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Circuitbenders Forum => Circuitbending discussion => Toys => Topic started by: mr ibrahiem on May 26, 2009, 07:37:23 PM

Title: coleco talking teacher
Post by: mr ibrahiem on May 26, 2009, 07:37:23 PM
Is it any good for circuit bend and if so what can you do with it
Any ideas,photos,schematics,midi kits for coleco talking teacher.
All information i would be verry greetful of for....
                   
                     I AM IBRAHIEM
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: LoFi-Ninja on May 27, 2009, 12:43:56 AM
Yeah they are very bendable... UTFSE
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: Matt the Modulator on May 27, 2009, 10:28:19 PM
there used to be a schematic on the experimentalists anonymous site here http://www.experimentalistsanonymous.com (http://www.experimentalistsanonymous.com) but its down at the moment. The coleco version is very bendable indeed and i remember that it was impossible to destroy!! simply get it to talk and touch points on the 2 larger ic's in there while its talking lots of stutter and glitch stuff.
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: ne7 on May 28, 2009, 02:21:58 AM
i always wanted one of these - but -never- been able to get my mitts on one - they sound absolutely fab :)

nate MC has some nice nfo up here:
http://www.natemc.com/gallery/album03/Talking_Teacher?full=1

:)
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: mr ibrahiem on June 21, 2009, 10:13:07 PM
thanking you all  the shematics has been make circuit bend ocloeco talkingteacher big success
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: Matt the Modulator on June 22, 2009, 12:23:38 AM
I'm having some issues with mine...

I think I'm losing voltage somewhere.  When I turn it on I hear a short crunching sound, which rapidly fades.  If I tilt it I can see there are still words, very dim, in the display...

I tried it again this morning and it started up fine, but the moment I tried a bend it took another a dive.  These batteries are new...
sounds to me like you have a loose conection as you move the board about trying bends its loosing power??
check the battery conection. the dim display mabe due to the display boards conatact with the main pcb. its not soldered to the board just screwed to a conecting board but then mine worked without the display fiited ?? dont give dude!!
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: oogmizie on June 22, 2009, 12:49:06 AM
I found it!  It was a loose wire.  :)

I am using the schematic - are all these momentary switches, excepting the pitch bend?
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: the_zombiest on June 22, 2009, 01:54:55 AM
toggle switches are great for this. Most glitches can be altered with a little resistance too. I think I used a 10k pot between glitch bends. There's a couple of nice tones too, but I'm not too sure where they are... but i did draw this picture which will probably help...

(http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/100/l_61295b1484e344cfa8d1235156af6607.jpg)
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: oogmizie on June 22, 2009, 04:50:31 AM
Wow, thanks!  I'll give those a try... if I can... I fixed that problem wire, but shook another one loose.  :-\
It's the smaller ribbon, detaching from the PCB...  right now it won't even turn on... dammit.
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: Circuitbenders on June 22, 2009, 02:11:33 PM
is there a post missing by oogmizie in this thread?

matt seems to have quoted one which doesn't exist, at least not on this thread anyway.
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: oogmizie on June 24, 2009, 02:32:21 AM
is there a post missing by oogmizie in this thread?

matt seems to have quoted one which doesn't exist, at least not on this thread anyway.

Yes, I deleted the post when I found the wire, but he was already writing a response...



This toy is killing me!  I've hooked up about 10 toggle switches, reattached the ribbon to the LCD... now when I hit the power button, it gets a little power but turns off immediately.  When I hold the power button down, it gives a jumbled display and after about 3 seconds it'll emit a tone.  I don't even know where to begin looking...

Any suggestions on how I could fix this thing!?

I noticed one of the ceramic capacitors got really hot while I was soldering - is it possible I burnt it out?  Does this sound like a capacitor problem?
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: the_zombiest on June 24, 2009, 09:28:19 PM
check EVERY wire at both solder points for straggly bits, solder bridges, weakness... including the power wires.
Check that the matrix membrane is in its connector fully.
Make sure your pitch pot is suitable adjusted.
and if all else fails, desolder a bend and check if it's working, if not, move onto the next and slow cry over the hours of hard work wasted  :'(

Its happened with a few of my bends and it's really annoying.
good luck.
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: Tyler1144 on July 27, 2009, 03:48:21 AM
(http://homepage.mac.com/tmckaskle/bending/images/Talking-Teacher-1.jpg)

Hope it helps....i got mine on ebay for $5 :)
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: zephler on August 19, 2009, 10:57:46 PM
That scan is nice, but I have never gotten the "fire" loop to work, or practically any of the others ones to work how the descriitions describes - don't get me wrong, I have found around 10 totally awesome bends that have involved using these points but mixing them up a bit - I wonder if the scan is for a different model of talking teacher?
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: Circuitbenders on August 20, 2009, 12:34:15 AM
is yours a matchbox talking teacher or a coleco?
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: SineHacker on August 20, 2009, 01:15:43 PM
there's a talking teacher "analogue glitch synth" on ebay for £85 at the moment  :-\ I thought you only added a couple of switches to make it glitch? oh well I suppose we've had this conversation before!!
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: zephler on August 25, 2009, 09:34:11 PM
mine is a coleco - those points never do what they say they do on that scan...
Title: Re: coleco talking teacher
Post by: Circuitbenders on September 09, 2009, 12:33:13 PM
Matchbox ones can't have a pitch control added without messing around with external oscillators if i recall correctly. Otherwise they are more or less the same.

mine is a coleco - those points never do what they say they do on that scan...

Thats a bit weird isn't it. I've tried opening up two seemingly identical Coleco models and someone elses bends or notes i've made for a previous machine might work on one of them but not on the other.

Has anyone else encountered the mystery of the expansion carts? Every Matchbox version i've seen always comes with an expansion cartridge plugged in above the battery compartment. If you open the cartridge up theres a bare circuitboard inside with nothing on it apart from a single wire link, which makes absolutely no difference if its there or not. In fact the whole cartridge makes no difference if its there or not.  :-\