HISTORY / INFO:
Press the red button on his collar and he plays a little tune like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', etc. While the music plays, four lights blink in sequence, not necessarily to the beat of the song. The lights pretty much do their own thing.
This was my second attempt at circuit bending. I picked this toy up at the OSU campus area Goodwill store (is it a Goodwill???) as well as a Kawasaki keyboard (featured elsewhere on this site) and a LeapFrog Express train (which is still to this day refusing to be bent). This is a black blob, so the only thing that I added was a pair of 'brass knuckle' body contacts that speed up the music and an RCA audio out. I was very happy with where I mounted the body contacts and the way this one came together. I had to cut out a spot where one of the securing screws was (in the hand) in order to mount the body contacts, but you can't tell at all so it's no big deal. I also like how the audio out comes out of the top of his head, like a little alien antennae.
PRE-MODIFICATION PICTURES:
Sorry, no pre-mod pictures for this one.
MODIFICATIONS:
1) body contacts - These brass-knuckles speed up how fast the music plays. Surprisingly enough, through, it doesn't speed up the rate at which the LEDs blink. Strange.
2) RCA audio out - This was the first instrument that I added an audio out to. Cost me something like $2.50 from Radio Shack because I somehow missed the racks of electronic components and bought one that was pre assembled in its own housing, which I later removed, which is why this sucka has a GOLD-PLATED RCA jack, Jack!
3) Bonus body contacts - Touching just the right body contact bring the music back up to the normal play-rate (when I added the body contacts, the pitch shifted down slightly). Touching one of the body contacts and the RCA out causes the sound to pitch downward.
POST-MODIFICATION PICTURES:
 front view |
 back view |
SOUNDS:
Sorry... none yet.
FUTURE MODIFICATIONS PLANNED:
1) I need to probably rewire the audio out. It works peachy keen if you plug it into a set of computer speakers, but I imagine if I tried to hook it up to a guitar amplifier or patch board that the output would be either too hot or non-existant.
2) Try to add a switch for constant on. This has a touch point to activate the sounds. If you hold down the button, it will play all friggin day, but I'd rather have a switch that I can just turn on so I don't have to try to tape it down or whatever. This will involve trying to solder directly to the traces which I haven't tried yet.
3) I could try to add a switch to choose between the body contacts and a potentiometer, but I doubt that I will since I like the way the puppy looks as-is. I'm proud of the aesthetics on this one and don't really want to ruin that.
Last Modified: February 13, 2005