Help with new idea please
 

This is not technically pc related, but its essential for my next mod project, which is currently under wraps, as I'm considering applying for a patent in the future, sorry

My question: how does a digital voice recorder work? You know, like the Sony digital voice recorder and similar devices.

Specifically, I need a circuit that can play back a digitally stored sound sample independant from the rest of my computer.

Probably a tough question, I know, but if anyone can even point me to a web resource with this kind of tech info, I''d greatly appreciate it

thanx a lot in advance!

He he... that's an easy one.

The concept hasn't changed much, but the storage has: a standard microphone will feed the signal to an AD chip (analog to digital converter), then feed it to either battery backed up ram, or eeprom, or one of the newest kinds of ram. A DA chip converts the signal back to be played.

The ram is the limitation here: you've got to find a way to store huge amounts of data (depending on quality, may include some compression), manage it, and hold on to it for whatever amount of time.

I'll post a link if I find one.

Thanks so much, that's very helpful!

do you think its possible to build such a device with radioshack etc. available resistors/caps/modules? how difficult?

functions I need:
-record to ram/memory stick (preferable, but not critical)
-playback from ram/memory stick

Or would I be better off disassembling an mp3 player sorta thing?

thanx again

Well, it's a digital circuit, mostly, so the caps and resistors are few.

These circuits/devices that you'll find out there today are assembled using SMT chips (surface mount technology), and you're not likely to learn a lot from dissasembling one.

You won't find the ram, or the control chip at Radio Shack, unless you use one of their BASIC STAMP kits (now in version 2, I believe). If you can put together something with that, then you should be well on your way to build a digital record/playback device.

It depends where your knowledge of electronics is.