HELP: Vader Breathing on your costume

[wackychimp]

I have a 32MB MP3 player ($16 on eBay) hooked to a Radio Shack amp. The MP3 player is much smaller than a CD player and won't skip. I have just the one Vader breathing MP3 on there and the player can loop itself.

I put the speaker to the side of the chest box under the black body suit. Works great and doesn't get picked up by my helmet mic.

 

[The Manlet]

Hyperdyne Labs Vortex amp, with the voice changer i heard the vader chip
WORTH EVERY PENNY one of the few real time voice changers that work, i can't say enough good things about it and the people who work there.

 

[vaderfanforever]

Wish I could afford the Hyperdine model...someday, it will be mine.

In the mean time, I use a minidisk player connected to a Radio Shack amp. I put it under my inner robe. No one can see it, but it is fairly loud. I used to have the amp sitting on my belt behind me, but that made the breathing sound like it was coming out of my ass. So the amp, just site inside, and the cord goes throgh my robe to the disk player. It works no problem..

Eli
SL1922

 

[darthraider]

Anyone here tried Vader Voice Kit from Dick Smith Electronics? Any sample voice clip to share? FYI, I'm looking for an affordable real time voice changer to add to my Rubies helmet...

 

[decaturvader]

I'd never put speakers in the mask for starters.

For my two Radio Shack speakers:
I have a small baggie that slips onto my front, rightside Chest pc strap and is concealed by my robe. I snake the cable to a pouch on my back that has my Palm T5 playing an .Mp3 looping of his breath.

I also have a baggie on the front, leftside Chest pc strap for the amp providing voice.
Well, I happen to be one of those people who had the $400 Hyperdyne and couldn't get it to work. If I'd sit down with it, hold the powered mic juuuust right at my lips and "act", I would be pleased (sort of). Once I put the mask on....forget it. Nobody could understand me and it was more of a nuicense than good. Now, I'm in no way bashin Jim's work- as he is an awesome dude with cooler toys than I can even think of :thumbsup
In my specific case, i sold my Vortex and just used the powered mic with the Radio Shack amp. I found if I "act" using just those two items, my voice was bass-ie enough and clear enough for people to understand me...but, people still have problems which I attribute to the amps. I am working on a new system as we speak for speakers and placement.

Ok- time for big geek moment, but for those who haven't watched any of the video at my website, here is a clip from my interview where the guy puts me on the spot to use my Hyperdyne voice changer- unmasked. In this clip, you get to see me look dwarfed by a dude taller than me....a big ole goofie grin on my face from being on the spot and acting poorly. Just can't act without that mask on

Right Click Save Target as

 

[hyperdyne]

Hey, no problems here. I know Vortex isnt for everyone.

That clip is cool. It sounded like you were getting some feedback from the amp. That strange added noise you start hearing is feedback being pitch shifted, which gives a weird phasing type effect.

BTW, I try to recommend the directional boom gooseneck mic from Radio Shack to use with Vader, model 33-3012. It really helps out with feedback issues, and you can even use them with any other voice amps. Plus they just went on clearance from Radio Shack, they are now only $30. That is a great price for this mic IMO...

 

[Darth Domain]

While we are on this subject, i got a couple of questions.
Firstly, (this may sound strange). But when you have a mike in the helmet and speaker strapped to your belt etc. What happens if you are indeed being interviewed with a mike held at the mouth of your mask (by the interviewer. The sound will obviously come from you belt box so your normal voice is all that would be heard from "up top"?

Secondly, i actually do a good vader voice but am lacking the "electronic sound" to it. What mike and amp is suitable to do this i.e. not a voice changer as such, just the amp.
Finally, Jim, is there any chance of a sound clip of your vader voice off your kit,
cheers

 

[Darth Kahnt]

Originally posted by darthraider@Mar 26 2006, 06:00 AM
Anyone here tried Vader Voice Kit from Dick Smith Electronics? Any sample voice clip to share? FYI, I'm looking for an affordable real time voice changer to add to my Rubies helmet...

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Junk. Pure and simple. It's the Hyperdyne or nothing as far as Im concerned.

 

[hyperdyne]

Yes if the external mic is held by your helmet you will get some of your normal voice and some of the transformed voice. But your normal voice is also quite muffled by the helmet itself so hopefully the transformed voice will always be louder.

I am not sure of any amp that will give you the required 'electronic' effect. At a minimum you would need something that could do a tunable reverb, and then you would need some feedback mitigation since a full bandwidth voice w/ reverb has a higher potential of creating more feedback problems - especially when you add the helmet since it increases a feedback cavity.

Shoot me and email and I can send you a sample voice effect.

Originally posted by Darth Domain@Mar 27 2006, 03:48 PM
While we are on this subject, i got a couple of questions.
Firstly, (this may sound strange). But when you have a mike in the helmet and speaker strapped to your belt etc. What happens if you are indeed being interviewed with a mike held at the mouth of your mask (by the interviewer. The sound will obviously come from you belt box so your normal voice is all that would be heard from "up top"?

Secondly, i actually do a good vader voice but am lacking the "electronic sound" to it. What mike and amp is suitable to do this i.e. not a voice changer as such, just the amp.
Finally, Jim, is there any chance of a sound clip of your vader voice off your kit,
cheers

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[Jack Bauer]

I did the cheap ($30.00) MP3 player hooked to a speaker underneath the chest armor on loop.

I plan on putting the speaker in my new chest box. and having the sound come from there.

The voice is all in the helmet. Speaker mic and all. But It is my batural voice for now. Until I find the perfect Vader voice.

 

[royal vader]

Any one have any experience using a throat mic under the helmet. I should reduce feedback and should be less clutter under the bucket.

Any thoughts?

Dave

 

[Darth Phaeton]

Hey chris
The most effective way to do it is, a small MP3 player, not have to be expencive, and dont need alot of MB on it. Just copy a single breath section on it and it will auto loop it at the right inteval. A simple speaker system with a amp on it, and you are good to got. Place the while shebang on your belt in the back for great sound(will flow around your cape to the front)
I've gone a bit further to record a 3 minute section on breath, and then a line from vader (breath,Give your sefl to the dark side, breath) and so on. You can have my recording if you like.

 

[Huzz]

Hi Chris,

Re "HELP: Vader Breathing on your costume". Well, if that is happening, I guess you'll just have to put up with it. Sorry, that's bad I know.

I used this: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...rentPage=search

You can get them in Canada at The Source I think.

They actually sound decent, much much better than the stock Rubies thing. I connected them to a cheap MP3 player with Vader sayings and breathing. I have some that I think are pretty good and you're welcome to them.

If anyone has Adaptec or Roxxio cd/dvd burner software, there should be a merge track utility. Using that, you can merge copies of Vader breathing into one very long file. Or, you can have Vader say something, followed by as much breathing as you would like to add to the file. That's fairly realistic and allows you to find another comment on your MP3 player that might be suitable if you are trying to simulate Vader interacting with folks. I've done that with a number of Vader sayings, its quite cool. I have a particularly nice "Give yourself to the Darkside" that is loud, deep, clear, minimal background sound with no noise.

I initially attached my folding speakers right to the inside back of the dome with velcro. I left the speakers in their case because they have nice resonance and bass that way. It sounded great because Vader's voice and breathing sound came from where you would expect it to, and happily the speakers were not readily visible. But, they do add to the weight of the helmet right at the back. So I'm trying to think of a better way.

I think an Ipod with the screen would be the best MP3 player. I'd expect that with the screen, you could quickly select a suitable track and play it. Some cheap MP3 players should work fine for just breathing, but if you want to be able to quickly select different voice tracks "on the fly", you need something that's not cumbersome to use with a gloved hand. And the Ipod comes in black, so you could discretely place it on your forearm under the flange of your glove, for example where it could be readily acessed.

Dave

 

[TMP]

I also strongly recomend Hyperdynelabs Vortex system. No other sytems plays the sound and voice so clearly as this system. :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

 

[Lan-Ed-Tul]

jims vortex unit is the absolute best there is for vader voice i have one, and its great.
i use 2 waostband amps from AW2000, theyre 7 watt each and i use 2 of them. you can hear me without a problem.

i also used the headset mike from RS, but i cut off the head bnd part where it went into the oval shaped part the bomm come oit of. i hotglued that oval shaped part in the mask, and i can move the boom around to set it right in front og my mouth.

and the fan i have in there is in front of that, in the lower grill. wuth that mike and where u hang the speaker units, i dont get hardly any feedback issues, and the mike doesnt pick up the fan sound either.

 

[Vandark]

For anybody with the Rubies sound box, here's a quick fix.

Try wrapping a load of toilet paper (bog roll) around the speaker box, it makes for a less tinny sound with more bass.

 

[Lan-Ed-Tul]

or just toss it and get the hyperdyne, lol

 

[darthgordon]

Some of us can't afford a hyperdyne.

 

[SHalamar]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darthgordon @ Mar 22 2007, 08:47 PM) [snapback]1446064[/snapback]</div>

Some of us can't afford a hyperdyne.
[/b]

I don't think you can BUY a hyperdyne anymore...

 

[Lan-Ed-Tul]

i know, i had to really scrape the money up for mine. and yes also, his board supplier said they dont make that board anymore he was using, so hes tryin to find another board to use.