Desperately Need Electronic Help!

[Nycon]

Hey everyone!

I'm pretty new to electronics and have been working on a project for my college course and have run into a bit of trouble..

Basically i'm trying to find out if:

1. Is it possible to take sound from a microphone and feed it into a circuit which would then set off a trigger of some sort.

& 2. If so which components would I need to make it happen?

Essentially i'm trying to make a bobble head toy that bobs its head in time to whatever music is playing.

How I envisioned it was to have a microphone at the sound source, if it's possible put some form of filter on it so it eliminates frequencies over say 100Hz so that primarily the bass goes through the circuit which sets off a trigger that hits the bass of the head and sends it moving forward.

But yeah i'm really not sure where to begin so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Torben]

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Hey everyone!

I'm pretty new to electronics and have been working on a project for my college course and have run into a bit of trouble..

Basically i'm trying to find out if:

1. Is it possible to take sound from a microphone and feed it into a circuit which would then set off a trigger of some sort.

Yes.

& 2. If so which components would I need to make it happen?

At the very least, transistors, resistors, and capacitors. Plus a transducer of some kind (microphone or piezo element, say). And a power supply, of course. I'm figuring you knew that though.

Essentially i'm trying to make a bobble head toy that bobs its head in time to whatever music is playing.

Aha--in that case you'll also need an actuator to move the head.

How I envisioned it was to have a microphone at the sound source, if it's possible put some form of filter on it so it eliminates frequencies over say 100Hz so that primarily the bass goes through the circuit which sets off a trigger that hits the bass of the head and sends it moving forward.

But yeah i'm really not sure where to begin so any help would be greatly appreciated

OK, so the filter you would be using in this case is a 'low-pass filter', called that because it allows only low frequencies to pass while blocking higher ones.

Probably the easiest thing to do would be to Google for a colour organ, which is a circuit which blinks lights in response to various frequencies present in an audio signal. Simple ones which you'll find will often just have three channels: one for bass, one for mids, and one for highs. You'd only need to build the low frequency channel. You could use the light output line to power a transistor to power a small electromagnet and put a small magnet or chunk of steel or something in the head which the electromagnet could act on when energized. You could also do something with motors or servos or something but that would be more complicated and to my way of thinking would make the bobble-head lose its bobble (i.e. the head would probably look pretty stiff).

Just some thoughts. Good luck and keep posting; many of us will be happy to help you out.


Cheers,

Torben

 

[colin55]

Here is a simple DANCING FLOWER circuit that turns a small motor when the microphone detects sound.
The microphone has a long shaft up the stem of the flower and the stem is bent slightly so that when the motor turns, the flower bends and dances to the music. We sold thousands of these and could not get enough when they first hit the market.

 

[Nycon]

Just some thoughts. Good luck and keep posting; many of us will be happy to help you out.


Cheers,

Torben

Thanks so much for the help, it's definitely put my mind at ease about a few things lol..

Since i'm not all that confident in making the circuit myself, if I was looking for someone to make it what would they usually charge? If such a service exists

 

[arhi]

look at colins dancing flower schematic .. it is 5min to build, 2$ worth of parts and you do not even need pcb (you can spiderweb it for test ) ...

 

[Nycon]

Also i've been looking at different switches online, such as Sound Operating Switch - **broken link removed**
& Bass Beat Extractor - **broken link removed**

Which one would be most suitable for this type of project?

Thanks again for the help, this forum kicks ass =p

 

[Nycon]

look at colins dancing flower schematic .. it is 5min to build, 2$ worth of parts and you do not even need pcb (you can spiderweb it for test ) ...

Cheers man, thanks for the tip!

 

[Nycon]

Here is a simple DANCING FLOWER circuit that turns a small motor when the microphone detects sound.
The microphone has a long shaft up the stem of the flower and the stem is bent slightly so that when the motor turns, the flower bends and dances to the music. We sold thousands of these and could not get enough when they first hit the market.

http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/200TrCcts/images/DancingFlower.gif

Thanks for that, it's helped me out heaps =D

 

[arhi]

don't thank me, thank colin, he's the one that posted schematic

 

[Nycon]

don't thank me, thank colin, he's the one that posted schematic

True but i've got to do a heap of documenting along the way so even the tiniest facts are gonna look good on paper lol..