Book: “Simple Sabotage Field Manual”

A relic of World War II, this literature describes easy, simple ways that everyday citizens can toss wrenches in the machine (figuratively and literally). Useful if you happen to work for a fascist government.

“Simple Sabotage Field Manual” by United States. Office of Strategic Services is a historical publication written during the early 1940s, amid World War II. This manual acts as a guide for ordinary civilians to conduct simple acts of sabotage against enemy operations without the need for specialized training or equipment. Its main topic revolves around promoting small, accessible forms of resistance that could collectively disrupt the enemy’s war effort. The manual outlines various strategies and techniques for citizens to engage in sabotage that could be executed discreetly and with minimal risk. It provides specific suggestions for targeting transportation, communication, and industrial facilities to create delays and inefficiencies in enemy operations. The manual emphasizes the power of many individuals acting independently to contribute to a larger campaign of disruption, encouraging simple acts such as misplacing tools, delaying communication, or damaging equipment with household items. Overall, the “Simple Sabotage Field Manual” serves as a unique historical artifact that illustrates grassroots resistance efforts and the belief in the collective power of ordinary people during wartime.

Also available here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26184

and here: https://archive.org/details/simple-sabotage-field-manual_202502

Interestingly, I found this Anti-Simple Sabotage Manual while perusing the Web: http://www.simplesabotage.com/the-book/

Audio – Music

I have a ton of music you can listen to and download for free. Everything is here: My Music

Audio – Samples

Beckstrom’s DIY Modular Synthesizer Sample Pack Vol. 1

Back in 2015 I embarked on an adventure: trying to build an analog modular synthesizer with no electronics experience. Through luck, experimentation, and sheer force of will, somehow I was able to build it! It sounds dirty and weird, it’s temperamental and noisy, sometimes it doesn’t work properly, and it’s unlike any commercial synthesizer I’ve ever tried. I couldn’t be prouder of it! Included in this pack are 1001 sounds created with my synthesizer. 

Available on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/beckstrom_modular_sample_pack_vol1

Beckstrom’s Weird TR-808 Sample Pack

Available on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/808_variations

There are many great, high-fidelity, finely-tuned, meticulously-recorded libraries of the Roland TR-808 drum machine. This is not one of them!

I wanted to create a collection of weird 808 sounds. I used some more conventional things like a boombox and a tube amplifier, but also some stranger things like a Zoom call, spectral resynsthesis, and low quality mp3 conversion.

Available on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/808_variations

Beckstrom – Hammond M100 organ drones

Some drones created on my Hammond M100 organ

recorded 2019-03-07 with a Røde NT1A and a Shure SM57

the Røde NT1A was on a tall mic stand in the middle of the basement, aimed at the organ
the SM57 was on a stand pointing more or less directly into the middle speaker on the organ

both went into the audio interface and were recorded in Ardour

I used chopsticks, screwdrivers, and legos to keep the keys pushed down.
I used a Casio MT-520 to weigh down the bass pedals when I used them.
For F# I had to use my accordion case so it could reach and only push down F#

Most of the time I kept the organ’s “effects” off, but on a few takes I recorded with vibrato “on”

the last take or two, the heat started to come on. might be cool, might not be.

Available on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/beckstrom_hammond_organ_drones