Help me playback some sounds on a costume prop

September 5, 2011 10:22 AM

Where do I find a portable and programmable sound board-like thing?

For Halloween, I'm going as Principal Scudworth from Clone High. That part's easy, but I'm also trying to build myself a Mr. Butlertron.

For it, I need some way of recreating his voice. Are there any little toys that have battery-powered speakers that I can record over? Alternatively, what do I need to make one myself.

I:
- am confident with computers, have access to windows/linux and can take care of getting the sound clips.
- am NOT capable of working any form of soldering, circuit board stuff, etc.
- Don't want to spend hundreds of dollars.

If I can use a little remote control to activate it, it would be perfect [I remember the little handheld soundboards with multiple keys, something like that.] Less awesome but workable would be some form of bluetooth communication, and if worst comes to worst I can have the activation on the prop itself.

Something like this has to exist. Help me... Wesley.

posted by Lemurrhea to Technology (4 answers total)

What kind of phone do you have? You could use a sound effects app with a small battery powered amplifier.
posted by fake at 10:40 AM on September 5, 2011

This is basically what the MP3 Trigger is for, but some assembly required.
posted by scruss at 10:48 AM on September 5, 2011

Response by poster: I've got a blackberry, but I also have an old android (1.6 I think) that still roughly works.
posted by Lemurrhea at 2:33 AM on September 6, 2011

Could you do something with one of the old Yak Bak toys? There's still plenty on ebay.
posted by doctord at 3:49 PM on September 6, 2011