Programmable Sound Chips

[Thomas E. Johnson]

Does anyone know how you can go about programing various sounds onto a chip and then hook the chip up to a speaker? I thought it would be cool to be able to add sound effects into models.

[jwrjr]

The ISD-series chips made by Winbond are made for this sort of thing. It is possible to load wav files into memory chips, but playing them back is more difficult.

[z28Barry]

I found these but have not tried them.
Some require buying high numbers.

http://www.talkingpresents.com/Recordab ... module.htm
http://www.talkingpresents.com/Mini-Voi ... corder.htm
http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/11318093 ... odule.html
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/Recording_Module.html
http://highrich.manufacturer.globalsour ... Module.htm
http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/it.A ... category=2

[Thomas E. Johnson]

Thanks for the above info, but I found a way to do what I had in mind already.

[z28Barry]

Thanks for the above info, but I found a way to do what I had in mind already.

What exactly were you after and how did you do it?
If you don't mind me asking.

[Pat Amaral]

if you don't want to design the circuitry yourself, VoodooFX sells some sound products and you can even order custom sound arrangements.

[Prince of Styrene II]

Thanks for the above info, but I found a way to do what I had in mind already.

What exactly were you after and how did you do it?
If you don't mind me asking.

Yea, I'm having a problem with a sound chip & would love some alternatives.

[quantumplasmathingie]

I used one of these in the AMT snowspeeder, using a 5V regulator on a 9V battery, and a miniature 8 Ohm speaker that I cannibalized from an old laptop. At ~US$8, the price was right for experimenting with, and it works really well!

http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/it.A ... category=2

This type has the ability to record two 20-second samples, with separate momentary pushbutton switches for each sample. One hit on a button plays back the entire length of the sample recorded. A second hit will stop the playback. Hitting the other button will also interrupt playback.

For integration into a model, as is, the unit has some limitations. The pushbuttons are soldered right onto the board, on the same side as the other components. The capacitors and microphone jut up above the board higher than the pushbutton switches...which made mounting the board in an inconspicuous place quite impossible. The microphone is also relatively large, and for my application, useless. (I wanted to record some samples I grabbed from the SW:ESB DVD). I tried holding the unit next to the computer speaker and recording with the microphone, but the distortion was horrible. The mono microphone works very well for voice recording (or maybe foleyed sound effects). There is no built-in way to digitally transfer sound files into the unit. Recording is strictly analog.

I solved this issue by cutting out the microphone and wiring a mono jack cannibalized from a pair of old (but functional) headphones to the microphone contacts, which I plugged into my .mp3 player. There was some very slight hiss from the extra power coming from the .mp3 player interfering with the current usually provided to the microphone. I had to test several volume settings to minimize the extra noise. My .mp3 player plays .wav files, so I didn't need to convert them to .mp3. My samples were both just under 20 seconds, so it took several attempts to get the timing right on the play out from the .mp3 player to record within the 20 second limit. The unit beeps when recording begins and again when it ends, so it's not a complete shot in the dark.

Once the audio clips were recorded to the unit, I just unwrapped the jack wires from the microphone contacts. Playback from the unit doesn't send any power through the microphone, so I didn't need to solder any wire across the contacts. With the microphone removed, the profile of the board was much easier to squeeze into the model's interior.

To solve the issue of the pushbuttons, I snipped the existing switches off, drilled out the soldered mountpoints, and wired in new pushbuttons. It was easy to figure out which two of the four soldered contact points needed to be wired to the switch, simply by using a bent staple across the contacts until the sound played. This allowed the pushbuttons to be mounted in an inconspicuous place (on the back of the model, alongside each engine exhaust), while the unit and speaker were tucked deep inside the model (on one side of the cockpit tub, by the front).

Fortunately, the model's hull itself served as a resonating board, so gluing the speaker directly to the interior of the hull didn't muffle or distort the sound. It's not very loud, but unless the TV or dishwasher's going, playback is still distinctive and audible.

These units aren't the best solution if you have a lot of different sounds you'd like to play individually. There's no way to continuously loop a sample, other than using audio software to create a 20 second loop. For blaster sounds, this can be a bummer. There's always a slight delay between repeated hits on the pushbutton. It would be nice if the sound would play continuously, looping back to the beginning as long as the button is held...but it doesn't.

However, the playback doesn't require the recorded sample to be 20 seconds long. If you have the space and don't mind integrating multiple units, they can definitely serve the purpose of playing back separate individual sounds. They're pretty tiny and very easy to modify, and one could feasibly fit quite a few into a medium to large model.

[Mr. Engineer]

I have switched from ISD (obsolete and a bit expensive) to another called APR9600. In a few weeks time, I will know if it works or not. It allows you to record a maximum of 8 4-seconds sounds and playback when each button is pushed.

I am guessing this is similar to ISD's 25xx series?