Musicians have always sought out ways to make exciting new sounds, often bending or breaking the established rules in the process. In the 1920s, Heitor Villa-Lobos tweaked the tone of his piano by placing paper between the strings and hammers - the original “prepared piano”, a technique later expanded on by the likes of John Cage and John Cale.

Modern-day “circuit benders” customise the circuits of toys, synths and guitar effects for unpredictable results. We can do something similar with our computers by using the tools at our disposal in unintended ways, or calling on software intended to mimic the sound of “malfunctioning” gear.

These tricks have applications for all kinds of musicians - not just experimental beard-strokers and electronica eggheads like Autechre and Squarepusher. In the '80s, Kate Bush used the sound of a fast-forwarding DAT recorder to create the splintered vocal effects on her Hounds of Love album. And while the timestretching capabilities of hardware samplers were originally intended to facilitate minor changes in timing or pitch, early drum ’n’ bass artists pushed them to extreme settings to create previously unheard effects like melodic, metallic drum beats and sinister stretched vocals. In the late '90s, dance and R&B producers turned up Auto-Tune’s pitch correction to unnaturally fast speeds, creating the now-ubiquitous robotic vocal effect.

Today, there are many plugins designed specifically for creating glitch effects, such as Sugar Bytes Effectrix and iZotope Stutter Edit; but often the most outrageous, unexpected sounds are created by using conventional instruments and effects in unconventional ways. Let’s take a look, then, at ten techniques you can employ right now to make your own glitched-out sounds.