On Demand Voice Playback
 

So, my fiance is an art student, and I'm trying to help her out with a project...and failing, so far :)

What she needs is something that she can rig a button to, that will trigger playback of a prerecorded sound. They need to be spread out over an installation, and preferably run on batteries, not AC.

She needs about a minute's worth of recording time.

They can't be expensive (we're talking art student, here...)

Sound quality is of vague importance...but not extreme.

Anything come to mind?

I had a hard time searching on Google and finding anything relevant.

Thanks people!

MPEDrummer

like a reel to reel tape recorder?

not to sound stupid, but why not just get a cassette player? you could rig something to hit play real easy. or multiple cassette players, for that matter. just a thought. good luck! :)

OK, I forgot to specify something :)

A cassette player wouldn't really work, because the idea is to have the project stand on its own...a cassette deck would need to be rewound, or have the tape flipped, plus if someone pressed stop in the middle, the next person to press play wouldn't get the full experience, they'd just pick up from wherever the previous person left off...

What she needs is something that could be triggered, and simply stop when it's done playing, ready to play again.

Radioshack used to have a little digital playback kit you could build yourself that would do pretty much exactly what I'm talking about...except I can't find it anymore.

MPEDrummer

there are lots of little voice memo recorders available that will record and then playback at the touch of a button... only problem will be in getting a minute of recording time... that's gonna be tougher to find. good searching!

continous loop playback?

No, it needs to be something that plays back on demand, and stops when it's done.

There's several different displays in the same room...if they were all just playing endlessly, it'd get confusing.

MPEDrummer

The Radio Shack kits were discontinued, but you should try calling around and seeing if any of the stores in your area still have them. Around here, a few of the stores have huge piles of discontinued stuff in the back rooms, and are desparate to get rid of it.