need help; the Ross Gemmy old guy/dr.shivers face spirit ball

3694 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by OpenTrackRacer, Aug 27, 2009

kittyvibe

Discussion Starter · Aug 16, 2009

Hi ya! So like many of you I have bought several of the spirit balls from Ross recently that depicted an old man/looks like dr. shivers face. He comes with a wireless mic. I was checking out the bottom part and theres 2 compartments for batteries, not sure why theres 2, the other spirit balls I have without a mic have just the one battery compartment.

This made me think perhaps if I were to follow someones tutorial on hacking the spirit ball I may mess it up, seeing as there appears to be a different setup for this particular spirit ball.

Does anyone have any experience with hacking this guy? I am feeling like I may just have to rip off his face and put on a mask of some sort and only get to use the wireless mic to make it speak. Im not sure how else to put my own audio into it, since I want to make several types of props with these heads.

For example, someone here posted crypt keeper audio, I would like to put a mask on him and input the audio of the CK.

I guess Im just not too sure of the possabilities of using these heads yet. Im envisioning either hacking with my own audio to customize (with additions of masks, ect) and/or just using the wireless mic sitting next to a cd player with audio I want and put a new face on it.

Also, does the plastic part have to stay on the bottom, I know of people who have put these on dummies before but I see the place for the sound to come out of and if you wanted to use the aux jack its there on the plastic bottom part too. (the piece that holds the globe in place, and attached the feet to). So Im not sure how there were able to do this part.

Any input from someone on this would be greatly appreciated, and once I get it through my head perhaps if someone has a cool idea what to do with the heads that would be awesome too

/hugz

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kittyvibe

Discussion Starter · #2 · Aug 16, 2009

Egads- so I opened em all up to test them, the last 2 I bought arent working so well. Ine has high feedback due to the mic feature when thats enabled. When you start talking theres some vibrations to your voice, I guess it could be ok, but not entirely happy about it. The second one is a complete wreck, I dont have any electrical know how to fix him. He has a high whirring noise when you have him in regular sensor mode but the second you try the mic mode he just has his mouth moving and whir whir of each eye movement sounds. The sound of his jaw going up and down continuously (not even following your voice at this point). I was testing these out before putting them in storage, its pitch black outside and its kinda creepy out, being as everything is still wet from the downpour this afternoon and theres a strong breeze. I normally would love this atmosphere, but standing there watching and listening to my borked spirit ball gave me the heeby jeebies. I dont see a way to fix him, he must have been dropped at some point.

Ill try going to next city to see if they have any.

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Ghost of Spookie

· #3 · Aug 16, 2009

Kittyvibe, I also bought two of these one to use this year probably with the mic and the other as a backup. I'll want to experiment and modify him also (would like to lose the rocking head movement for sure), but it will probably have to wait until next year. I know my guy is pretty loud and it would be nice if there had been a volume control somewhere. I have two Talking thru Boris skulls but these are nicer in a way in that they have a full head "mask" and moving eyes and jaw. Sorry you have some problems with your guys already.

I found this You Tube video of a demasked guy.

Here's The Skeleton's Hand's tutorial on hacking a witch spirit ball, not sure if this is a 14-inch one (like our white haired mic'd guy or not) but some of his tutorial might be helpful. Wish there was text with the pics but the pics should be helpful.

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hallorenescene

· #4 · Aug 16, 2009

kittyvibe, i found my witch did the same thing if i was to close to her. try the head again but put some distance in there, see if that works.
i'm trying to think of some forum people who are good with this kind of stuff. ask unorthodox, msmeeples, rookiespooker, hermans secret, and dr. terror eyes. even if they can't they might know someone who can. how about son of thing. good luck

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kittyvibe

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 17, 2009

Thanks for the additional info. I did find regular spirit ball tuts but was concerned about encountering additional stuff not covered and I wouldnt have the know how to fix/use. I stayed probably about 8 feet away from my spirit ball with the high whirring feedback. The one that is borked, well, I may just have to return him. Im not smart enough to "fix" him.

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OpenTrackRacer

· #6 · Aug 22, 2009

I just picked up two of these tonight from Ross. What a great deal. I haven't decided if or how I'm going to use them this year but I'll try and get inside one sooner rather than later to see about hooking up an audio-in jack. It should be reasonably easy to locate the audio output from the RF receiver. I'll post when I more to report.

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Ghost of Spookie

· #7 · Aug 22, 2009

OpenTrackRacer said:
I just picked up two of these tonight from Ross. What a great deal. I haven't decided if or how I'm going to use them this year but I'll try and get inside one sooner rather than later to see about hooking up an audio-in jack. It should be reasonably easy to locate the audio output from the RF receiver. I'll post when I more to report.

Everyone who bought one will love you OpenTrackRacer, not that they don't already

Glad you found the posts about him. Did you see this post or read about him on the First Halloween Sightings in Store thread where he's been talk about quite a bit next to the Scaretaker.

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OpenTrackRacer

· #8 · Aug 23, 2009

I read about it in the "First Halloween Sightings" thread. I was right next to a Ross so I went in. They had some Halloween stuff by the front but not the Spirit Balls and I almost turned around and left but I decided to check in the back too. I'm very glad I did... what a bargain for $20. It might work out well for me that he has Dr. Shivers face. I'm doing a mad scientist lab with him this year and I might setup the Spirit Ball (sans globe) in the same room as a clone or something. If I can hack an audio input I can run them both off the same MP3 player (one channel for each prop) and have them carry on a conversation.

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Ghost of Spookie

· #9 · Aug 23, 2009

OpenTrackRacer said:
....I'm doing a mad scientist lab with him this year and I might setup the Spirit Ball (sans globe) in the same room as a clone or something. If I can hack an audio input I can run them both off the same MP3 player (one channel for each prop) and have them carry on a conversation.

Oh I like how you are thinking. I was thinking of just doing something simplier along the lines of the Talking thru Boris with a simple audio in with an mp3 and audio out to external speakers. I bought 3 of these guys so love your idea better.

BTW love the cloning idea and can picture one of the guys under the operating sheet talking to the other one. That or just the head on the shelf talking to the good doctor.

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OpenTrackRacer

· #10 · Aug 27, 2009

Some extra time developed tonight so I took the opportunity to investigate the Spirit Ball. The news is good... it's very hackable and it's easy to do. I posted complete details in the tutorial section...

http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-step-step/80417-gemmy-crystal-ball-audio-line-hack.html#post712516

Enjoy!

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