# Controlling Gemmy skulls without MIDI?



## berzerkmonkey (Oct 31, 2006)

I've got a few of the Gemmy talking skulls lying around, some of the "dueling skull" variety, and was trying to figure out how to modify them to speak with custom routines. 

After some digging around, the only hack I have found is the MIDI hack, but I don't really want to go that route, as I don't have a keyboard. It seems silly to have to buy one just to do this project, but is this the only way to go? 

Are there any other Gemmy skull hacks out there? If not, how does the MIDI thing work regarding output to the MIDIFY board? Is it a standard headphone jack, or something different?


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Check out this thread for the goodies: http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=6652


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## berzerkmonkey (Oct 31, 2006)

Terrormaster said:


> Check out this thread for the goodies: http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=6652


Ok, I'll do that and OHMYGODTHATSCONFUSING! Yikes...


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## Scottzilla (Jun 13, 2007)

berzerkmonkey said:


> ...how does the MIDI thing work regarding output to the MIDIFY board? Is it a standard headphone jack, or something different?


The Midify board comes with a cable that has a standard 5-pin DIN MIDI plug on one end (would go to your computer) and a 2.5mm phone plug on the other end (connects to Midify Your Skull board). The phone plug looks like a headphone plug but it's being used for MIDI and not audio. You'd need a computer or keyboard to control it.

Was that what you were asking?

Pretty much the only other way to do it (unless you want to play with microcontrollers) is to do an audio hack where you play your soundtrack into the board you build and it automatically moves the mouth based on audio level. That's what Terrormaster linked to.


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

I used the simple circuit in the first post in that thread to some success, both in the lantern and ultimately in my groundbreaker. I'll be happy to answer any questions.


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## psyko99 (Jan 11, 2008)

You could try the spirit ball hack
http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=4791

I've used it w/ success on a Dougie that didn't have a microphone.


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## berzerkmonkey (Oct 31, 2006)

Thanks for the input, guys. The wife won't let me spend the money on a 3-axis setup, so I need to slum it


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## CreepySpook (Jun 23, 2009)

Pending on how accurate you want the mouth movement to be ... 
you could use the motor for mouth movement and remove the wires that are strickly for the motor and connect them to a PC via parallel port and toss in a ULN in between ( for the power-amperage umph ) 
Or .. you could go a little more sophisticated and use a DC SSR and a 6 volt wall wart in between , or maybe slightly modify a KIT74 ....
theres MANY options . Don't give up the ship. 
I am not familiar with the exact one ( Gemmy skull ) you are talking about , but , if you could remove the skull cap , take a pic of the motor for the mouth and show me the guts and tell me EXACTLY what you are wanting to do , I can more than likely give you an alternative , cheaper than going a complete 3 axis skull route .


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## EricTheMannn (Sep 30, 2008)

you may want to check out http://www.cowlacious.com/ScaryTerry.htm its a similar circuit board that controls led's plus servo movement! just another way to make it easier, but if you have experience with electronics and don't mind to extra work, go for the circuit provided by Dr Morbius. it dose pretty much the same thing!

-Eric


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

CreepySpook said:


> Pending on how accurate you want the mouth movement to be ...
> you could use the motor for mouth movement and remove the wires that are strickly for the motor and connect them to a PC via parallel port and toss in a ULN in between ( for the power-amperage umph )
> Or .. you could go a little more sophisticated and use a DC SSR and a 6 volt wall wart in between , or maybe slightly modify a KIT74 ....
> theres MANY options . Don't give up the ship.
> I am not familiar with the exact one ( Gemmy skull ) you are talking about , but , if you could remove the skull cap , take a pic of the motor for the mouth and show me the guts and tell me EXACTLY what you are wanting to do , I can more than likely give you an alternative , cheaper than going a complete 3 axis skull route .


I used a home made parallel port relay board to do exactly this a couple of years ago. If you're just controlling the jaw, all you'd need is one channel. You could use this circuit and Vixen (free) and you could do this for just a few dollars.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

If you really want to go the cheap route you can probably wire the motor to a 5v wall-wart and plug that into an el cheapo lightning fx box (there's a place I got some from last year at $10 bucks a pop) then feed the audio into that. Essentially all it amounts to is driving the motor with an over glorified color organ.

I don't think that place has any more of (wouldn't be surprised if we haunters bought em out last year).

Here's the thread where we discussed it: http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=11826

I'll bump it and maybe someone knows another source.

EDIT: This is what you're looking for - http://www.lighterside.com/product/sale/christmas+tree+fx.do


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## scary rick (Dec 6, 2008)

I used the lightning board found on scary terry's site. I worked very well!


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