Make your own Spy Bug (Arduino Voice Recorder)

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Voice-over Microphone || DIY or Buy: • Voice-over Microphone ...
More project information (code, schematic,...) on Instructables: www.instructables.com/id/Make...
Parts list (incomplete, see Instructables for more, affiliate links):
Aliexpress:
1x Arduino Pro Mini: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_d62...
1x LiPo Battery: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dWb...
1x TP4056 LiPo Charge/Protection Board: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dX8...
1x Micro SD Card Adapter: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dUy...
1x Electret Mic + MAX9814 Amp: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dT1...
1x Tactile Switch: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dXI...
1x 5mm Red LED: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dV6...
1x 2kΩ Resistor: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dTP...
Ebay:
1x Arduino Pro Mini: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
1x LiPo Battery: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
1x TP4056 LiPo Charge/Protection Board: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
1x Micro SD Card Adapter: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
1x Electret Mic + MAX9814 Amp: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
1x Tactile Switch: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
1x 5mm Red LED: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
1x 2kΩ Resistor: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-532...
Thanks to JLCPCB for sponsoring this video
Visit jlcpcb.com to get professional PCBs for low prices
In this project we will combine an Arduino Pro Mini with a couple of complementary components in order to create a voice recorder which could be abused as a spy bug. It has a run time of around 9 hours, is small and super easy to use. The recording quality might not be the best, but it should be suitable for many purposes.
Music:
2011 Lookalike by Bartlebeats
Killing Time, Kevin MacLeod
(incompetech.com)

[@binachtzehn8492]

Quick tip for improving the code: instead of useing those rather compilcated switches just replace the filename with String(audiofile)+".wav" and you can record an unlimited number of files.

[@loufbread26]

What's the difference

[@7ire]

ohhh my god i was thinking same

[@avendanorency5795]

how do you do this?

[@ARandomHumanBein]

@@loufbread26 That with the code shown you can only create up to 10 files, instead, with this improvement, you can create as many files as can fit in the MicroSD

[@spicymemeboi2646]

sponsored by the NSA

[@greatscottlab]

Not quite

[@cosimo8046]

Spicy Meme Boi eazy plz

[@FluorescentGreen5]

add a transmitter that transmits directly to the NSA then yes

[@bloxcodes6576]

@@greatscottlab Im sure it is

[@YourLocalFBIAgent-gl7pu]

If you want a spy bug, just use your smartphone. Everyone has one and they are smaller.

[@bardenegri21]

The cool spy-bugs on TV send the audio through a radio. This gives me an idea for a "DIY or Buy": a walkie-talkie. There are a few very basic walkie-talkie tutorials based on arduino, but nothing really nice. You could try the analog version too, but a digital one would be more fun: sample the audio with the ADC, then send it over the air somehow (LoRA module maybe, or a cheapo 433mhz ook module pair), then receive and play it back with a DAC from resistors (or use a DAC chip, or a micro that has a DAC built-in like the SAMD21 found in the Adafruit Feather M0).

[@cummins6945]

www.aliexpress.com/item/FM-Frequency-Modulation-Wireless-Microphone-Module-DIY-Kit-FM-Transmitter-Board-Parts-Kits-Simple-Electronic-Production/32749629485.html This sends audio through FM radio

[@Hex-Mas]

RPITX can accomplish this.

[@cdefgah4343]

You can easily achieve this by building a small FM transmitter, it is very tiny, easy to build and ceap (

[@dameck9570]

Thats the kind of video why i subscribed to your channel I ordered my first bpc at jlcbpc just a half week ago trough you.

[@buzhidao198]

The visuals in this video are beautiful. Watching the whole project come together felt so good. :O

[@PPSRHD]

Is there a way to Not use an audrino board in this project? And can we store the audio in a SD card?

[@Jonrobrt]

Impressive presentation - one of the best I have seen, great job!

[@ziome3eg]

GreatScott! Have you tried to desolder this small mic, solder 3.5mm jack input (l and r channel connect to make mono) and connect any better mic?

[@enricorov]

Great work! It's always nice watching a product of yours.

[@celestialknight6955]

i can use this for my camera project and do you know any way to capture the output of a camera on a display with an sd card or something like that

[@florinbardac1744]

is it possible to use 4 microphones (that will start all at once and stop at the same time) and get 4 waw files at the end?

[@AelousFox]

Is there a pre-made amp circuit that uses an 3.5mm audio jack as an input rather than a microphone?

[@UselessDuckCompany]

I'm trying to make a talking robot with a jaw servo that moves based on an audio signal from a 3.5mm audio jack. Any tips GreatScott?

[@lonsteam4627]

no. just stop

[@vincenzorubio4501]

I think that you can use the analog signal coming from the 3.5 mm jack and convert into a range of motion of the jaw servo! I think that should work

[@mrfashionguy1]

@@lonsteam4627 Fuck you sshole

[@johntello8904]

@@lonsteam4627 ?

[@moritz3864]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGLPcphtg7OfhdE

[@ams0063]

I can’t tell you how happy I am I was in great need of such a thing thank you very much

[@shreelakshmi8263]

I tried this for my mini-project, it worked successfully! Thank you Great Scott

[@tirth9865]

Can you help me with it I am facing issues in my circuit

[@withteamsca4600]

Is it working now

[@antoniomateos902]

Could you please help me?? the led doesn't off when the push button its on :(

[@thecoder5550]

Another week, another great video!

[@antonrc1700]

Anstatt ne gopro session zu nehmen mit hd auflösung und gutem Mikro. Trotzedem ein super Video. Danke Scott

[@juliusionescu4905]

Hey nice video also build this on myself. But one question whats the programm you use to record on your pc with this extrem high frequencies. Thank you

[@Athens1992]

Greetings, ​ ​What format was the sd card fat32 or fat? ​ ​thank you in advance

[@ArcAiN6]

Why not replace the arduino with an esp-12f, or esp32, and directly beam the recordings across the network to a local PC for storage?

[@dwaynejohnson3762]

Hello sir can I use the microphone circuit which u did in diy or buy as a replacement for max9814 ...I cudnt find this module from my local electronics shop

[@lukasschworer840]

hey scott can i ask u where u get ur prototyping pcb's from ?

[@jtcp27031]

I had been looking for this for month haha, your videos are really good

[@Manradical14]

Isnt there a way to reduce power useage on arduinos buy turning off certain parts?

[@user-vb3xz2ey1z]

thank for teach Can I change the microphone to an earphone 3.5 port? I want to install a better microphone.

[@TheBrassn]

Hello Scott, great and very helpful videos you have there! May I ask you where you order your LiPo batteries from as a fellow German? Chinese traders don't ship here as far as I know. Thank you!

[@andy9463]

hey I have a problem whit my ESP8266-01 when I open it in the serial monitor it says ,,failed to mount file sistem" any sugestions

[@mouhou9795]

Hey I wanted to make a pen with a circuit like this. How would one go about scaling this process down?

[@sandeepk.9292]

At 0:20, shouldn't it be '1/f' instead of 'f' as the interval between two sample points in the V vs t graph? Here 'f' indicates sampling frequency right?

[@supernova6553]

could it record 16 hours with a bigger battery? is there a limitation with the sd card and arduino?

[@AmitGupta-tt9ky]

Can you make video on shift resistors and my arduino nano pins get hot when I plug micro USB can you tell what is the problem

[@secondsettweezer9884]

Disguise as a functioning USB charger and use that to also charge it, allowing the battery to mainly function as a backup?

[@jimmatrix7244]

Can this be integrated with hearing aid? With hearing aid on I still have problem understanding some words. :-(

[@Michi-fu9ft]

Hey, I'm currently working with this library too but not to record audio files. I simply want to play a song, but every time I try that I get an 'SD card fail'. I already tried the basic things (format card, other SD card, other Arduino, made sure code and wiring is correct). I know that this is not a helping forum but I hope that some of you can help me with this. Thanks in advance

[@strapatser9427]

why not using the onboard led for notification, it would consume less power and you don't a extra led

[@greatscottlab]

Also possible

[@Jan-ij2dt]

But it'll be to bright?

[@danya023]

Unless you PWM it (and given the inherent complexity of recording audio on something so much not designed to do so), I think that would be a higher current draw than is desirable.

[@ninovitaliano7943]

@@danya023 neeeeerd

[@danya023]

@@ninovitaliano7943 I'm honored someone noticed, thanks. It's true though, isn't it? The onboard LED is rather bright and it takes around 10-20 mA, and if you're running off a battery you want to cut down on the current draw as much as you can so this is something you would disable first. The other option is to use PWM to modulate the LED, but AFAIK pin 13 doesn't have hardware PWM, so you have to spend processor cycles on this, and I bet that there's not much free processor time left over from "recording audio on something so very much not designed to do so".

[@MRrwmac]

Could you please show us how to get a tiny camera (1080p) that we could secretly put into a porch light and connect for power and video through cat5 back to a POE switch? Mostly need the tiny camera and connections to the end of a CAT5, please?

[@zanpekosak2383]

The more I watch these videos the more I question my pick of going to school for an electrotechnician. Seems sooo damn overwhelming.

[@shahidqureshi8598]

That’s very good project. I am searching for project like this, but my use case is slightly different instead of storing audio files into the sd card I want to print the data into the console. For example I press a button then it will listen my voice and then when I stop for 2-3 seconds it will print the recorded voice in the console or terminal can you help me on that

[@russ8001]

dumb question...looks like you need to manually initiate the recording mode by pressing a switch. For the purpose of eliminating this need, couldn't you put a circuit that activates the record mode if there is sufficient sound input volume and deactivate if there were a specified amount of time for which there was no sound over a specified input level?

[@GlennHamblin]

How about a VOX function so it only records when there is sound, and mostly powers down otherwise. Could dramatically improve battery life.

[@STUDIO134]

So the Library you used does only run on AVR based boards, any idea for a library that would also run on SAMD21. z.B. Arduino Zero

[@akhiljoseph8360]

I was trying to make a talking tom. Is it possible this way?

[@Blue-bf8lv]

Even know I don't know much about circuits and voltages it's still good to watch

[@VIVAFPV]

Scott, is this possible on esp8266 ? I mean analog to digital and strem on wifi ?

[@TheOrdner]

Ok, ich muss das jetzt mal fragen. Welche Textmarker und/oder welchen Drucker/Patrone benutzt du, dass dir die Schrift beim markieren nicht verwischt?! Ich kann nichts Gedrucktes markieren ohne das es verwischt und es macht mich verrückt!

[@guitarans]

Nevermore suprises for Christmas! 😀 Great as allways

[@mytendo3477]

Why didn´t you use the SMT32 instead of the Arduino pro mini? It has a 12bit resolution.

[@mohammedyasarshaikh4501]

Hello sir, why are we can't use this system with your latest video on walkie talkie?

[@paperjawa]

ios is unable to record phone calls. To be able to record both the speaker and microphone at the same time would be outstanding. A device like Arduino or raspberry pi could function as a headset but built into it are whatever components are necessary for recording and storing the recordings. Do you know how to make such a device?

[@nahian01]

is it possible to connect multiple microphones and record?

[@hugh_manners]

Can i make it so it fits in some sort of consealable tube or something

[@barbasbandas6665]

6:42 hey GreatScott! I can see you on that solder :D

[@DonaldSleightholme]

could a battery be charged from a microphone if you used a huge inductor to the charge circuitry then just place it in a noisy environment? 🤔

[@nedosgez]

Can someone help me? I tried to make the project but while I was uploading the code an error message that said ‘class TMRpcm’has no member named ‘startRecording’

[@ben2280]

for a "spy bug" I wouldn't use a push button with led. With a normal switch you can determin the state of the bug based on the position of the switch and you can use it as wake up signal to save battery when the device is off.

[@user-ny5be4lm8z]

what i wish to do is somehow listen to the recording live through the lora network...its possible?

[@eumesmo-kd1tr]

This is one of your best projects, thanks

[@toppervikingo]

How fare can you stay away from the Microphone? Can you record 1 meter away with this microphone? I´m making a project where I use a microphone to record sound/noice, and then it will start an dc motor.

[@hariyanimahmudin4642]

Hi. I tried to follow this tutorial but the audio that i've got include some weird sound that show when the system record the audio. It sounds as same beat as the led (L) in arduino nano flickers. Is there anyone find the same problem as me? And can you guys know how to solve it?

[@easyelectronics4364]

hey great scott how to play the recorded audio??

[@giannirusso9639]

i built this and workss great.im having an issue working out how to debounce the switch because i will click once and it wont turn off it takes a few clicks to turn off but it is still capturing audio files

[@bikramghuku8767]

The code shows error every time I compile the sketch!!!

[@vishal01mehra]

3:26 Why not black wire for Ground and white for output?

[@Sachinsingh-ph3xk]

Can we make speech recognizer with Arduino .means speech to text converver

[@xaviermclachlan3227]

What do you use to draw your schematics

[@the_analyst0]

4:50 Why did you use a swich? You could do the same thing with an if in 2 lines instead of 11

[@somaaa5554]

I have a question...How did you learn arduino programming? Did you take some kind of course or just learning from internet?

[@harshithadheeru6797]

audio.start recording and audio.stop recording is no such in directory error in arduino ide , please help me

[@ozricm]

Could you do some sort of FM broadcaster that uses either headphone jack in or sd in?

[@creativenathani6513]

How to make a "circuit" that "play the audio" which you want. For example if you press the switch the circuit play ""thank you""

[@ams0063]

I am definitely going to build this. Thankyou very much as always awesome video

[@rhys.davieswork]

can you make one that can be listened in remotely via internet or wifi?

[@sarkarinaukarijankari1380]

Please somebody help it's working The file is creating but no data is received . I did everything according to the video. The code is compiling but the audio file is not throwing any data

[@maxximumb]

Nice project. Thanks for another great video.

[@bikramghuku8767]

The code is only showing error that TMRpcm has no member named 'startRecording'

[@__.pranzzzz.__]

Hey GreatScott! make a tour of your lab in which you work for your projects .

[@akilarajapaksha1332]

Can you please give the arduino code. I'm getting an error always saying that " 'class TMRpcm' has no member named 'startRecording' ", although I installed the latest version of the TMRpcm Library. Another blog says that the reason is 'commands are being run which are not available in the current configuration. Check the #defines in pcmConfig.h to ensure you are using the correct mode(s), and ensure your commands are correct.'. Please can you help me!!!!!!

[@kevintyrell3931]

hello guys I'm totally beginner in arduino coding .. i noticed in the beginning of button function scott made : while (i < 300000) { i++ } is this to eliminate button bouncing ??

[@reydelkereh8841]

The code is not working it says " 'class TMRpcm' has no member named 'stopRecording' could you help me,,??? Please,,

[@nozma6615]

Add gsm modul and when you will call its starts record and u can hear it in phone and when you call again its stops recording

[@rickseiden1]

Can you do something on audio playback through the Arduino? I tried to create an intercom system for my house, but got stumped by the playback of the audio.

[@greatscottlab]

The library that I used also does playback. Give that a try.

[@ketankadam5669]

will microphone from an andeoid mobile work?

[@BlackXeno]

Hi, why not ?

[@mohammedyasarshaikh4501]

How can we give live output to a speaker?

[@p_mouse8676]

16khz is a very odd sampling rate. So make sure you always have subtraction of 44.1kHz or 48khz. (32khz, 22khz or 11khz) Also it's good to use some input filtering to prevent extra distortion (Shannon theorem).

[@kgrez96]

Nice one once again! I'm thinking of adjusting this circuit to be a guitar looper pedal by replacing the mic with a signal amplifier / buffer and playing back the .wavs through an external DAC

[@zulkifluabubakar6331]

Hello, please have you tried this project and also amplifying the mic, Please I will like to know more, because am working on a similar project. Thank you

[@ebilgin]

Can you explain LTC4370. To increase charging speed of phone, combining two usb port power to single one would be nice.

[@kusumlondhe34]

Code is not working it says that startrecord is not included in library. Please can you help me

[@mh-studio1]

Can you make video guide Arduino for long wire over 100-150 metre input digit button and analog input ?

[@romanlubij52]

What is the laptop you use? It looks like my old one, MSI GT628 😆

[@systemofapwne]

You can probably keep the power consumption even lower by downclocking the arduino and pushing it into deep-sleep when not recording. In deep sleep, one can get the power consumption in the micro amp region.

[@calebschmitt6044]

Were do you put all of your invitations

[@makaronimeesmakaronist6046]

I was just thinking about this. Perfect!

[@Nono-hk3is]

I've found using standalone AVR chips plus a crystal to be cheaper and smaller than using even Arduino nanos, plus an ftdi USB to serial adapter only for breadboarding. I use a pro mini as an ISP since some vendors who claim their AVR chips already have the Arduino bootloader are less than reliable in their claims.

[@anonanon3066]

Hey Scott, i'm currently working on a small project. I do not know much about electronics. I want to light up three 3.4v 750mA leds in series using a 9V 3A power supply. Do i need any resistors for this or will this just work as it is? This needs to run for hours on a daily basis.

[@duckyblender]

well how did it turn out?

[@thomasstockem8369]

Hey GreatScott how about a DIY Sunrise Alarm clock. Or maybe even a DIY or Buy Episode about it?

[@toufikjabrane9650]

i need to record audio data from an aircraft system,pleas need help

[@kvlpnd]

Excellent video as always.

[@houseofelectronics5869]

Nice Video Great Scott!! How is ur thesis going? Can you give tips to beginners in general , as to how one can start writing research papers? It seems very hard because most people don't have in depth knowledge . Any advice would be great :)

[@zulkifluabubakar6331]

This is a great video, It's the best I have seen that will help my project. 👍

[@niklas8751]

Moin, wie nennt sich das Klebeband bei Minute 5:33?