From time to time I am asked about adding sound to a prop or costume. Thankfully, Adafruit has made this supper easy for all of us with a line of Audio FX boards that can be triggered without writing a single line of code.
Here are a few kits that I have picked out for anyone looking to add such a device to their outfit or prop.
All of the listed configurations have the following things in common:
Basic sensors and switches are added to trigger up to 8 sound effects in many ways. Vibration triggers, buttons, and tilt ball switches can be used as triggers depending on what you want to achieve.
The play options are as follows:
- Play the sound once when triggered,
- Play the sound in a loop only while triggered, sound ends when the trigger is.
- Play the sound in a loop when triggered, then stop playing when triggered again.
- Play a random sound, from a group of sounds, when triggered.
- Play a sound in sequence, from a group of sounds, when triggered.
Sound FX Basic
https://www.adafruit.com/wishlists/393723
This is good for adding basic, mono, sound effects like ambient machine noise or sounds for power armor.
Any audio files used should be short and/or heavily compressed due to the limited 2MB storage.
Things to keep in mind.
This board can only play one sound at a time. If you want overlapping sounds, you will need an additional board. To save a bit on power and price, this setup uses a mono amp. This will also require a battery of some type. 3V to 5V works well.
Why use this configuration?
Try not to think of this as something that provides sound for all of your armor or costume. Ideally you would use one of these kits in each arm, each leg, your torso, and for each prop. The price would add up, but the effect would be spectacular as sound constantly and freely pours out of the costume were you would expect it to.
Sound FX Standard
http://www.adafruit.com/wishlists/393724
This is probably the most average setup that you are likely to use for ambient noise as well as power effects. Elaborate power up, weapon, computer, or spell casting sounds are no problem for this configuration and it’s 16MB storage.
Things to keep in mind.
Like the basic setup, only one sound can be plaid at any given time. Save this board for your more elaborate sounds and let the basic boards handle the background machine hum. To save a bit on power and price, this setup uses a mono amp. This will also require a battery of some type. 3V to 5V works well.
Why use this configuration?
This kit would best be used for the torso or main sound supplier. This is the one that will let you do all of the cool sound effects that will make peoples jaws drop.
Sound FX Stereo
http://www.adafruit.com/wishlists/393725
When you just have to bring it, you need to go with stereo. This uses the same 16MB Audio FX board, but replaced the Mono amp with a 2.8w Stereo. Creative sound mixing can get you some really cool effects with this configuration.
Things to keep in mind.
Like the basic setup, only one sound can be plaid at any given time. Save this board for your more elaborate sounds and let the basic boards handle the background machine hum. This will also require a battery of some type. 5V works best but with the better Amp, you will want a battery with more mAhs to keep things going for longer.
Why use this configuration?
Simply put, this is just rad. You will become the sound and everyone will love you for it.
There are many more options available, but these are the most common configurations that I have used with a high degree of success. Please feel free to check out Adafruit’s guide for Adafruit Audio FX Sound Boards to get some more detailed info on how it all works.