[necrosapien87]

So I haven't posted on here in....years. But I ordered a Spirit Proton pack and plan to make it a mod project. I want to change the lights and sounds on it and was wondering what the most simple Light and Sound kit is. I just want the Power Up, Fire on, Power Down sounds. And the proper light Patterns. I don't need it to play the theme song or make the video game sound effects. Any help is appreciated!

[CountDeMonet]

I'm in the process of building a pack from scratch for my son. I'm using an Arduino with a bunch of neopixels that you can get for about five bucks each for each of the components. For the sounds I'm using an Adafruit FX soundboard. If all of that is what you want the Arduino code is very easy. For my spirit pack I plan to replace the wand with a 3D printed one and replace the electronics with the small version of the one I'm building for my son's pack. Still looking at about $60-70 for that setup. You do get extras on some of that. I've posted everything I have including the code here

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43273

[necrosapien87]

The other issue I'm having is I've always felt like the thrower sound should come from a small speaker in the thrower rather than a larger speaker in the pack. I may do just an ongoing lighting in the pack, then lights and sound in the thrower since all the soundcards I've seen only have 1 audio output.

[TKTC Ralph]

Hey, necrosapien87

Im new here and just purchased a Spirit Halloween proton pack and have the same exact goals as yours for your pack, just basic lights on the pack and sounds coming off the wand.

I've been checking out the shop here in gbfans and their electronic kits seem like what we are looking for

[talem84]

The question is . Is there anyway to make the lights and sounds cheaper than $200?

[necrosapien87]

The question is . Is there anyway to make the lights and sounds cheaper than $200?

This is more like my goal lol.

[CountDeMonet]

This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

The setup I'm using uses these components

* 1 arduino nano. You get 3 for $11.86: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0713XK923
* 2 power converters to adjust the 11.1v lipo to 5v. You get 6 for $9.69: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQGMOKI
* 1 Adafruit Audio FX Sound Board. It's the most expensive part at $23.80 but is awesome to work with: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q3U42DM

I'm going for stereo sound so using 2 amps and speakers but you could easily save money for one amp and one speaker. They are pretty loud.
* Audio amp $6.01 each: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PY2YSI4
* small speaker for my 83% scale build. You get 2 for $8.05. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NQ0LHNA

For the lighting it's all neopixels which paired with the arduino make for infinite colors/brightness/options. They are awesome. You could go cheaper with single led's for the cyclotron but it's only one pin to do the powercell and cyclotron with the neopixels.

* 4 of the jewels for the cyclotron @ 5.49 each: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0105VMT4S
* one 8 led light stick for the powercell. You can get 5 for $8.49 here: https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-5pcs-8-W ... B014F5VLN0

Throw in some misc switches/buttons and stuff and you are looking at around $70-80 for the entire mono setup. Just sayin

Take the bargraph that I have out of the equation for $70-80. Each feature you want adds to the cost.

[necrosapien87]

This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

The setup I'm using uses these components

* 1 arduino nano. You get 3 for $11.86: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0713XK923
* 2 power converters to adjust the 11.1v lipo to 5v. You get 6 for $9.69: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQGMOKI
* 1 Adafruit Audio FX Sound Board. It's the most expensive part at $23.80 but is awesome to work with: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q3U42DM

I'm going for stereo sound so using 2 amps and speakers but you could easily save money for one amp and one speaker. They are pretty loud.
* Audio amp $6.01 each: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PY2YSI4
* small speaker for my 83% scale build. You get 2 for $8.05. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NQ0LHNA

For the lighting it's all neopixels which paired with the arduino make for infinite colors/brightness/options. They are awesome. You could go cheaper with single led's for the cyclotron but it's only one pin to do the powercell and cyclotron with the neopixels.

* 4 of the jewels for the cyclotron @ 5.49 each: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0105VMT4S
* one 8 led light stick for the powercell. You can get 5 for $8.49 here: https://www.amazon.com/HiLetgo-5pcs-8-W ... B014F5VLN0

Throw in some misc switches/buttons and stuff and you are looking at around $70-80 for the entire mono setup. Just sayin

Take the bargraph that I have out of the equation for $70-80. Each feature you want adds to the cost.

See that's cool and all but I'm not super tech savvy lol

[CountDeMonet]

If you want cheep and most of the features you gotta diy.

[necrosapien87]

So I found this just dicking around on youtube looking for ideas. It's a USB programmable sound card. It's inexpensive, and just might work! Thoughts?

https://youtu.be/nZ_i8tVcMG8

[CountDeMonet]

This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

That looks very similar to the Adafruit sound board

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q3U42DM

They have a version a little more expensive that includes stereo amps on the board. By itself you can plug in switches and buttons just like in that video. It was designed for cosplaying I think.

[grogking]

I have one of those I bought for a tricorder I'm making. It only does sound, no lights of course.

[necrosapien87]

I have one of those I bought for a tricorder I'm making. It only does sound, no lights of course.

Yeah, I knew it didn't do sound, but I thought it might make the cost of the whole set up a little cheaper.

[GK45]

What do these $20 boards do over the $5 Chinese WT588D boards?
I know that with most of the WT588D boards you need the adapter but that is less than $10 off Ebay so for the same $20 you can get 2 soundboards and the adapter. There is also one with a USB plug for programing as well still around $5.

[necrosapien87]

This post may contain an affiliate link that helps support GBFans.com when you make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

That looks very similar to the Adafruit sound board

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q3U42DM

They have a version a little more expensive that includes stereo amps on the board. By itself you can plug in switches and buttons just like in that video. It was designed for cosplaying I think.

Also, the soundcard I shared is $10 with speaker and wire. That soundcard is $24 no speaker, wires or buttons.

[CountDeMonet]

The 20 dollar card has more memory (16mb) and supports up to 10 trigger effects. It supports looping and can be fully controlled by an Arduino if you want to instead of using the triggers. Way more capabilities. Plus it works with Windows greater than Xp

[necrosapien87]

The 20 dollar card has more memory (16mb) and supports up to 10 trigger effects. It supports looping and can be fully controlled by an Arduino if you want to instead of using the triggers. Way more capabilities. Plus it works with Windows greater than Xp

How much memory do you really need for sound effects? Especially for simple modification. If I were building a 1:1 pack, then yeah I'd go all out, but I'm modifying the spirit proton pack here, so I'm only going for a decent upgrade.

[CountDeMonet]

For the basic sounds like start up, shutdown, firing, etc I think I'm at 5 mb. With everything including the music and lots of dialog I'm at 11mb. By the time I'm done I'll be using the Adafruit board to it's max. I've got some more dialog sounds I want to add.

If the 5 triggers and smaller memory work for you great. It wouldn't be enough for me.

[slimer01]

Awesome thank you

[Styrofoam_Guy]

The good thing about CountDeMonet's setup is if you do get it working you can use the same setup if you build a full size pack.

[GK45]

How much memory do you really need for sound effects? Especially for simple modification. If I were building a 1:1 pack, then yeah I'd go all out, but I'm modifying the spirit proton pack here, so I'm only going for a decent upgrade.

Using the effects linked with the chip in the store you only need a little more then 2M.
That includes a Power Up, Power Down, Stream Start, Stream Loop, Stream End.
That leaves plenty of room to play with as long as you aren't adding music.

The 20 dollar card has more memory (16mb) and supports up to 10 trigger effects. It supports looping and can be fully controlled by an Arduino if you want to instead of using the triggers. Way more capabilities. Plus it works with Windows greater than Xp

The WT588D comes in three versions that I have found.
There is an 8M model for around $3, a 16M with USB port around $5 and a 32M around $6.
I don't know for sure how many switches the smaller boards allow but I know that the 32M version supports 10 switches.
I can't speak for Windows 8 or 10 for the Software but it seems to work fine on 7, though I haven't got a chip to try uploading the data yet.
So the only advantage I am seeing with the $20 board is that it can be used in conjunction with an even more expensive board?

I do have a question about the Nano Boards that you linked to, are they able to provide the light effects for the Pack standalone or do they require another board to control them?

The good thing about CountDeMonet's setup is if you do get it working you can use the same setup if you build a full size pack.

True, though for most of us I would say we are working on one of these because we can't afford a full size pack.
That means we are going with the cheaper options so we can afford it.

[talem84]

Check this out . It's a cheaper soundboard and it has a sd card slot.

[/url][https://youtu.be/paIB7SGZOe[url]

[GK45]

Check this out . It's a cheaper soundboard and it has a sd card slot.

[/url][https://youtu.be/paIB7SGZOe[url]

Video is unavailable, double check the link.

[talem84]

http://www.mdfly.com/products/sd-card-m ... 2-ttl.html


https://youtu.be/paIB7SGZOeY

[GK45]

http://www.mdfly.com/products/sd-card-m ... 2-ttl.html

https://youtu.be/paIB7SGZOeY

Looks like it could work, can't find any projects that use it as a standalone though.
The manual doesn't mention how many switches it supports, the only thing mentioned in the manual are the TX/RX which I believe is the input/export for another board to control it.
It is possible that it has no standalone switch capability.
However it has 12 empty pins so some of them are probably switches. Someone with more electronics experience would be more help.

On the good side, it does MP3 files, stereo is an option and has pretty much unlimited space.
Might be worth giving a shot as long as you are willing to tinker with it.