Sound effects

[Boni]

I am looking for a DIY sound system that can be activated by a motion sensor. I don't have much budget, looking for something simple I can build or assemble. I want the sound to be instantaneous and queued up correctly.

[RJ Productions]

One of the best all-inclusive is a Gilderfluke MP3 unit. While it isn't cheap it is a whole package, controller, digital recorder AND amplifier and it does a lot of other things.
Cowlacious has a couple different recorder/playback units. Fairly simple to operate but you have to attach it to an amplifier.

While there may be other ubits on the market, rhese are two I have had experience with and can recommend.

So much emphasis is always on props and scares but two of the most important aspects of your haunt are SOUND and LIGHTING.

Good luck.

[Mephisto the Great]

Allrighty...I am going to ask one of the stupidest questions ever asked on this forum, but I must -- How do you use one of those "mini-bricks" or other show controllers that simply look like a bunch of computer chips stacked together?

Do you plug in a laptop to load the sound? Do you attach things like amplifiers and lights to the thing? How do those things work?

I have run a very low-tech haunt for many years, so any "Show Conntrollers for Dummies" guidance would be great.

[poison]

GILDERFLUKE MINI BRICKS are great little controllers BUT....You have to by willing to do a lot of RELAY wiring. The Mini bricks are really small and a little hard to work with. But they are great boxes.
I use FRIGHT PROPS PICO BOO BOXES they have the relays & SOUND built right in. And MAESTRO'S by HAUNTED ENTERPRISES has good simple box as well. And they have a good MP3 PLAYER EASY hook up.

[poison]

And NO you dont need a laptop or computer with any of the above controllers i mentioned. So you can adjust your show in the field.

[Barry]

I agree with all of the units mentioned already. I would also add to the list the Prop-1/AP8 combo from Efx-Tek if you are comfortable with coding and wiring it yourself. On the ease of use side add the controllers from HauntBots and Digital Sound And Light to the list.

[geckofx]

Sound Units

This is about as simple and cheap as it gets. It's not done out of the box though. If you want to use a motion detector to trigger this it'll take a little rigging.

One of the buttons is a dry contact switch that triggers the unit. In order for a motion detector to work you're going to need a relay to bypass the switch. The motion detector puts out 120VAC, normal wall power, and that would kill this little puppy. But there is a problem. Because the motion detector uses a solid state switch it will leak current. So you're going to need a pull down resistor to sink that current. I know this sounds horribly complicated but follow me through this.

Get the sound unit and clip the trigger button off. Solder 2 wires onto the lead that are left over.

Get a motion detector from home depot, usually the type that runs outdoor lights, or ones that install in switches are pretty cheap. On the detector there should be two black wires, one is hot in, and the other is hot out. If there are other wires you can ignore them. Cut an extension cord in half and strip out the three wires on the male plug side. You can just snip out the green wire, the ground. Connect the black to one of the blacks on the motion detector. Then connect the other black wire on the motion detector to pin 2 of the relay base. Also connect one side of the resistor to pin 2. Connect the white wire coming out of the extension cord along with the other side of the resistor to pin 7 of the relay. Now take one of the lead wires coming out of the sound unit and connect it to one of the inner pins on the same side of the relay base pins 1 or 8. If you connect it to pin 1 then connect the other lead from the sound unit to pin 4. If you connect ed the first line it to pin 8 then the second line goes to pin 6. And badaboom, badabing, you've got a zombie.

One a side note. What you've just done with the relay and the motion detector is essentially create a motion detecting dry contact trigger for about $50. With this you can trigger your minibricks, your boo boxes, you're PLCs, and pretty much any other controller you have.

On an alternate note, if you don't have a sound that needs to be a one shot deal, just something loud and obnoxious when someone walks by and doesn't have a set beginning and end point. You can simply hookup the relay as stated above. Then take a cd player going through an amp and on your speaker wire from amp to speaker take on wire and pass it through the relay. This way there is no sound until the relay closes.

Here are the parts you'd need to do the project. Sorry there are 4 different websites, but it's kinda the nature of the beast.

Sound Unit
http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/i...c=8&category=2

Socket
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...oductId=141145

Relay
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...oductId=139740

Resistor
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...tnumber=016-2K

If you have any questions regarding any of this insanity feel free to contact me at geckofx@gmail.com

But no one really will.