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Wearable Cyberman voice changer

Started by wayne venomous, Nov 11, 2012, 12:31 am

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wayne venomous

Nov 11, 2012, 12:31 am Last Edit: Nov 11, 2012, 12:32 am by wayne venomous
Just though I'd share something that I'd been challenged to do recently.

The Dalek ring modulator I built in my other thread can also do another well-known Doctor Who monster voice as I'd previously demonstrated in this video:


Now, using massive guitar amps to get the sound is all well and good but someone challenged me to build a wearable Cyberman voice changer that would fit inside one of those Cyberman voice changer helmets so they could use it in a costume.
So I tried a bit of slimming down of the unit:
cybermanringmodboard.jpg

The carrier sine wave is recorded onto the MP3 player at this stage - not an ideal solution but it helps:


Eventually I managed to find a digital oscillator to provide the 120 Hz sine wave carrier tone which means I can power everything off one power source and I can now start installing it into a Cyberman voice changer:
helmet2.jpg

Here's me trying out the final unit:


And of course, here's my Daughter Kat trying it out too:


I was pretty amazed at how bad the standard Cyberman voice changer helmets are. Mind you, once I'd stripped the original electronics out it became pretty clear that it's down to cost. One of the transformers in my ring modulator circuit probably cost more than the entire electronics in the original unit!

tony farrell

To mis-quote David Banks: This is excellent! You've done amazingly well to cram all those electrics into such a small space!
I also love the idea of being "upgrated" but, is it canon?  ;D

Tony

Rassilons Rod

In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

wayne venomous

Thanks guys!

It's quite surprising how the positioning of the speaker has a massive influence on the overall Cyberman voice effect (particularly the "ringing" effect). If the sound bounces off a surface, it sounds much better.

Rassilons Rod

Where is it? Where does the sound come out?
In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

DoctorWho8

There's a joke really wanting to come out. :D
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

wayne venomous

The blue speaker/amp thingy that I'm wearing in one vid and the one that's aimed at the wall in the "setting the distortion" vid - that's where the sound is coming from.

I did try to use the original speaker of the Cyberman voice changer helmet as I was curious what it would sound like:

Not very good is the answer (the scream sounds pathetic!) but it's still better than the original voice changer circuit it came with.

Rassilons Rod

In the cities in the streets there's a tension you can feel,
The breaking strain is fast approaching, guns and riots.
Politicians gamble and lie to save their skins,
And the press get fed the scapegoats,
Public Enema Number One.

wayne venomous

Here's an update on this. I find it kind of ironic how, in order to get more futuristic alien voices I seem to have to use older and older technology!  ;D

I've started using valves (or vacuum tubes depending where you are in the world). The idea is the valve gives a clipping distortion effect whilst not having to use a big speaker to give the Cyberman "ringing" effect:


As mentioned in the video, the valve/vacuum tube does cause a problem regarding portability but I'm currently trying to get this to work with an RCA Nuvistor valve, which not only is considerably smaller and metal rather than glass, but it uses a lot less power too.