Using two singing fish, a singing bird, a wooden head, a Lynxmotion SSC-32 card, and VSA software, I put together a group of singing animatronics.
Most of my singers are hacked devices though, since I don’t have the time or NEAR the skill of Willettfx (I swear, his stuff will either be in an amusment park or a movie.)
A video of my “singers” can be seen at
youtube.com/watch?v=RrJLWUqiaPM
Totally awesome! Romshark, you um… you rock man! lol
Pretty Impressive 
Which one is you? - lol jk
Man - this is brilliant artistic expression. Very well done
LMAO! I loved it!
Excellent work!
Oh I forgot to ask. What software did you use to create the motion? Did you write something for the SSC-32?
Was sound level used to set the timing and range of movement for the mouths?
I’m using VSA (Visual Show Automation) from Brookshire Software ( brookshiresoftware.com/ ). It supports the SSC-32 just fine, including both servo positions and just on / off logic. It lets me syncronize the movement to an MP3 file using just a joystick or mouse, and it’s easy to edit something in real time.
I plan to add some “Stage Lights,” a portable rig above the characters with some lights. Using my other Serial to USB adapter, my old SSC-12 controller, some cheap flashlights, 4 Lynxmotion Pan and Tilt assemblies, and 4 of those PicoSwitch RC relays, I’ll have some dynamic lighting for my characters, or even going into the “audience” if I want to. 2 servos and one relay per light, with 12 positions on the SSC-12 card will give me four lights.
If you mean sound level as in the computer or hardware analyzes the music and tries to figure it out when to open and close the mouths on it’s own, then no. That never works very well for me. I program one movement (usually the “main” head’s mouth) with a joystick, then program the next (bird mouth), then the next (fish mouth). In the case of the bird and both fish singing the same lyrics, I just move one and get it the way I want. Then I can copy the section of it’s movements and paste it onto the other mouth tracks.
It took me a little over an hour to program the routine I taped. I should get faster at it, though.
Oh, and the main head came from Blue Point Engineering (link). It was in an article in the latest issue of Robot Magazine. It’s supposed to work with the circuit board it sits on, recording 20 seconds of audio and syncronizing movement with it. My plans for it were much larger 
. (Note: if anyone else gets this kit, the speaker isn’t loud at all. It’s hard to hear at the house where it’s quiet. You’d never hear it in a public place. Or maybe I did something wrong with the speaker wiring. Didn’t spend too much time on it.)
I think I read in a home automation group that the below christmas light display was done with the brookshire software.
Very talented people I must say!
Wow. I’ve never seen a house do that around here. I’m sure the neighbors wouldn’t be too pleased…
I think I’ll stick to my smaller animatronic display.
i bet its just a people turning lights on and off… 
jk
i love that video, i never get tired of seeing it
btw, some real neat fishies and birdie vid, really cool, i like the fish, lol, i have one of them myself…
bring my to the river…drop me in the water…
Ha ha, I love it!!!
Romshark,
I finally got to see the video! You did an awesome job and my favorite part was when the fish tails started to flap to the beat of the music.
I wonder what your neighbors were thinking as they passed by your house with all that was going on. If they only knew…
Well, I had a window open, so they’d just hear “Be Prepared” over and over for more than an hour. Of course, at the volume I had it at during programming, they’d have to be right outside the window.
I’ve got some of what I need to build a lighting rig. I’ll have to plan construction as time permits.
Very impressed with what you have done so far. Keep up the good work!