonderfully sophisticated musical instruments. Taking them apart, you find new connections hidden within each toys circuits that reveal new sounds, exposing the surplus value of redundant technology.  Toys are reassembled, including switches and dials with which to control this surplus value. The results of this process can be shockingly beautiful, funny and also extreme.  It is rare to hear an electronic live performance that has no midi, no sampling, no synthesizers, no laptops, in fact no conventional instruments of any kind.