The FrankeVibes are a DIY attachment I created to transform a vibraphone into an electronic instrument, AKA an electrician’s worst nightmare. The attachment connects the material of the bars to speakers and batteries through a simple circuit that is activated by playing.

The term “Vibraphone twitching” comes from the practice of speaker twitching where a speaker head is connected to a 9V battery to test its polarity. When the circuit is completed, the speaker “twitches” and makes a distorted static sound that can even be manipulated to play pitches.

This simple circuit can be extended through any conductible material. The FrankenVibes is a handmade attachment that extends the simple circuit of the speaker through the material of the vibraphone bars.

By creating an attachment that doesn’t change the integrity of the vibraphone itself, the FrankenVibes allows a player to be connected with technology while performing in a concrete way.

Since it’s inital creation in 2021, the FrankenVibes have toured the U.S. being presented and performed many times including at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, IN in 2022 and at Longy’s Divergent Studio in Boston, MA in 2023.