Mark “The Electronic Engineer” Donners, is back with a digital vocoder that make you sounds like a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica.

After presenting this impressive spectrum analyzer in his video, Mark reveals that he’s actually taking things in the opposite direction: using analyzed frequencies to create sound! Mark shows viewers how to wire up a simple circuit based on the Teensy 4.0 with Audio Shield, plus a few potentiometers, a button, and a 3.5mm TRS audio jack.

This is used to analyze audio data, and output a parallel signal based on that data, in the form of a vocoder, reminiscent of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica series’ Cylon characters. For completeness, Mark also added the sound associated with the Cylon’s Larson scanners.

The Teensy Audio Library is used, in simple terms, to rip apart the signal and build it up again.

More info, including a complete BOM, can be found on the episode page with downloads including the sketch at schematic available on the episode resource page.

You can follow along with the build and hear the project in action in this video.

We’ve perviously featured Mark’s work with a Spectrum Analyzer and VU Meter project.