White Noise Machine (for the hardware junkies)

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pablo

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Alright... this might be kind of a weird question, but it's a weird project anyway.

I'm a filmmaker, and I'm planning on doing a film based on an installation that I have decided to call "The White Noise Machine". I already have a bunch of sketches on what it should look like and what it should do, however I'm not experienced enough with audio hardware to figure out the best way to MAKE IT WORK.

The installation will be a naked mannequin standing on a plataform. The mannequin has small speakers in the hands and mouth, and I was thinking I might put a subwoofer inside of the plataform, not inside of the of the mannequin or visible at all.
The white noise machine should be able to produce WHITE NOISE! And this is where I need the help.
I've been thinking it could be easy to put a radio receiver to play static inside of the mannequin, but I'm sure there's a way I can get white noise with no interferance at all. I also thought I could put a an amp inside of the mannequin and just plug my computer into it everytime I need to make it sound, but I want something self-contained... I definitely can't afford to put a laptop as part of the installation, even if it will be very easy to manipulate the sound from one. I also thought about a tape or CD player with pre-recorded white noise, but mehh... there has to be another way.

I also wanted the mannequin to have a simple equalizer that would be controlled by knobs that will be placed in the chest of the mannequin, and I have no clue on how to go on this. The point of having an equalizer is that someone could turn up and down white noise frecuencies to mask only certain sounds that will be played outside of the installation.

Let me know any ideas you have. Anything goes at this point. I have low budget to build it right now (probably less than $100), but I might be able to sacrifice some money I was gonna use for film and other stuff to make a really good installation, or even ask someone to give money for art.
 
With your budget, I'd say a cd is the way to go.

White noise is easy to come by. I have tons of it... And pink noise, and pretty much every other kind of noise too. Just about any va synth will produce white noise.
 
Start checking out the pawn shops. Run a CD signal to the EQ and then to the power amp and speakers. You can probably tear apart some cheap home stereo for the speakers. If you got a cheap boombox with detachable speakers you could put the entire center section in the chest and put the speakers where you need them. You could probably score a used stereo like that for under $50 easily.
 
What about the equalizer?
I know I can easily buy some graphic equalizer and put it there, but I want to have knobs instead of faders in it. Do you know where can I buy a knob equilizer?
 
oh, actually I just saw some equalizer with knobs instead of faders in musiciansfriend.com for about $80...
Think it would be dangerous to open the thing to take off the case and have only the knobs showing?
 
If I were you I'd use pedals instead. They are cheaper, smaller and will give much more flexibility than an eq. You could pretty easily create a crude synth with your white noise being fed through a couple of pedals, like a filter pedal and a wah pedal...
It might actually make some cool sounds. If you like noise that is...
 
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