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STORMTROOPER VOICE AMP QUESTIONS
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TK 109
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Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 712
Location: Galena, Ohio

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i tried installing a little plastic endcap (bottom of an acrylic paint bottle) behind the speakers, and it only made the feedback worse.

can i find a headset cardioid mic somewhere? cheap?

is there a special type of speaker enclosure out there to reduce feedback?

what is the "speaker driver" you speak of?

can i build an EQ easily to fit in my helmet?

should i just make a little barrier out of metal, seal it, and glue and seal that to the back of my speakers?

should i just put my cuirciut stuff in a project enclosure box, with the mic being the only thing going up to my helmet or will this reduce the general effect (will they here my regular voice over the mechanized voice)?

i have questions for the newton voice amp, too: how high does the volume have to be in order to cover up your regular voice? (you hear more from the amp than from your own mouth, behind the helmet). how high is the volume when you start to get feedback? all and all, is feedback really an issue with the newton amp?

i don't want to spend too much money, because then that defeats my whole purpose.
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jegner
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Joined: 30 May 2003
Posts: 2144
Location: Texas, USA

PostPosted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krylon spray can lids filled with foam mattress material and glued in behind the speakers will help focus the sound out of the helmet. Foam lining inside the whole helmet interior will help some too, but with your speakers so close to a mic, the acoustics of the helmet, and available mics, feedback and reverb are going to happen.

Jim
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crashmann
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Joined: 27 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Feedback is just inherent with the design of the helmet. You've got a microphone that listens for sound, and the speakers are right next to the microphone. Even though the earphone (being used as a microphone) should be highly directional given the shape, you also have the sound waves from the speakers reflecting off your face back into the microphone. You may also have resonance from the speakers vibrating the helmet feeding into the microphone.

What to do?!?

I dunno about a complete helmet mounted solution. The ones I've heard had to be turned down so low to avoid feedback that they were ineffective.

I have no feedback issues with the Newton Voiceamp. The speaker is on your hip, and the mic is up at your face. Nowhere close to each other. I only turn the speaker up halfway, and occasionally get complaints from other troopers that I'm a little too loud.

When wearing a helmet, your voice really doesn't get out (even though it sounds really loud to you). So, the Newton has no trouble covering up your regular voice.

Charlie
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TK 109
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Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 712
Location: Galena, Ohio

PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hmm....
i'm wondering if those results change if you put the amp up behind the chest plate, closer to the mic. i'm sure they would, but i doubt the overall results would change.
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Sassy_Seacow
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Joined: 12 Jul 2006
Posts: 7
Location: Henderson, KY/Bowling Green, KY

PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've been looking at this for a daft punk halloween costume. I like it because it looks very DIY-friendly and I'm very electronically handicapped.

http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/MK-171/305/VOICE_CHANGER_KIT_.html
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drcrash
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
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Location: Austin, Texas

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 2:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you have a pitch shifter in your voice-modifying circuit, that could kill feedback really well.

(The sounds change pitch at every trip through the mike and speaker and back around to the mike, so they don't come back at exactly the same frequency and reinforce.)

A slight pitch shift would do it, without dramatically altering your voice.

I used to talk and sing through an octave divider, which lowered my voice frequencies by a factor of two. It made me sound like a giant. (In particular, it made me sound like a retarded giant, because it did something goofy to all my consonants that sounded sorta "duh doofa duh whuh". A less dramatic pitch shift with a better pitch shifter might not sound so dopey.)

I'd be interested in hearing how that gadget works out.
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Tired of buying cheap plastic crap? Now you can make your own! www.VacuumFormerPlans.com
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TK 109
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Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 712
Location: Galena, Ohio

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i would have to make it so that it made my voice low EVER SO SLIGHTLY, unless they are like that anyway.
where can i find that pitch shifter (man that sounds SO cool! Laughing ) you speak of dr.? at radio shack, perhaps? and at what sort of ratings? i don't even know where to put it if i could! maybe you guys can find out from my pics, or i could get off my butt and do it myself! ( Very Happy )
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drcrash
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
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Location: Austin, Texas

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

TK 109 wrote:
i would have to make it so that it made my voice low EVER SO SLIGHTLY, unless they are like that anyway.
where can i find that pitch shifter (man that sounds SO cool! Laughing ) you speak of dr.? at radio shack, perhaps? and at what sort of ratings? i don't even know where to put it if i could! maybe you guys can find out from my pics, or i could get off my butt and do it myself! ( Very Happy )


I've never shopped for a little pitch shifter for vocals, so I don't know what to recommend. (My pitch shifters are part of guitar multi-effects boxes. I mostly use them to make my guitar sound like a bass; the vocal thing is just an occasional shtik.)

The voice changer/amp thing that Sassy Seacow posted a link to has a pitch shifter in it already. I don't know how what pitch shifts it does or how much control you have, or how good the signal processing is, but it sounds interesting. (And looks pretty small.)
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Tired of buying cheap plastic crap? Now you can make your own! www.VacuumFormerPlans.com
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drcrash
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Omnikits has that voice changer on sale for $8.88.

http://omnikits.com/phpstore/index.php?action=item&id=1621&prevaction=category&previd=featured&prevstart=
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TK 109
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Joined: 11 May 2007
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Location: Galena, Ohio

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

so, i can just go into radio shack and look for a pitch shifter IC, or what?
is it some sort of wierd potentiometer, or something?
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drcrash
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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
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Location: Austin, Texas

PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

TK 109 wrote:
so, i can just go into radio shack and look for a pitch shifter IC, or what?
is it some sort of wierd potentiometer, or something?


It's doing some fancy signal processing, so it's not going to be a simple device like a pot; it'll either be a chip with a bunch of little components (or more likely) a function of a multi-function chip. (I think the best ones use fancy digital signal processing.)

I haven't built my own audio boxes for 20 years, so I have no real idea what's on the market these days, component-wise.

If the Velleman thing for $8.88 can do small pitch shifts, or slight vibrato, that sounds like just the ticket. It has has a mic and an amp, and a line in so you could pipe the output of something else into it. Sounds good if it sounds good.

Unfortunately, a lot of cheap little audio gadgets are pre-set to do only non-subtle effects. So you might have a choice between being a big dumb sounding guy, or Donald Duck, with nothing in between.
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Tired of buying cheap plastic crap? Now you can make your own! www.VacuumFormerPlans.com
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TK 109
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Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 712
Location: Galena, Ohio

PostPosted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yeah....
that would be....um...interesting
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