Introduction: NOISE FROM TOYS (part II)

About: broken robot

Вuongiorno,

A few years ago I started my experiments with Circuit Bending and one time I wanted to mix the signal from different toys to get more complex Noise~Sounds ..

At a first look, it's possible to do by using a special audio device ~ an audio mixer .. That was very sad to me because I could not afford to use a high-quality (read, the expensive) audio mixer ..

In my imagination, I think it is possible to do without it because the signals are the same ~ from most chip toys that have the same circuit boards inside, with the same functions and similar sounds also ..

And I start experiments, and broke\burned dozens of toys to find the connection option .. As a result of this experience has been detected this way: without an expensive sound mixer, with a new wonderful and complicated Noise Sound after connection ..

Supplies

In the previous time, we prepared a circuit board, replaced the resistor with a potentiometer, installed additional «touchable buttons», and placed additional resistors to the connection .. We get excellent Noise Sound in the output signal as a result .!

Today we make reconnection in a way that gets to us the possibility to connect a circuit board with boards from other toys and mix those signals ..

To continue the experiment we will need the same tools and parts as in the previous time ..

Instruments and parts:

  • Soldering iron;
  • Drill of various diameters (0.6-1.2mm ~ 8-20mm);
  • Screwdrivers; It is desirable to have a power supply for 3-9 volts, but you can use the batteries that come with the toy;
  • Wires for connection and soldering;
  • Connectors;
  • Switches;
  • Potentiometers for different values (1 Ohm ~ 1 M Ohm or biggest)..
  • We still need imagination .!

Also, we use some parts from Arduino (2.54mm Dupont Jumper and 2.54mm Pin headers) to prepare the circuit board in a way that it can be easily disconnected and reconnected again with each new connection that we can find in the process of experiments ..

Step 1: New Way of Connection

To prepare the circuit board (from the previous part) for the new way we need to disconnect all the wire's connections from an old scheme of connection which will allow us to connect several circuit boards together using the new way of connection ..

In this new way of connection, the minus supply directly connects to the output of the signal .. It's such a simple way that it's even funny (a sad fact) because a lot of circuits were been broke\burned to find and apply this .. Some of them had impressive Noise Sounds inside ..

The pictures show the old way of connection and a new way: minus supply directly connects to the signal output .. I made an audio recording to hear the result :

Step 2: Fighting Vehicle and a Robot

I found at a flea market these toys: a broken Fighting Vehicle and a broken Robot .. Their circuit boards are in perfect order and moreover, I hear the sound and understood that it would be great to connect them together ~ it should be .!

At first, we need to disassemble the toys and find a circuit board inside and remove all the wires connections ..

Take pictures from the contacts pole on a circuit boards to remember previous connections ..

When Robot has been disassembled we immediately found the correct resistor on a circuit board that replaces the potentiometer later ..

The Fighting Vehicle also worked well and the sound is perfect, but the resistor was not available at all .. When I made a picture of the connection, I find a place on a board there was a possible resistor conclusion with the inscription «R1» ~ to check it, I touch it with my finger, and the sound is great ~ it is worked .!

Step 3: Prepare to Testing

During the preparation, we use some parts from Arduino .. Connecting and listening to them again we got amazing noise ..

When I preparing a circuit board from the Robot, I decided to try one solution I found before .. The fact is that on the robot board were installed some additional radio components and it gives me hope for finding more interesting signal variants ..

Once, in the course of my experiments, I found that connecting to a circuit of capacitors gives a change in sound. After that, I came to the store of radio components and asked to give different capacitors of random capacity ..

Some of these capacitors we use on the board that is taken from the Robot .. I found a button that can switch to three positions and randomly selected three capacitors ..

Let's hear what happened with the sound :

Step 4: Final Connection

Now it's enough for us to simply mix signals at the output from those three boards by the new scheme of connection that we made at the beginning .. Just connect together signals output .!

Since the minus supply goes directly to the output of the signal, the connected circuit will look like in the picture ..

~

Now remain to put together all these components inside the toy body from the previous toy ..

Attachments

Step 5: P.S.

The Noise~Sound that we made in those two Instructables is just an example of how it works ..

I used a toy that we made a few times at live performances and it is better than the recording that I made to explain her creation .. unfortunately ..

Below, you can hear a few other examples of Noise~Sounds from the different toys that I made in that way .. And, there is much more time spent was been to finding and organizing circuit boards, finding sounds, and composing signals to .. make a lot of Noise ~

Step 6: P.P.S.

It should be noted that there is another way to connect different toys too ..

It is not necessary to combine circuit boards in one package because they can be connected in a chain: such a connection, you can reach completely different effects .. It can be safely replaced, made any supplement to create some playing .!

~

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