Altar Boyz Soul Sensor

[kicknargel]

Has anyone made the "Soul Sensor" for Altar Boyz? I'm looking for suggestions on a device to use that can display specific 3-digit numbers on cue, readable to the audience. I've looked at some LED scrolling message boards, but the ones I've seen aren't programmable/controllable enough.

I suppose I could use video, but I think an LED sign would have more impact. Analog "flip-card" numbers would be even cooler!

 

[avkid]

Like a 3 digit scoreboard??

 

[MarshallPope]

It seems like it should be fairly easy to fabricate this yourself. Get a DMX-controllable LED driver. Each number would have 7 segments, so you would need 21 channels overall. Draw out a grid in a piece of maso, insert the LEDs, and you're set.

 

[Van]

There are several IC's available that will drive a seven segment Common Cathode LED But it sounds as if you want a circuit that could easily interface with a computer. I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to build a unit that plugs into DMX then as its "cue' it merely displays the value of the DMX signal being input. It sounds a lot harder than it really would be. A direct drive from the serial port of a PC is also a possibility. or a pre-programmed series of outputs being driven from a PIC would also be a possibility.
Here's a good chip to start with for whatever you do.
MAX6958, MAX6959 2-Wire Interfaced, 3V to 5.5V, 4-Digit, 9-Segment LED Display Drivers with Keyscan - Overview

 

[Van]

It seems like it should be fairly easy to fabricate this yourself. Get a DMX-controllable LED driver. Each number would have 7 segments, so you would need 21 channels overall. Draw out a grid in a piece of maso, insert the LEDs, and you're set.

If you want to got the DMX route I'd think it's be much easier to simply use one channel of DMX and have the readout display whatever the input value is. As long as you only need numbers between 1 and 256, that is.

 

[kicknargel]

Wow, not being an electronics guy I was hoping for something a little more off-the-shelf. Marshal, I looked at some DMX-controlled drivers that should work, thanks. I think the programming time at the console would be a little rough, but it's an option.

Van, that website's pretty far over my head. I get the general idea, but couldn't determine what kind of input signal those chips take. I'm sure the folks there could help me out though.

Still open to simpler, quicker, dirtier suggestions. I'm thinking maybe a radar gun with remote display, then behind the theater we can fire baseballs at various speeds from a slingshot.

 

[Van]

What's the gag ? How many numbers ? How many different numbers? do they have to be the same numbers every night ?
maybe we can make this easier.

***found this while searching some other stuff. it is for a single digit random number generator, but you could easily tie 2 or three of these together and trigger them with one switch... it's worth a shot.
http://www.eleccircuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/random-number-with-led-1-digit.jpg

 

[kicknargel]

The gag is that there's this magical machine that senses how many souls in the audience still need saving. At the beginning of the show it displays a number that should be believable as the size of the audience. Periodically they call upon the machine, it whirs and spins (this could be the numbers flashing or other bells and whistles) and then displays the new count.

So it does need to hit specific targets on cue, and ideally is adjustable night-to-night based on the size of the house. It could be something like a Wheel-of-Fortune score counter, where an operator could just type in the digits into some interface throughout the show.

 

[cpf]

Does the athletic department have a portable scoreboard you could borrow? It would be the easiest solution if one is kicking around, you'd just have to mask the rest of it out (size might be a concern) and get a crash course from the normal operator.

 

[Pie4Weebl]

I think your best bet might be a flat screen "dressed up" a bit running powerpoint or something of that nature.

 

[beachbum]

Exactly what we did about 4 years ago when we did the show. We did a flattened hexagonal shape for the face, mounted a flat screen monitor in the center with "Soul Sensor DX 12" written around it in a suitably snappy type face, then worked out a powerpoint show with enough number variables to cover the size houses we normally get, and a lot of fades, wipes, etc to make it interesting. The entire thing was about 3' x 3' mounted on a small box type stand. that in turn was placed just off stage of the proscenium arch on a "road case" with a cheesy disco dumbell lighting effect behind it so that when the sensor was "calculating" we got a flashing/swirling/blinking effect on the wall behind it.

 

[chausman]

***found this while searching some other stuff. it is for a single digit random number generator, but you could easily tie 2 or three of these together and trigger them with one switch... it's worth a shot.
http://www.eleccircuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/random-number-with-led-1-digit.jpg

It might work, but because it's random, you could end up with a starting number of say 547, but then go up to 742, and back down to 278. Although, it could be potentially a very interesting com conversation.