Applause-O-Meter

March 22, 2006 4:54 PM

Make/Buy an Applause-O-Meter?

My friend runs a comedy showcase competition and I was thinking it would be great to set him up with an applause-o-meter. You know, the kind with the big red arrow that tells you who's getting the most applause. (Maybe a laugh-o-meter would be more appropriate?)

Does any one know anything about ____-o-meters? How to make one? Where to buy one? Have googled some, but to no avail. You guys are smarter than that google company anyways.

posted by prettyboyfloyd to grab bag (12 comments total)

Makezine

I don't see any premade. You probably just need somebody who knows a tiny bit about electronics to rig a sound meter to some lights on a board.
posted by designbot at 5:15 PM on March 22, 2006

Make. Should have gone the extra mile, thanks. The laptop solution looks intriguing. I also like the idea of the 'turk' seems like more fun.
posted by prettyboyfloyd at 5:20 PM on March 22, 2006

Im pretty sure "applause-o-meters" consist of a microphone and an amplifier. Then, instead of using the output signal to power a speaker it could be connected to some sort of sensitive Vac meter, which would effectivly register a difference in applause levels if calibrated correctly.

you could also explore this route

I cant think of any east way to *make* one that wouldnt require at least some electronics background. However if you are looking to buy one i would refine your search to be "sound pressure level meter" or just "sound pressure meter"
posted by I_am_jesus at 5:24 PM on March 22, 2006

You want a Decibel meter.
posted by b1tr0t at 5:45 PM on March 22, 2006

Are you going for the whole comically oversized arrow, pointing to the humorously named categories on different colored wedges thing?
posted by potch at 6:15 PM on March 22, 2006

Yes - the different colored wedges thing is essential. Comic red arrow as well.
posted by prettyboyfloyd at 6:19 PM on March 22, 2006

A decibel meter that produces volume sensitive output in a form that could be linked to a servo motor with the arm on it would probably be the way to go. It would then just be a matter of adjusting the sensitivty of the servo to only let the arrow rotate through the necessary range. If you went with the classic Turk idea though, you could always have it spin in circles if the act was tremendous.
posted by potch at 6:25 PM on March 22, 2006

Thanks. I just realized that the newer version of Audacity has a meter toolbar. Thinking of exploring this (maybe with a mic?) along with the spinning arrow gimmick. Ideas are good but implementations the thing...
posted by prettyboyfloyd at 6:46 PM on March 22, 2006

Well, back at my competetive comedy club, our Applause-o-Meter was a guy with a microphone who made blippy sounds and then awarded the points based on his perceptions.
No big red arrow, but effective (the crowds liked it). He had all kinds of fun with giving the first team a 2 and the second -5, or a big difference in applause would get the teams an 8.5 and an 8.6.
posted by ArsncHeart at 7:23 PM on March 22, 2006

Oh...and the other good thing about it not being 100% accurate - sometimes in comedy you have to fudge a little.
posted by ArsncHeart at 7:24 PM on March 22, 2006

Although the servo control is a nice idea, getting it all working might be a pain. The tough part is going to be the linkage between a decibel meter or a pressure meter and the servo. I'd propose using a person as a linkage. that is, someone off stage reads the db meter and rotates a knob on his control board that controls the servo. You could also make it MUCH lower tech. If the big red arrow and board are big enough, you can just have the guy behind it, rotating the shaft with the arrow on it. Or, you could have a pulley on the shaft connected to a wheel offstage that you push or pull. For these more mechanical approaches you could have pretty much any decent prop guy put something together for you. For the dB-meter controlled servo... well, you'd need some EE skill, some finesse, some money, and probably some luck.

If you were going the dB meter route I'd probably recommend an electronic display, cut out the clunky analog display entirely.
posted by RustyBrooks at 8:27 PM on March 22, 2006

I'd probably recommend an electronic display, cut out the clunky analog display entirely.

it sounds like the clunky analog display is half the point - cornball TV nostalgia stuff.

you might want to rig up something like this. the higher the current, the further the arrow moves. take a microphone and plug it into a full-wave rectifier. probably going to need to amplify the signal if you want to be able to move a big arrow, but you'll probably only need a dinky amp.

likely you can get the parts at a radio shack or fry's sorta place; if not, look around online. you can probably find an amp that rectifies the input if you look hard enough.

have fun! sounds like a cool project.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 9:37 PM on March 22, 2006