# Prop Controller Alternative Question



## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hey guys! I have a quick question about prop controllers. I was wondering if there are any cheaper alternatives to a picaboo controller. What I am trying to do is something like what they have in the haunts at HHN, where a hidden actor presses a button, activating a strobe light and a brief sound effect. The actor pops out for the short duration of the effect, and then returns to hiding.

Any suggestions?


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## dommyboy (Oct 15, 2011)

I'd check out tstraub's controllers...they are fantastic! He sells them in the vendor forum. If you're into soldering, you can get the cost of a controller down to about $16 prior to installing a $10 mp3 player module, and it is a 4 channel controller capable of up to 4 minutes of animation & music. Also, he and his parter scubaspook sell pre made boards if you aren't interested in home assembly.


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## ibjeepin (Dec 6, 2008)

I use venuemagic and the build dmx relay controllers for pneumatic props. My skulls have Board of Chuckee boards from Skulltronix and well all my lighting is dmx. I use multiple m-audio firewire 410's for audio and use video control for several props. The sw is expensive but so are a whole bunch of individual controllers.


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## Rev Noch (Feb 4, 2009)

ibjeepin said:


> I use venuemagic and the build dmx relay controllers for pneumatic props. My skulls have Borad of Chuckee boards from Skulltronix and well all my lighting is dmx. I use multiple m-audio firewire 410's for audio and use video control for several props. The sw is expensive but so are a whole bunch of individual controllers.


I've been wanting to build my own DMX relay boards for a while now. Do you have any decent resources on chip selection/programming?


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## NickWaka7 (Aug 10, 2013)

Rev Noch said:


> I've been wanting to build my own DMX relay boards for a while now. Do you have any decent resources on chip selection/programming?


I too would love to learn about boards and their construction. I would build my own if I knew anything about them, but I am completely blind when it comes to boards.


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## ibjeepin (Dec 6, 2008)

NickWaka7 said:


> I too would love to learn about boards and their construction. I would build my own if I knew anything about them, but I am completely blind when it comes to boards.


I built the board from http://www.dmxprojects.com/ They work great. I use them to trigger all my props whether it a standalone or one controlled through venumagic, which allows me to create multiple different scenes to be played with the same prop.

I had a bunch of circuit boards made offshore and have a few left I just need to find them if anyone is interested.


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## ibjeepin (Dec 6, 2008)

dommyboy said:


> I'd check out tstraub's controllers...they are fantastic! He sells them in the vendor forum. If you're into soldering, you can get the cost of a controller down to about $16 prior to installing a $10 mp3 player module, and it is a 4 channel controller capable of up to 4 minutes of animation & music. Also, he and his parter scubaspook sell pre made boards if you aren't interested in home assembly.


Looks like a great piece and if you are handy with electronics this is a great deal.

I have a mix of animated props. Some with their own controller like the pico boo controlled via dmx relay and others that are run exclusively through dmx. The latter method allows me to change up the animation all the time with many different routines. It also allows me to offload audio to my computer and output the audio to appropriate speaker through Venuemagic. A stand alone controller only allows me to run one program on the prop with local audio. I have taken several props and used the dmx to relay interface like the jumping spider and the corn stalker from spirit etc. But when the corn stalker actually failed I had to rip out its guts and run it via my relay board and VM with the ripped audio from spirits videos to make him work lights and all and now he behaves.

Another key thinkg is when I run the routines through VM I can stop or reduce other props audio and lighting to focus on a specific prop being run. Its just easier when everything is controlled via computer.


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## Batbuddy (Sep 3, 2014)

DIY is the cheapest and best way in my opinion. I just built a 3 axis skull this year and used Halstaff's Frankenstein controller. He was kind enough to sell me a blank PCB and I soldered on the parts. It really depends on what you want to do. And how far you are willing to go with learning new stuff. There are many great people here to help, which ever way you decide to go.


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## ScaryLane (Jun 3, 2013)

NickWaka7 said:


> Hey guys! I have a quick question about prop controllers. I was wondering if there are any cheaper alternatives to a picaboo controller. What I am trying to do is something like what they have in the haunts at HHN, where a hidden actor presses a button, activating a strobe light and a brief sound effect. The actor pops out for the short duration of the effect, and then returns to hiding.
> Any suggestions?


An easy and low cost solution is just to plug the Strobe and amp into a power strip and have the actor press the power switch on the strip. When the actor returns to the hiding spot, he turns it off. As for the sound source, use a $10 MP-3 play on continuous loop that does not mater when the audio amp is turn on and off for the effect.

With this type of system, it's easy to build and reuse the parts next year.

With that said, I'm a computer engineer and I would design a circuit using the Picaxe Chip and write the program to start the strobe light and fire the sound effect when the actor pressed the button, like you requested.

But one thing I learned is that the simplest solutions maybe the better way to go.

Going with the power strip solution may have less headaches on the build and Halloween Night.


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