Sound Effects

James Tiberius Kirk · Thu May 24, 2012 11:49 pm

I'm trying to figure out how to add sound effects to a TOS enterprise kit I'm building. I'd love to put it in the base and have a push button but can't for the life of me figure out what to use. I tried to find a Record your own message greeting card, but none of them fit the bill.

I'd love to have it play the theme for the show, maybe a phaser blast or something.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Thanks guys!

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Fri May 25, 2012 12:15 am

Radio Shack sells a little module that lets you record a message or sound and then play it back with a button push. It's basically the same thing that you find in the greeting cards, just a little more clunky. The sound quality is pretty good. I got one to use in a scratchbuilt 1:6 Dalek model that I still haven't finished... EXTERMINATE!

Grumpy Popeye · Post by **Grumpy Popeye** » Fri May 25, 2012 8:17 am

I bought an excellent sound module from Big Dawg Greeting on the `bay. You can choose what type of card (USB download, built in microphone) how many pushbuttons for different sounds and how many seconds of recording.

The one I bought has five buttons, 200 seconds of recording time and connects to your computer`s USB port. Big Dawg provides links for the software you need to download and even suggests a very easy to use sound editing program (free). I`ll post a youtube video for you later today.

The best part is the card I bought is under ten bucks! I will be getting more in the future!

Fokker Ace · Post by **Fokker Ace** » Fri May 25, 2012 8:21 am

The best free audio editing program is Audacity.

mgoldcha · Post by **mgoldcha** » Fri May 25, 2012 1:03 pm

Check out the Sound Effects Unit 2 on this page: http://www.voodoofx.com/sound.htm

I've used this on one build and will be using it on my Cylon Raider build. You can record up to 300 seconds of sound on it over four different sections of memory. Four buttons will let you play the four different sounds. You can also use a USB connection to load the sounds onto the chip. It comes with a little speaker but I've added a mini headphone jack so that the sound will play over external speakers. Inexpensive and easy to use!

brt · Post by **brt** » Fri May 25, 2012 3:09 pm

Fokker Ace wrote:The best free audio editing program is Audacity.

Looks really good for free.

Grumpy Popeye · Post by **Grumpy Popeye** » Fri May 25, 2012 7:43 pm

Fokker Ace wrote:The best free audio editing program is Audacity.

That's the one Big Dawgs recommends! super easy to use!

and now for the video I promised earlier

http://youtu.be/5pb1f6GEPHw

Hope this is helpful!

James Tiberius Kirk · Fri May 25, 2012 10:16 pm

thank you for the video, I went ahead and ordered one. one question though, where did you get the speakers? I plan on doing it as well.

Joseph Osborn · Post by **Joseph Osborn** » Fri May 25, 2012 11:06 pm

Darph Bobo wrote:I bought an excellent sound module from Big Dawg Greeting on the `bay. You can choose what type of card (USB download, built in microphone) how many pushbuttons for different sounds and how many seconds of recording.

The one I bought has five buttons, 200 seconds of recording time and connects to your computer`s USB port. Big Dawg provides links for the software you need to download and even suggests a very easy to use sound editing program (free). I`ll post a youtube video for you later today.

The best part is the card I bought is under ten bucks! I will be getting more in the future!

Oooh that's a lot better than the ones that were available a few years ago. I may get one of those just to have if/when the inspiration strikes!

Grumpy Popeye · Post by **Grumpy Popeye** » Sat May 26, 2012 5:47 am

James Tiberius Kirk wrote:thank you for the video, I went ahead and ordered one. one question though, where did you get the speakers? I plan on doing it as well.

The speakers were purchased from an electronic hobbyist store that is near my place.

I suppose if you wanted to really boost the sound you could wire up the card to a pair of amplified speakers like what you can buy for MP3 players.