DIY Talkbox

[Assassin]

Ok so, two weeks ago when searching stuff about talkboxes, I came across these videos on Youtube. I'd recommend to watch the first one before reading this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EIQxwotn3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLxpHMo4fMs

This looked pretty cool, so I got off my lazy ass and decided to make one myself!

After buying all the stuff I (thought) I needed, I got to work. But it wasn't as easy as I thought. At first, I used a simple little speaker, and attached it with an input jack to the headphone jack off my amp. But it didn't really went loud so there came no sound from the plastic tubing at all. Then I tried it with a mini amp placed in a box full of isolation matterials, and then placed the tubing in it, but it didn't damp the sound well. I also tried connecting the mini amp to pc speaker in a Tupperware box wrapped in alot of tape and aluminium (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/crapbox.png), but it was too soft. I worked on this simple project for over 2 weeks, and after destroying numerous Tupperware boxes and drilling a shitload of holes, I finally came up with the best result, what I'll post now.

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HOW TO BUILD AN AMAZING TALKBOX

What I used:

A mini amp (20€/30$)
Plastic tubing (3€/4,5$)
A horn driver (8€/12$)
Some plumbing shit (2€/3$)
Isolation material
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32€/45$ (Talkbox costs over 100$)

Ok so, after I figured it wouldn't work well and be bad for my amp, I got out and bought a mini amp:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/f9f3_1.jpg

I also went out to get a cheap horn driver:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/horndriver.jpg

What I did next, is open the mini amp, and connecting the horn driver to the wires that originally were connected to the amp speaker.
Here's a scheme:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/schematic.png

I got some free isolation matterial from my brother's school and made a box out of it.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/isolation1.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/isolation2.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/isobox.png

Then, I went to the plumbing department of my local DIY store and bought some parts that fitted on the horn driver to the plastic tubing (like this example (http://alexplorer.net/guitar/projects/talkbox1.jpg)).

First, I used this rubbery tubing:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/rubbertube.png

But the sound got a bit lost because of its rubber base, so I bought a more plastic based tube. This one carried the sound better, but is less comfortable as it's much harder to bend, so the choice is up to you.
I taped some of the rubber tube on the plastic one so it's better for my mouth:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/tubeend.png

At last, I placed it all in the isolation box I made, taped some nice plastic material around it for a nice look and made holes in it for my guitar cable and the tubing.

The finished piece:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/finishtalkbox1.png

I have to say I'm pleased with how it sounds. It doesn't go really loud, but that's normal, as normally there is a mic placed next to it.

Sample (http://media.putfile.com/Talkbox-Sample) (I'm not masturbating it's a crappy mic)
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You can try other things, like using tupperware boxes, or be creative with Lego, but this is what I found the best with the limited things I had at home. You can also built it in a switch pedal, but that's a bit more advanced, I might try it someday.

this took me more than 1 hour to write so if you tldr me i'll fucking kill you

[PyroOwned]

Your final looks so much better than the first two videos. Nice job. :thup:

[fabz]

This looks fucking badass. I'm going to try it soon and post it

[Pig Fucker]

That is really cool. Yours both looks and sound great, expecially for a homemade one. I was planning on doing this same thing with Mootbooxle's guide, but this'll help out a lot.

And, just so you know, your "a Tupperware box wrapped in alot of tape and aluminium" link is bad.

[fabz]

So I watched both videos again and I also saw your diagrams. Are you not plugging this into an amp? How are you recording the sound?

The coolest thing about those expensive ass talk boxes is you can plug them into an amp.

[Pyro]

Man those are all pretty great, but im sure that yours sounds a lot better in real life, the mic is kinda making it sound not that impressive, I mean it works, and it looks better than the ones in the videos. But yeah, try amplifying the sound somehow.

[Assassin]

So I watched both videos again and I also saw your diagrams. Are you not plugging this into an amp? How are you recording the sound?

The coolest thing about those expensive ass talk boxes is you can plug them into an amp.
Well, the little amp on a battery is what I use to drive the horn driver. I'll put it in a diagram:

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e350/de_nick/scheme.png

Like I said, you can also take out the motherboard and input jacks and stuf and put it with the horn driver in a pedal.

I recorded the sound by taping an mp3 near the end of the tube.

Moot Booxle's guide is good if you don't want to spend alot of money.

Also, normally the end of the tube is taped next to a mic which goes to a speaker itself, so it's not necessary that the sound of the talkbox goes louder than your singing voice.

Dead link is also fixed.

[Matterialize]

You don't actually have to speak, do you? I thought you just shaped your mouth to change how the talkbox sounds.

[Assassin]

Yup.

[exetra]

When I think of a talkbox I think of an effect that uses a series of resonant bandpass filters to emulate vowel sounds rather than physically using your voice to do so. And you're using Daft Punk as an example which leads me to believe that talkbox is the new word for vocoder :S

Still, quite a nice DIY result.

[Assassin]

With a vocoder you have to actually talk. I also used Daft Punk for the simple fact that I don't really know alot of talkbox songs.