# Talking skulls test



## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

I put up a video on my 2006 updates page showing a test of my new talking skulls with the audio track I just completed for them. I wrote custom dialogue, and burned it to a CD with the left/right stereo channels driving the two skulls.


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## gmacted (Jan 18, 2006)

Very nice!

Did you use the Scary Terry audio circuit? Did you build it yourself or buy it? I plan on doing something similar next year, but I want to use a uMP3 player and a Prop-1 Controller.


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## DeadSpider (Feb 3, 2006)

That is great Necrobones. lol nice dialogue.


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

Yeah, those are the cowlacious scary-terry skulls. I ordered the pre-assembled kits, so all I needed to do hardware-wise was install the boards and battery packs into the heads. I still have yet to paint them, install eyes, and rig up AC power. I may replace the CD player with a small MP3 player.


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## edwood saucer (Aug 21, 2006)

A lot of fun - great job!


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Gotta love those talking skulls! Nice job, Necrobones!


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## ScareFX (Aug 18, 2004)

Nice test Necrobones. It's going to be great.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

NecroBones said:


> Yeah, those are the cowlacious scary-terry skulls. I ordered the pre-assembled kits, so all I needed to do hardware-wise was install the boards and battery packs into the heads. I still have yet to paint them, install eyes, and rig up AC power. I may replace the CD player with a small MP3 player.


Necro, trust me... you'll want to use a power supply or a wall wart to power those suckers. Batteries only last about 20 - 60 mins before they get sapped so much the motors start behaving funny.

Otherwise, totally cool. Welcome to the scary terry club.


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## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Nice dialog, those two should be a hit!


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## Brad Green (Jul 29, 2004)

Very Nice! Well, at least I know what to ask for this Christmas.


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

Zombie-F said:


> Necro, trust me... you'll want to use a power supply or a wall wart to power those suckers. Batteries only last about 20 - 60 mins before they get sapped so much the motors start behaving funny.
> 
> Otherwise, totally cool. Welcome to the scary terry club.


Thanks, yeah, I had assumed the batteries wouldn't last long. I need to dig through my old collection of unused wall-warts and see if I have 9V ones I can use, otherwise I'll need to run out and buy one or two.

Any idea how much current they draw? I'd imagine it's not much since they can use AA's in series. Probably less than 100 milliamps. I might be able to run them both off one wall-wart.


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## Zombie-F (Apr 12, 2004)

NecroBones said:


> Thanks, yeah, I had assumed the batteries wouldn't last long. I need to dig through my old collection of unused wall-warts and see if I have 9V ones I can use, otherwise I'll need to run out and buy one or two.
> 
> Any idea how much current they draw? I'd imagine it's not much since they can use AA's in series. Probably less than 100 milliamps. I might be able to run them both off one wall-wart.


Oh no, they draw somewhere in the ballpark of 600 - 700 ma EACH. The circuit itself draws very little, but when the damned motors are connected they draw a ridiculous amount of current.


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## Moon Dog (Oct 3, 2006)

Very nice job NecroBones!


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Zombie-F said:


> Oh no, they draw somewhere in the ballpark of 600 - 700 ma EACH. The circuit itself draws very little, but when the damned motors are connected they draw a ridiculous amount of current.


Which is why, of course the batteries drain so fast...

Nice dialog, NB! I think the importance of a good banter between skulls is underated. One could build all the talking skulls with professional expertise all they want, but without a good script, the effect falls flat. I would no more want to see a couple of skellies talking to each other saying inane and boring things anymore than I would want to watch two people do it. You really nailed it. Great job!


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

Zombie-F said:


> Oh no, they draw somewhere in the ballpark of 600 - 700 ma EACH. The circuit itself draws very little, but when the damned motors are connected they draw a ridiculous amount of current.


Yeah, after I wrote that I tried digging around a little. Figured out that AA batteries supply about 1100 mah total, but with decreasing efficiency the faster you draw from them. So extrapolating from that, since you said they last maybe an hour, the skulls will each draw a maximum of roughly 1000-1100 ma, but probably a bit less. 600-700 sounds reasonable.

Radio Shack has a 9V wall wart that can supply 1500, so I may try to get that one and power them both. I may also try to measure the draw a bit with a multimeter if I can rig it up right... lol.


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

Dr Morbius said:


> Which is why, of course the batteries drain so fast...
> 
> Nice dialog, NB! I think the importance of a good banter between skulls is underated. One could build all the talking skulls with professional expertise all they want, but without a good script, the effect falls flat. I would no more want to see a couple of skellies talking to each other saying inane and boring things anymore than I would want to watch two people do it. You really nailed it. Great job!


Thanks! Glad you like it. I agree, and in fact, I think you can pull it off with really bad humor if the delivery is good. I wanted the conversation to flow "naturally" and yet hit a set of pre-determined jokes and puns.

I'm not much of a voice actor, but I tried to get it to sound good on the first take. Ended up only re-recording a few of the lines. Both voices ended up with raised pitch, to varying degrees, by speeding up the recordings... I spoke slowly with exaggerated pronunciation to make that work.


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

NecroBones said:


> Yeah, after I wrote that I tried digging around a little. Figured out that AA batteries supply about 1100 mah total,


don't forget NIMH AAs that can hold about 2500mah.


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

Well, I went and picked up one of those 1500 ma 9V wall warts at Radio Shack. Works perfectly! Runs them both without any problems. 

Also painted them, and added eyes... though I'm not at all pleased with how the eyes turned out, but it'll do for now.


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## kerryike (Oct 5, 2006)

Zombie-F said:


> Necro, trust me... you'll want to use a power supply or a wall wart to power those suckers. Batteries only last about 20 - 60 mins before they get sapped so much the motors start behaving funny.
> 
> Otherwise, totally cool. Welcome to the scary terry club.


I have talking buckies and have been troubled by failing batteries. Could you please tell me more about "wall wart?

Thank you


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