Interactive Solar System

Circuitbenders · May 05, 2011, 01:03:24 PM

Haven't done any simple toys for a while but i couldn't resist the voice on this one. Pitch it down slightly and this guy sounds like he could give Vincent Price some competition in shear mind-bending terror!

Theres a soundcloud demo of the voice of this thing here:

http://soundcloud.com/circuitbenders-co-uk/interactive-solar-system-demo

selfpreservation · May 05, 2011, 06:59:17 PM

thats cool

where did you get it ? my daughter would love one of those not to bend shes just loves space facts

Circuitbenders · May 05, 2011, 07:56:38 PM

Got it a couple of years ago at a car boot sale i think. I had a dinosaur one as well but it wasn't as sinister so i gave it away to someone who would make more use of it than me.

You see them on ebay every now and then.

Bogus Noise · May 05, 2011, 11:52:47 PM

I've done the Endangered Species one. Ended up putting a 556 and a 4011 in there, one LFO for pitch and another for retriggering the repeat button.

There's an ET one as well, which I saw at a car boot a couple of years ago but didn't buy in the end.

Circuit Bent Interactive Endangered Species

Circuitbenders · May 06, 2011, 12:08:17 AM

nice one,i'm liking the vocal gargling effect of the LFO.

I found that it needed a massive pot to get the pitch down really low, so i had to put in a switch that switches in a big resistor for two pitch ranges.
Yours seems to squeal a lot more than mine at lower pitches

jossCardiff · May 06, 2011, 01:26:12 PM

That's pretty cool, and educational !

Bogus Noise · May 06, 2011, 05:25:03 PM

Did yours run off a little square PCB in one corner?

I can't remember what pot I used, but there's a good chance I used the voltage divider method instead of taking out the original resistor. The pot value is less of a factor then. Though occasionally I still remove the resistor, cause sometimes those squeally sounds are just too damn good sounding

Circuitbenders · May 06, 2011, 05:56:39 PM

mine had two small PCB's in the centre, underneath the pictures of the planets.

Thats kind of odd, why would they bother having a completely different layout and board when all they had to do was change the sample ROM?

Mine didn't squeal at all at low pitches. Possibly the audio was sampled at a higher sample rate for some reason.

Bogus Noise · May 10, 2011, 03:49:05 AM

I figure if they come up with a redesign that needs less parts and only one board, it brings the overall manufacturing costs down quite a bit. The casings are also slightly different on the right hand side, making me think the endangered species one came out later than the solar system one.

Just had a look for an image of the dinosaur one again, seems it's got the same case as the endangered species, guessing that one might have the same board design inside.

dislocations · November 30, 2011, 07:50:27 AM

Done one of these myself, although it looks slightly different to this one. Yeah, small pcb (2"x3") and had o use a voltage divider for pitch. Other than that I faild to find any other bends, shame!

GeneReader · February 15, 2014, 10:13:26 AM

Quote from: Circuitbenders on May 05, 2011, 01:03:24 PM
Haven't done any simple toys for a while but i couldn't resist the voice on this one. Pitch it down slightly and this guy sounds like he could give solar panels Price some competition in shear mind-bending terror!

Theres a soundcloud demo of the voice of this thing here:

http://soundcloud.com/circuitbenders-co-uk/interactive-solar-system-demo

Pretty nice.. For my small girl it would be perfect gift on her birthday.