Dog Spurs Investment, Invention

RyanFodderRyanFodder Detroit, MI Icrontian
edited March 2009 in Hardware
A few weeks ago, I got a dog from the Humane Society named Sammy. He is a good dog. Well, mostly. The trouble is that when he gets bored, he finds random things to chew on. No big deal, I think to myself, I'll just put everything up on a shelf where he can't get it.

What I didn't think of was how my fancy Sennheiser headset cord hangs down when I set it on my desk. As I would find out this weekend, Sammy thought it was a good idea to tug on the cord until the cord ripped out of the inline volume adjust/mute switch. As I'm sure you've noticed, I like to use my microphone when I play games. A lot. Nothing like playing Left 4 Dead and screaming out hunter positions, or telling people that there are too many snipers on a team in Team Fortress 2.

So I invested in a new set of headphones on NewEgg. I thought I'd try out some 5.1 E-Deminsion (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826504004) headphones. The real story behind this is the invention I made to make up for the 3 day ship time.

Myrmidon, Marvin (another RL friend of mine), and I were about to play some Left 4 Dead. In order to make it seem more like RL, we use Skype to talk to each other in real time. None of this laggy VOIP stuff in game. The problem, of course, is that I didn't have a mic! In order for me to properly enjoy L4D, I really need a mic, and I rarely get to play with Marvin. I wanted to be able to talk back! What I ended up doing is pretty strange, but it worked surprisingly well. First, I looked around for an old headset, anything with a mic on it. No luck. Next, I looked for anything I could find; turns out that there were a pair of hang-on-the ear headphones sitting in a box full of wires and random electronic stuff in my closet. I also happened to find a 6 ft 3.5mm connection extension cord. I plugged this in, not expecting much. My confimation was Myrmidon saying something in the lines of, "Whoa, what was that?" This meant that it would at least work, if not super quietly. Messing around in the microphone settings, I happened to locate this nice little check box "+20 dB microphone boost." I checked this, then reset my speaker-mic in Vista.

I tried it out, and found that Myrmidon and Marvin could hear me just fine if I held the speaker about 4 inches from my mouth, it would transmit just like a normal microphone. I ended up hanging the microphone from my ruined headset next to my windpipe. Later on, Eggroll joined our game, and he could hear me through the in game VOIP just fine.

Thought I would share this incase anyone ever complains that they can't get their microphones to transmit very well (*cough GQ *cough) and needs a little encouragement!

Cannon Fodder

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    wait...

    you made a microphone out of an old speaker? ;D

    That's

    :life:
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    :rockon:
  • MyrmidonMyrmidon Baron von Puttenham California Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Pictures! I want to see how you mounted this damn thing.
  • UPSLynxUPSLynx :KAPPA: Redwood City, CA Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Outstanding effort! Though it makes sense, never though cheapo headphones would deliver like that. Second the notion for pictures.
  • RyanFodderRyanFodder Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Pictures tomorrow when I have my camera. Cheers :)
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    This should win a Ghetto Hardware Mod award! I love it.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009
    Nice work. Microphones and Speakers schematically are exactly the same. An electro magnet with a diaphragm attached to the magnet. In the case of a speaker you apply current to the wires in the electro magnet and it causes the magnet to move which vibrates the diaphragm; in this case the speaker cone. In the case of the microphone it works the other way. Air vibrations (sound) make the diaphragm vibrate which causes the magnet to vibrate . This movement induces a current in the wires. The difference is the physical construction of the diaphragm/cone and the magnet. The small in ear headphones work particularly well as mics as their small diaphragm is more sensitive to the vibrations. it is obviously not designed as a mic so you wont be able to use it to record your next number one hit record but for VOIP and general use it should work fine.

    Nice work and get some pics up!
  • MyrmidonMyrmidon Baron von Puttenham California Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    F#!@ing magnets. Real men use piezoelectrics. :P
  • AnnesAnnes Tripped Up by Libidos and Hubris Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    If I would've know this I would've saved a fair amount of money. I loved my old Sennheiser headset with the busted mic.
  • TiberiusLazarusTiberiusLazarus Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    CannonFodder wrote:
    or telling people that there are too many snipers on a team in Team Fortress 2

    Needs moar sniperz.


    Also, nice work. Pretty cool idea.
  • RichDRichD Essex, UK
    edited March 2009
    Myrmidon wrote:
    F#!@ing magnets. Real men use piezoelectrics. :P

    :tim:Ok OK. but I was trying to recall my GCSE Physics lessons and it was close enough as the were nearly ten years ago!:D
  • MyrmidonMyrmidon Baron von Puttenham California Icrontian
    edited March 2009
    Oh, no, you're exactly right about using magnets. I just like to have bias about my tech. :)
    RichD wrote:
    :tim:Ok OK. but I was trying to recall my GCSE Physics lessons and it was close enough as the were nearly ten years ago!:D
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