# More Good News from Voodoo FX



## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...esktop_uri=/watch?v=ApignMWsU5k&feature=share

Cool beans.


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## Opus Penguin (Apr 19, 2004)

Looking forward to this. Hopefully not too expensive.


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## JeffG (May 10, 2004)

Oh my...!


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## Tiberious (Nov 20, 2001)

That's pretty darned slick!

Tib


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## Moderbuilderzero (Mar 29, 2013)

Will this kit hove Robot soundboard as well? Price?
Hmmmm??

MBZ


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## Opus Penguin (Apr 19, 2004)

Moderbuilderzero said:


> Will this kit hove Robot soundboard as well? Price?
> Hmmmm??
> 
> MBZ


Good questions I would like to see answered if possible. Also, when will it be available?


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## fxshop (May 19, 2004)

You will need to put your own sounds together, It comes with a few sound effect files but nothing from the Robot or LIS. Cost??? Cult TV Man will set the retail market cost... 10 Units have shipped to Cult, he should get them in a few days. I would snap them up quick, once I complete his order it will be a little wile before I have them availble again... 

If any one wants more info regarding the new Voodoochild circuit board call me.
VoodooFX 1-650-568-3400


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## Opus Penguin (Apr 19, 2004)

Just got my sound files to record on whatever board I get. I need one that will loop the sound of the internal workings of the Robot, but play the voice sounds when you push a button. Basically I want it set up so when you turn it on, lights come on and the sound of the Robot starts up. Then another switch will activate the audio sounds and light effects.


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## OzyMandias (Dec 29, 2004)

I've been mucking around with this board since I received it and my Robot last Tuesday. I thought you might like a quick summing up of the product and what it's capable of.

First and foremost, I have to say that this is not a kit for the electronically faint of heart. Unless you have a comfortable grip on hobby electronics, soldering, etc. and a basic grounding in the concepts of computer programming, this may not be the kit for you. Having said that, the board has 8 LED channels, and a 9th audio channel for playing background effects. Provision is made on the board for further enhancements that will be coming from VooDooFX; namely an IR receiver, two Servo controllers, and DMUX channels to allow a basic light mixing operation. None of these enhancements are operational on the board as it stands.

The heart of the board is the processor that controls the lighting and audio channels. These are controlled by a BASIC style programming language that controls light intensity and duration on the lighting channels, and audio and light synchronisation on the audio channel. NOTE: keep your audio file names shorter than 8 characters or the script will stop. (Found that out after a lot of pain, anguish and hair pulling) The language is simple to learn with only a handful of instructions, but extremely powerful in concept due to its variable code.

The board is about 10 cms long and 4-5 cms wide. Randy recommends building it into a base with good quality speakers for best results. A cursory glance and analysis after taking a few measurements shows me that the board _MAY_ fit inside the torso, if all the mounting pins and brackets are removed. It would be problematic to remove the SD card with the board mounted in the Robot, and speaker mounting may be difficult too. Be careful to protect the board from shorting out if you intend to go that way. Don't forget to leave room to remove the SD card too,

The board comes with a socket soldered on for a wall adapter, and a battery clip for a 9 volt battery which can be added as well. Provisions for a switch (supplied) are already on the board, which I will be adding as one of the STARTEK micro toggle switches that have been discussed in several of the B9 threads to the programming bay above the yellow LED.

Randy has written the documentation with lighting and providing audio for the B9 Robot in mind. There are some nice, clear photos of the mods you need to do to the parts to run the wiring for the kit. Randy did tell me he changed the assortment of LEDS he used after the docs were written, so you will probably find that the list in the kit doesn't match with what is provided, although it's fairly easy to nut out where everything goes, and Randy is available by phone to resolve any questions you might have.

The parts are nicely packaged. Each LED type is separately bagged and marked so you know what goes where. One thing I found with mine is the yellow LED that goes in the programming bay, that was supplied has a flat top, not a dome, so I'll have to sand it into a dome shape. There's two strips of rainbow link wire with plugs at both ends. If you are planning on running more than one LED per channel, you have to add resistors to all 8 channels to protect the LEDs. Again Randy supplies some and recommends other resistor strengths to vary the lighting from soft to bright. Heat shrink tube and hookup wire, and an external switch are also provided. A generous piece of frosted sheet styrene is also provided for the 'neon' voice box mod.

The documentation that I received was missing a few pages, making my early encounters with the board confusing. Randy has since supplied the missing elements and everything made much more sense. The lighting effects out of the box are terrific, and comprehensive photos help again here showing construction of light boxes to go inside the torso, and modifying the 'neon' backplate for voice synching.

Summing up, it is a board with huge potential. With patience and diligence it will provide some sweet lighting and sound for your Robot kit with minimal fuss. 

My only criticism is that the documentation needs further polishing to make things as clear as possible, and help minimise mistakes or oversights for the builder. 

I'll try and get a video or two of the board running the new script I've written which has the robot running off lines of dialogue with his characteristic 'whirclick' going on in the background and all the lights blinking.


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## Fernando Mureb (Nov 12, 2006)

Ozy, thank you for the detailed and helpful review. :thumbsup:


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## ThingMaker (Feb 22, 2014)

So it looks like the lights on the very bottom are not individual LEDs, like Mechalabs' unit? Am I right on that?


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## OzyMandias (Dec 29, 2004)

Yes, that's correct. The 8 lighting channels are set up 'out of the box' as follows:

1-3 - Belly lights (orange, red and blue flashing)
4-5 - Brain lights (white flasing)
6-7 - Chest lights (red and green alternating)
8 - Voice light (red synched with audio)

There are 4 LEDs set up as constantly on; one yellow for the programming bay, one warm white for the square chest buttons, and two for the white eye lenses in the brain.

Randy went the same route as the B9 Robot builders club members have gone to maximise the chest lighting, by constructing 'light boxes' out of .060 sheet styrene (not supplied). it's a simple concept and it focuses all the light from the LEDs into their specific areas. Clear photos showing how Randy built his are included in the docs. I would have thought a 1:1 scale parts graphic would have been a good idea, but it is not a complicated scratchbuild. 

The belly lights are separated from the chest buttons, and the 2 chest lights are isolated by some 7/32 plastic tubing (not supplied). The Voicebox is also isolated with it's own lightbox. This is a great idea, and saves you having to lightblock the inside of the whole model. So long as the lightboxes are a good fit, and lightblocked themselves, you won't get any bleed between effects areas. 

Something else to bear in mind regarding the effects channels is that they are set up to run 'out of the box'. So long as you back up the original files before you change anything, you can experiment with brightness and flashing delays to your heart's content. If you muck things up you can copy the original script back on to the SD card. No harm done! 

It is essential that you make backup copies of the original files on the SD card in case of failure or user error, you can put things back the way the were originally. Randy said he'll replace the files if you lose them, but better to back them up yourself!

The kit comes with a 512 Mb SD card, which will hold literally hundreds of audio files. The required format for the files is 16 bitPCM, 22050Hz, 352kbps .wav. Don't forget the 8 character restriction for the file names! Randy recommends the Audacity free audio editing software in the docs. I do too, it's very easy to use, and you can more or less set the preferences to save your audio in the correct format. The docs also state mono or stereo, but Randy said to keep everything mono when I spoke to him.


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