Just pinning a few miniatures to a Ghost Gig Globe is fine, but this is about someone making it big in the music biz. I was actually thinking of lights for all the mini stages, but then it occurred to me that for a gift to a band, it would be a cool thing to tap some figures and hear music echoing from 3G’s belly.

Sound Modules

I found these gift card chips that can be personalized, but the mechanism is to cover and uncover a contact. My technical horizon for these things is not very far. I was looking for something with buttons  to press down. Thanks to the great internet, I found what I was looking for: A chip with a speaker and 5 buttons, each of which can be filled with a 1-minute mp3 snippet. I ordered four chips and started ripping and cutting sounds.

The speakers are not very good – not to mention the mp3 quality. I covered the speakers with felt to muffle the sound a bit. Unfortunately, this made everything pretty quiet, and once the mirrors were stuck on, it got very quiet. I set the mp3s to the highest volume to save as much as possible of the desired effect.

Well, battery-powered sound modules don’t play forever and can’t be easily replaced once the sphere is sealed. I knew from the start that both sound quality and battery power could only suffice for presentation and initial discoveries. Later, when the Ghost Gig Globe is hanging from the ceiling, they wouldn’t be needed anyway. All the chips and speakers are glued into the globe, as are the cables for the buttons. I cut 20 holes in 3G to glue the buttons into the skin so they could be pressed securely.

White Cardi C

Installing the button in the white Cardinal on the pole at the Pole was one of the most difficult tasks. Turning a muscular action figure into a Cardi C with „spaghetti arms“ isn’t that difficult. But if you want to give a lascivious character who publicly brags about his „package“ a button where it clearly belongs…. well, then you have to cut a rectangle in a plastic crotch – grinning diabolically every second of those 12 hours until it’s hidden, covered by pants and sprayed on. When his highness is pushed the right way, he sings  Danse Macabre .

The white Cardi C was the first figure ever installed, when the sphere was still in two halves. Unfortunately, the cardinal was one of the victims of the third transport attempt. It was completely torn out, with the cables running down his legs into the sphere protruding only a few millimeters above the surface. Soldering it back together was worth a try, but since I didn’t want to open the globe, the cursory attempt was not very successful. It will remain without music – although it is the funniest feature of all.

Compass: Music in every direction

Every map or globe needs a compass to know if that damn thing hanging from the ceiling is really pointing the white Cardinal north. At least in this case. I have given the instruments of the band the directional task of a compass. This one reflects the all-encompassing feeling of the flaming appearance of this particular planet: „The world is on Fire“ from Deus in absentia should sound when you press the bass drum in the middle. Unfortunately, this button was also badly damaged by the transport attempt and had sank completely into the ball, creating a dent. I was able to repair the dent and glue everything back into place, but the sound…. remained mute.

Special sounds for special miniatures

I had planned to hand 3G over with a little map and a hint that sound was included, but I wanted to let its recipient do a little searching and testing. To give you a reasonably equivalent fun factor on this site, I scattered the descriptions of the button miniatures into their respective continents. Not the same effect, but a simple list would have been too…. simple!