[rmayer121]

I'm trying to figure out the most cost effective way to control multiple animations to create a show that has multiple talking skulls and maybe different lights going off at different times. I know that you can with DMX, but have no knowledge in that and know it's expensive to start out in. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[J-Man]

How are your talking skulls controlled and how many?

 

[rmayer121]

3 of them are your boards. I'd like to be able to have the 2 skulls and parrot talk at different times. I'd also like to be able to possibly control when a light turns on or off at a specific moment.

 

[Mapleton Manor]

Can it be done using multiple relays and arduino board? If you have 8 relays you can control 8 different servos

 

[J-Man]

OK, that's what I thought. When powered up, my controllers just sit and wait for an audio input so there's two ways to go about controlling the audio. If you have a way to create multiple channel audio files (Audacity can) it's just a matter of connecting the proper channel to each prop. Now, you can control two skulls from just one stereo audio feed by removing the appropriate jumper from my boards, each one will only respond to the specified channel.
The other option is to have separate triggerable mp3 players, but that requires an additional controller which is programmed to trigger them at the proper time. Since you also wanna control lights, this would probably be the best way to go. A lot of people like Arduinos for this, I personally don't use them as I make my own controllers with various PIC's. Microcontrollers like these do require writing program code to load onto the controller, it's not too difficult but there is a learning curve.

 

[J-Man]

Double post.
I hate when this site does that.

 

[reefcrazed]

With Arduino's you can do just about anything. It just takes time and patience. With something like a nano with so many digital outs, you can control multiple servo's. The biggest problem I had was with the lag of the servos but I needed it perfect.

Something like this may help.

https://www.amazon.com/SunFounder-PCA9685-Channel-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/B014KTSMLA/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1534449764&sr=8-3&keywords=arduino+servo+controller

 

[J-Man]

Just an FYI for everyone, rmayer121's skulls and Squawker have my boards installed, there's no need for any external servo control.

 

[rmayer121]

Couldn't I just utilize the instructions included here J-Man? https://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/haunter/538-creating-multichannel-sound-using-multiple-scary-terry-boards-sound-card.html. I just stumbled across a post that you responded to and included that blog entry. Once I clicked on it, I remember reading about it because the guy who runs this blog lives almost 5 minutes from me and I saw his setup 2 years ago.

 

[rmayer121]

I did have one of the skulls and Squawkers wired up last year, but just want to add the other skull and possibly add a firing cannon or shooting gun light. If you were going to do this, would you just make your own controller to do this? What kind of triggerable mp3 players would you recommend? As always, appreciate the help.

 

[J-Man]

Couldn't I just utilize the instructions included here J-Man? https://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/haunter/538-creating-multichannel-sound-using-multiple-scary-terry-boards-sound-card.html. I just stumbled across a post that you responded to and included that blog entry. Once I clicked on it, I remember reading about it because the guy who runs this blog lives almost 5 minutes from me and I saw his setup 2 years ago.

I've never used this hardware/software method but I'm sure it works. That being said, you still need a way to control your lights so going with a single controller to handle audio triggers and light triggers would probably be a better option.

 

[J-Man]

I did have one of the skulls and Squawkers wired up last year, but just want to add the other skull and possibly add a firing cannon or shooting gun light. If you were going to do this, would you just make your own controller to do this? What kind of triggerable mp3 players would you recommend? As always, appreciate the help.

There are really cheap mp3 players on ebay, I'll have to check and see what's available. What speakers will you be using for the skulls and will they need amplifiers?

 

[J-Man]

These work well and play on power up but they have about a 2 second delay when powered. That can be accounted for by starting it 2 seconds early. This listing is a US supplier which costs a little more but you'll get them quickly. You can get the same players from China a lot cheaper but you'll wait 30 days to get it. These will supply audio directly to the skull boards but you'll also need an amp or powered speaker.
https://m.ebay.com/itm/MP3-USB-Flash-Drive-Micro-SD-TF-Card-Player-Decoding-Amplifier-Board-Module-USA/223010525162?hash=item33ec768fea:g:bP4AAOSwNNVbGptW
If you know the timing and sequence of your audio and lights, I can set you up with a controller.

 

[Danski]

I control 3 with a USB audio interface. It's a 4 output. You can get them up to 16 channels I think. I control each one with a sine wave and I use 1 channel for the main audio. That a total of 4 things going on. I will be posting some video as soon as I get them all standing.

 

[Danski]

Oh. And 2 have a jemmy talk one has an audio servo controller board with random head movement.

 

[rmayer121]

Thanks for your help. I'm still not sure of the exact sequence that I want since I have a lot of things on my list and need to decide what I can and can't get done. Might go with the mp3 players though since it seems like that might be the easiest option right now.

 

[rmayer121]

I control 3 with a USB audio interface. It's a 4 output. You can get them up to 16 channels I think. I control each one with a sine wave and I use 1 channel for the main audio. That a total of 4 things going on. I will be posting some video as soon as I get them all standing.

I remember your setup from last year, but still don't fully understand how your system works. Any hints you can give me on it? How do sine waves work and how do you send them?

 

[J-Man]

Thanks for your help. I'm still not sure of the exact sequence that I want since I have a lot of things on my list and need to decide what I can and can't get done. Might go with the mp3 players though since it seems like that might be the easiest option right now.

Keep in mind those mp3 players will auto play on power up and stop when power is removed, they are not technically "triggerable". You'll still need a main controller to execute the sequence.

 

[J-Man]

I remember your setup from last year, but still don't fully understand how your system works. Any hints you can give me on it? How do sine waves work and how do you send them?

Danski created custom audio files and inserted 12khz sine wave segments where the spoken dialog is on the main audio that's heard. The audio channels with the sine waves are fed into my Jemmy Talks, Audio Servo Controllers, and Squawker Talkers. This is really only necessary when the main audio has music or a lot of background sounds that would interfere with the jaw sync.

 

[Danski]

Yes, Jman is correct. I do it that way so I can use whatever dialog I choose and in place of that I use a sine wave. Or I could speak and record what I want with no other audio and feed that to the boards but I prefer the sinewave since I am not a fan of speaking all the needed parts.