Tommy of Roth Mobot pointed me in the direction of the SAW III Sampler from AllElectronics.com a few weeks ago. The device costs $2 and includes as set of 2 AAA Batteries! When it comes to bending there are a few interesting points and also some annoyances. The drawbacks include: no Loop Mode when play button is held, there is also a gap between each playback, and a audible beep at lower speeds before the audio starts. Despite the shortcomings there are a some very nice features. The recorded sample is stored even if batteries are taken out and the standard speed length of the sample is about 30 seconds. Low operating voltage only requires 3 Volts which is great and can be supplied with 5 volts by a 7805 Voltage Regulator without burning up the circuit. The best part is that the sampler is only $2 which is cheap as hell!
The board is fairly easy to work with and there are many components yet to be explored, but the pitch resistor labeled R4 was successfully replaced with a 1M Potentiometer effecting both playback and recording speeds. You can also trigger Playback by using an NPN PN2222 transistor with 2 outer legs connected to the playback button. When the Base pin of the transistor receives a positive voltage it completes the Ground circuit and will trigger Playback. As a bonus I marked a location on the circuit board to connect the Base pin to for a quasi-Looping feature. Pretty neat and at lower speeds works rather well. The Playback can also be triggered from an external circuit like an Arduino Board or some other Microcontroller, all you need is a common Ground between the 2 devices and connection for the Positive voltage pulse.
Last but not least the Output needs to be connected in Parallel with a 10 Ohm resistor, otherwise the volume is way to loud. This sampler makes a very nice candidate for rehousing or even incorporating into another bent device. Enjoy this bend and let us know you find anything else useful.
Awesome, this looks like a great intro for anyone getting into circuit bending. I think I may order some and house them inside an already bent toy (to create a built in sampler).
GetLoFi always coming thru with the cheap yet super dope projects!! Thanks. and keep up the great work!
Potar
Excellent, glad you guys like the ideas.
I’ll post a video of the sampler in action shortly here.
[...] is about 30 seconds.The batteries alone could cost you more – gotta love those surplus deals! – Circuit Bending a SAW III Sampler (Thanks, Doctor [...]
I was gonna add 2 “d” cells to make the sucker last. Now I have to figure the voltage regulator to make a 9 volt do the jobby job.
Awesome, yeah the 7805 should do the job nicely. Mine works on 9 V as well.
[...] a link that might save you a little experimenting on The Saw III… GetLoFi – Circuit Bending Synth DIY Blog Archive Circuit Bending a SAW III Sampler Shows the board, and various areas of interest, some modifications. Says it runs fine off 5 [...]
I have been working with a couple of these (very sensitive, can burn it out easily, careful when soldering to R4) and have found that rather than spaning R4 with a tuning pot, connect the blob side of R4 to the wiper and the solder point directly below R4 on the blob side to the outer terminal of a 1M pot, this slows the little guy down nicely.
I have been working to get a better loop out of it, and have tried to use a 555 (etc) timer to trigger the sample. if i trigger too soon, the sample stops, if i trigger too late, well there is a lag. I was hoping to use a NOT gate and retrigger the play button once the sample completed playing. I can’t find any point, though, to act as the trigger (NOT or not!). I though to trigger off the speaker as , once the speaker shuts off, the sample is complete, then retrigger. I haven’t figured out a good circuit for this process though, any thoughts.
-sam
This is a great, CHEAP way to hack a Staples “Easy” button! Most of the published “Easy” hacks use a voice memo board from Radio Shack, but that’s $12. I just picked up 6 of the Saws, and now I’m looking for Easy buttons! The two Staples I stopped at today were out, only got one, and it’s not Easy, it’s “Facil”!
Thanks!
[...] sound block contains a sampler pulled from the infamous Saw III toy, made popular by getlofi.com. The sampler is triggered by a simple oscillator. Samples can be picked up through the attached mic [...]
hey, this is a really great thread. i picked up a bunch of these and am currently working on padding down the input to take a line level. after that is done i plan on housing it in a case and adding a step sequencer to run through them. and finally after all that is done hopefully i will be able to post a schematic..has anybody else done the same??
Great thread! Is there any way to improve the quality of the input? Better mike or direct record from a PC speaker, etc.?
Tried this, worked fine until I tried to attach the 1M pot. The pad comes right off of the board, and it doesn’t work after that. Very frustrating trying to get it on there correctly
Yeah, gotta be super duper careful. Use thin flexible wire.
can you recommend a place to get this type of wire, I can never find it
Yeah, try Jameco. Please use the banner link on the side of the GetLoFi main page. Search for Kynar wire wrap it is the cheapest I’ve seen it anywhere. Great quality and will be in your hands before you know it.
another question, if I wanted to have two of these housed in the same enclosure, and be able to take input from the same source, but sample different input from that same source, how would I do it?
You should just wire all of the inputs jacks together ( in Parallel ). The units only sample when the record button is pressed.
anon: you should wire both inputs to a spdt toggle, and just wire the negatives together and the positives to either side of the spdt and switch.
These things are great at this price. Anyone know how to stop the tic noise that happens during playback?
Scott
Thanks for posting the schematic for this recorder. I want to run it off a nine volt too, how do I set-up 7805T voltage regulator? I’m looking at the data sheet but have never done this type of modification before. Thanx again!
@JEMZ, please take a look at the Yada Yada Yada looper article, I’ve described a way to connect the Voltage regulator there.
I found a great resource for getting these samplers to loop using the audio output and some logic trickery. The Tone God (be praised) has a good description for his ‘payback v1.1′ looper. its more than halfway into the article http://www.oocities.com/thetonegod/payback_v11/payback_v11.html
Now, i haven’t gotten this to work yet, but smoothing out the PWM speaker output fed into a logic gate should indicate the sampler’s play state, which then can be used with some more logic to retrigger. will let you know if i get this to work! i did a great cover of BBD’s Do Me Baby using five of these samplers and a barbie karaoke machine, hit my name for the link. live sampling really rocks the kids at the party!
Kynar Wire Wrap is so small and hard to use. Do you recommend using something else?
No, I recommend just practicing using the Kynar wire. Try tweezers to hold the wire inplace while soldering
[...] 3 DIGITAL VOICE RECORDER | AllElectronics.com $2.00, 30 seconds recording. GetLoFi – Circuit Bending Synth DIY Website with some additional information on re-purposing, and details of the circuit board. SALE! [...]
[...] Make Magazine pointed out back in 2008, GetLoFi has a quick write up showing what resistor to replace with a potentiometer for pitch control (R4) [...]
[...] I used one of the SAW recorders on my cannon (Foam/paper mache cannon) The hardest part of using it was eliminating the popping sounds. I got some decent results by hooking up an external switch to the record button to eliminate the mechanical noise of the built-in button. I also added a cap between the mic and ground. I think I got the cap hint info off the All Electronics site. Here's a writeup with some decent information: http://www.getlofi.com/?p=1152 [...]
The ticking can be cured with a 10 mfd capacitor on the wide trace below the mic connection to ground as per AT website comments. As far as melting the solder trace pad try using a stripped wire and a circuit writer pen to insure connection(or similar conductive epoxy and let it dry) then hold the connection together with a dab of hot glue and whhhaaallllaaaa your golden. Enjoy S.
[...] is a PDF of the bending instructions if you can’t make it. You can get the recorder here. Here’s GetLoFi’s original [...]
[...] is a PDF of the bending instructions if you can’t make it. You can get the recorder here and here’s GetLoFi’s original [...]
[...] bending blog GetLoFi in 2008 posted a detailed set of instructions for bending the SAW III sampler. Download the full PDF, and you can make one yourself, using the $2 part from All [...]
Thanks to GetLoFi for the great info and to Dr. Bleep for bringing it to my attention. Here is my version of this cool bend:
http://mickeydelp.com/news/78-circuit-bent-saw-iii-memo-recorder.html
Hey Guys!
This is the first hack/bend I’ve ever done. I bought 3 of the Saw IIIs just in case and sure enough burnt out the first one. But the second one is functional except for the fact that the SAMPLE WON’T LOOP! I’ve been going over mine vs the diagram to see what I’m doing wrong, but can’t figure it out. The loop just seems to repeat a clicking noise not the sample. I can only get the sample to play once and then stop. I’m wondering if I’m using the wrong transistor – a PN 2222a? Anyway, love the idea and hoping someone can help me make it loop. Thanks!
Hey Will,
Not sure why its not looping. If you have the correct connections it ought to, unless the design changed.
Make sure the transistor is positioned the correct way otherwise flip it over and try again.
There is more information from a recent Handmade music class on how to modify those here: http://handmademusic.noisepages.com/2010/07/austin-10/
Wow. Thanks for the quick reply! Unfortunately, I have looked at those instructions as well as switched way the transistor goes. I hope I’m not asking too much, but would you mind looking at what I’ve got so far to see if I’m missing anything? That would be rad!
http://tinyurl.com/2dg57de
Sorry. Here’s a clearer picture – http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o112/wwagler/loop_sampler.jpg
Ok. So I sort of got it to loop. Something to do with the record speed? HOWEVER! If I record my voice saying “1, 2, 3, 4, 5″ it only loops 1-1-1-1. I’m not getting the full sample. And it doesn’t matter which side of the transistor goes where, for some reason. I alternated and then switched transistors, but still just get the tip of the sample to loop.
The transistors I bought have the following numbers 40V 600mA 625mW hfe:375 nf:4.0dB. Not understanding any of that makes me wonder if the problem is the transistor? Any more help?
Thats about right, you have to slow down before recording. That way you can get a longer grittier sample in there. Its not perfect, but its there.
could i use this transistor ? http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_178511_-1
That should work. Also I will have these transistors in stock on the http://www.getlofi.com/parts little cheaper shipping from our store.
Howdy,
I bought 6 of them a year back not knowing what I’d do with them. Figured I’d open them up and do some bending someday. Either Elec. Goldmine or Jameco, someone like that, has a 20 second sampling chip on sale right now for 2 or 3 $. I wonder if it’s worth tying to build something up from that?
Rig
billbigrig@yahoo.com
Hey Bill,
Those ISD recording ICs are pretty great and actually can do some very neat stuff with them. The circuit to make them work is slightly more complicated with lots of capacitors for filtering out the noise. Most don’t have the annoying beep though, but there is still a gap in playback.
I highly recommend these kits they use the same ICs in crazy ways http://www.getlofi.com/?p=1327
All electronics has sold out of these gems, and I was wondering where I can find an available similar circuit?