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Circuitbenders Forum => Circuitbending discussion => Topic started by: egr on September 11, 2008, 09:07:59 PM

Title: Change a mic for sampling to a line in?
Post by: egr on September 11, 2008, 09:07:59 PM
Couldn't find anything on this with the search, sorry if I missed it!

After browsing over some no-name sampling keyboards at a local used music shop (way to expensive for my bending needs) I started wondering why they all always only have a crappy mic to sample from and not a line in or at least line in as an option.

Has anybody experimented with switching out the mic for a jack (and some resistance I'm sure to limit the signal)?  I guess I need to look up info on the min and max output of whatever kind of mic is used in these things.

Help/comments/anecdotes welcome!
Title: Re: Change a mic for sampling to a line in?
Post by: justindeloop on September 11, 2008, 09:33:34 PM
well i have a bent dictaphone that had a crappy mic built in - i just straight switched it out for a minijack and it records fine from a mic or a 'line-in'... i didnt bother with a resistor as space was a bit of an issue. it works without one but if you dont want it to overdrive like hell then yeah chuck a little resistor in there. i guess you could check with a few different values first to get the 'optimum level' of volume, maybe even just throw a small pot in there

i suppose the only thing youve got to worry about is possibly frying the circuit by putting a too 'hot' or heavily amplified audio signal into the jack, basically anything that could carry a higher voltage than the circuit, but again throwing the resistor in should stop that from happening

anyway go for it, i wanna see some daisy-chained samplers!
Title: Re: Change a mic for sampling to a line in?
Post by: Circuitbenders on September 12, 2008, 10:06:06 AM
everything you need to know about interfacing anything with anything else is here

http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/#audiocir
Title: Re: Change a mic for sampling to a line in?
Post by: egr on September 12, 2008, 03:27:09 PM
Sweet!  Alright, since you had good results with this I won't hesitate to try it out.  I was considering swapping a Furby's mic for a mini-jack and then "force feeding" it all the clips of John Cleese I can find for a day or so.  :D