VELLEMAN MK171 Voice Changer Kit, 1.5"

This is a great little kit. As stated in many other reviews for this product, you do require a soldering iron and a speaker to assemble this thing fully. The instructions, in my opinion, are excellent. They don't have much words or explanation but they make up for that with their very complete diagrams showing location, orientation, and proper assembly practices. One common problem I've read about this kit is the lack of volume, and while details on preventing this are briefly noted in the instructions, I do see how it could easily be overlooked. First is speaker selection. This circuit is designed for used with either a 4 ohm or 8 ohm speaker, if you use higher resistance speakers (more ohms) then you will get a much quieter output. If you want the most volume possible, pick a 4 ohm as it will give double the Watts of an 8 ohm speaker. Second is the actual amplifier circuit used. This kit uses an LM386 amplifier IC that has a hardware-programmable gain. If you build this kit as specified, it will have a gain of 50. However if you feel that this is insufficient for your particular application, do not place component R10 and instead solder a wire where it should be. By shorting R10, you will increase the gain to a much more substantial 200. (Please note that you MUST put a short in place of R10, if you remove the resistor and leave it open you will get the minimum gain of 20)

It was unclear on the description that this is just all the parts and needs soldering!! It was for my son's Halloween party, so we weren't able to use it because it was in pieces. Luckily my dad was able to put it together before trick or treat time. Then it was a neat little novelty toy.

The audio quality is not as good as I expected. I did enjoy putting this kit together. I need to augment another audio device for a complex Halloween project. I'll be using it but not as I planned. In fact, I'm looking for an inexpensive device to deploy for multiple Halloween related projects. Any suggestions?

I bought this kit for another electronics building project to do with my son. He located & placed the components while I measured component values & did the soldering. The build went quickly & worked when we were done. The resulting sound sound is nowhere near professional quality but my son had fun changing his voice for a couple days after that. I did modify things a bit by putting the speaker & microphone both on longer wire leads in order to separate them from each other to minimize the feedback squealing.

SO it's not an easy job, I have a bit of experience (nothing in a few years) of soldering so I'm rusty but I still managed to get it to work. Works pretty well when its done, just a few bugs here and there. the quality definitely depends on the speaker you get to go with it as well. I do have some advice if your planning on doing this: 1. Find an extra pair of hands, seriously, some of the parts are tall and its hard to make sure everything is in place and solid by yourself so if there's someone you can ask for help holding things, ASK. 2. For everyone that says the resistor codes are hard to read- I have a mind melding piece of info.... they're in order...its not that hard.... but yes starting from the one on the other side of the weird clear with a black line resistor thingy, it goes from number 1 and then next to said clear thing is number 10. (I'd still quickly scan the resistor codes to double check this but I got two kits and both were in numerical order). 3. In case you are unfamiliar with resistor codes, the silver and gold lines that aren't listed as colors on the instructions are obsolete for us (in truth they mark the tolerance of a resistor but we don't need to worry about that since this kit is already set up so the resistors WILL work) 4. If you're wondering what to use for soldering, I used 0.6mm solder wire which served it's purpose nicely and due to how small it was kept it from overflowing into another copper rings. that's all I can really think of besides overall paying attention to the instructions (some of the capacitors use different micro farads so watch what you put where)

1 star because its cheap. 1 star because the wiring diagram was clear. That's the end of the good. I spent 45 minutes wiring it together. I have decent soldering skills and all the connections looked clean. It would work fine one minute, then pop and crackle like crazy the next minute. It seemed to be in a random state every time it was turned on. The button functions seemed backward sometimes and fine at other times. I bought this in order to change my voice for a Kylo Ren Halloween costume. It sounded great for about 2-3 minutes, but I could never get it back to that state again. My advice: don't bother with this. Sure it's cheap, but its not worth the time and frustration.

The voice changer worked out great! It does not include a speaker, so remember to get one. The board is clearly labeled, and the instructions inside help you map the components. A soldering novice could easily complete this project. The finished product is very effective, just pay attention to the mic sensitivity adjust. Definitely a fun project, and great for costuming. Note that the components are soldered in individually. This makes it pretty easy to put speakers, mics, buttons, and volume knobs in more convenient locations. Just a bit of wire, and you're set.

I ordered this product to outfit a halloween costume. Assembly skill required was rated as 2 stars (out of 5). I disagree as I am fairly handy and have soldered before- this board had multiple (80+), tiny solders to complete, crammed together on the tiny board. Once done, the quality was dismal- shrieking feedback, barely functional mic, crude pitch controls. I was disappointed and would not recommend this product.

Quick assembly with beginner's soldering skills. Works great! Resembles Kylo Ren voice. Quality European product.

Tried to make a cosplay voice changer. I am a novice solderer so I could not get this to work at all. Must know how to read circuit wiring diagrams and have experience soldering. Poor instructions

This product is exactly what I was looking for! The package was complete and I was able after an hour or two to build it! It works surprisingly well! Best bang for the buck voice changer!

The DIY kit was of intermediate difficulty, it took some tweaking to reduce the shrill feedback sound, at least with my set up(inside a helmet). It sounded a bit tinny, but it did its job. The price went down, it’s a better value now than before I guess, especially if this is what you’re looking for.

Very easy to build. Resistors code was can be tricky but only took me about a minute to sort them. Added mic and headphone jack to mine so I can use portable amplifier speaker and any mic So it’s very loud and clear.