Super simple outdoor audio setup: fake wind chimes

May 31, 2017 2:33 PM

One of my neighbors is looking to replace her extensive collection of wind chimes with a recording that can be turned on and off at will. I'm trying to help her find a good replacement setup.

We really need these features:

• Self-contained/portable (so it can be moved on and off the balcony easily)
• Simple to control (on/off and volume are the only necessary controls)
• Ability to play wind chime sounds. This could be by playing an audio file from an SD card or flash drive or the like (to me this seems like the easiest way), playing a CD (similar, but moving parts might not be 100% ideal), or some sort of device that actually has a built-in wind chime sound.

We would very much like these features:

• Wall power (as opposed to battery power)
• Directional speaker (so it won't bother other neighbors)
• Durability, ideally including waterproofness

I've seen people post about rigging stuff up with a Raspberry Pi or similar. They seemed to be detecting actual wind to trigger a sound; we don't care about that, so I'm hoping this can be a lot simpler.

posted by likedoomsday to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

something like this maybe? "Wind chimes" are listed as a sound. I've seen similar things to this, also; you could probably find something cheaper. (edited to link to one that's not sold out)
posted by The otter lady at 2:49 PM on May 31, 2017

Here's another... and another.. and another... these are just ones that include "wind chimes" as a sound option.
posted by The otter lady at 3:11 PM on May 31, 2017

Alternately, do they still make things like iPods? a little doodad that you record your sounds onto? One of those, loaded with windchime loops, and a small portable speaker like this might work?
posted by The otter lady at 3:14 PM on May 31, 2017

I think you'll most easily find all of the features you want if it doesn't have windchime sounds built-in. Here are a bunch of speakers with most of the features you want: Amazon search for 'waterproof "sd card" speaker'. These are almost all speakers that will play audio directly off of an SD card (usually microSD). The two questions to answer for any of those are:

1. Can it operate while plugged into the wall?
2. Will it just play whatever is on the SD card when you turn it on, or are more button presses necessary?

For the power question, the speakers I see are either battery powered or run off 12V (made for motorcycles). The battery powered ones most likely will work while plugged in, but it's something to verify first (or just buy one and return if it doesn't, I guess). You'd just need any USB power supply and the appropriate cable. The cable connection will likely not be waterproof even if the speaker itself is.

The interface question is harder to answer. You can try posting a question on an Amazon product page, but the answers those get are of varying quality. Given the limited buttons and lack of display on most of these, I'd expect they would start playing from the SD card with one or two button presses at most, though.

So a few that seem likely to meet your needs: 1, 2, 3, 4. (That first one at least says "Built-in Mp3 player automatically plays the music with a stand alone Micro SD/TF card." Somewhat promising.)
posted by whatnotever at 3:33 PM on May 31, 2017

Freesound has tons of wind chimes, so if you find the right delivery method, you can get lots of sounds there.
posted by limeonaire at 6:54 PM on May 31, 2017