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Home made mic? — Parallax Forums

Home made mic?

EverQuriousEverQurious Posts: 48
edited 2009-06-26 18:29 in Accessories
This is not exactly the right place for this question, but you all seem to have insight into many things.
My question is could I use the piezo speaker that comes with the W.A.M. parts pack as a temporary microphone for my computer.
My son seems to have wrecked mine. I wasn't sure if the impedance or output levels would be acceptable to the MIC in jack on my sound card.
I was just thinking of running a shielded cable from the speaker to a 1/8 phone plug.
Can you tell me if that would work or direct me somewhere I could read up on this and make it work until I replace the mike.

OR IS IT WORTH THE TROUBLE

Thanks, any insight would be helpful

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EverQurious

Comments

  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-06-13 20:50
    EverQ - there are many sources of very inexpensive small mics --- don't bother with it, just get one of those. (And this probably is the right place to post as a MIC is, strictly speaking, a sensor [noparse]:)[/noparse] You can always post in the Sandbox if you're not sure.

    - Howard

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  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,566
    edited 2009-06-14 13:47
    EverQurious,

    Generally a piezo type of mic is good for clipping to a musical instrument (i.e. acoustic guitar, violin, etc.) so that it can be made electric or simply to add to the recording soundtrack, but it's not that ideal for picking up voice.

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    Beau Schwabe

    IC Layout Engineer
    Parallax, Inc.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2009-06-14 19:24
    MSI piezo film works quite well as a microphone if it is stuck to the base of an expanded polystyrene cup.

    Leon

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    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM
    Suzuki SV1000S motorcycle
  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-06-14 20:46
    > stuck to the base of an expanded polystyrene cup.

    LOL - that would indeed work. ( Leon, why do I have the feeling that you've also trying stringing two tin cans together by taught wire for a telephone ? )

    - H

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  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2009-06-14 22:18
    I tried that when I was a kid, and wired two headphones together as a sort of intercom between my brother's room and mine.

    Leon

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    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM
    Suzuki SV1000S motorcycle
  • FranklinFranklin Posts: 4,747
    edited 2009-06-14 23:26
    Updated cans on a string hackaday.com/2009/06/14/communication-anachronism/

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    - Stephen
  • CounterRotatingPropsCounterRotatingProps Posts: 1,132
    edited 2009-06-15 00:10
    Leon said...
    I tried that when I was a kid, and wired two headphones together as a sort of intercom between my brother's room and mine.
    I'm with you on that one - we punched a small hole in the closet wall between my room and my sisters and wired up a pair of the old-school plastic telephone handles.
    Stephen said...
    Updated cans on a string...
    Hmmm ...·Stephen ...·looks like that fibre optic cable can't be pulled tight enough...

    tongue.gif



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    Got Electrons?
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2009-06-16 01:42
    I have used a piezo speaker as a temporary microphone as a sensor input with a Basic Stamp. It responded better to very high tones, whistles, rushing air, hissing sound, most were loud high frequency sounds. Sensitivity was low with a simple circuit. I expect it would have insufficient frequency response and sound quality for common speech to be used without any supporting circuitry, such as a preamp, for a computer application.

    humanoido

    Post Edited (humanoido) : 6/16/2009 1:50:20 AM GMT
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,664
    edited 2009-06-16 05:47
    This is not so much a solution for EverQurious, but on topic. I remember being thrilled as a kid by a carbon microphone I made from a plan in Popular Electronics, using a pencil lead (graphite). It sensed vibrations it picked up in contact with a wall or table. The resistance changes depending on the force of the contact between the pencil lead and the support.

    The one in the photo was an impact sensor, hooked up in a voltage divider with a 10 kOhm resistor and then directly to a Stamp pin. The graphite extracted from a #2 pencil is suspended loosely in the cages made from 20 gage wire at the ends.
    DO
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  DEBUG ?result
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    Tracy Allen
    www.emesystems.com

    Post Edited (Tracy Allen) : 6/16/2009 5:52:57 AM GMT
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    209 x 235 - 16K
  • EverQuriousEverQurious Posts: 48
    edited 2009-06-26 03:27
    Thanks for all the input ( the tin can idea might make a good back-up ) elsewise it was just an idea but as many obviously not a real good one.
    Guess i will just have to take the lock off my wallet and buy a mike..
    Thanks to all... love this site.

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    EverQurious
  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    edited 2009-06-26 16:24
    The internal PC speaker can also be used as a microphone but it needs to be amplified.
  • EverQuriousEverQurious Posts: 48
    edited 2009-06-26 18:29
    Thanks Kwinn and all the others that replyed.

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    EverQurious
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