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Home - Audio and Amplifier Projects - Make this Musical Greeting Card Circuit

Make this Musical Greeting Card Circuit

Last Updated on June 15, 2019 by Swagatam 18 Comments

The presented circuit of a musical greeting card circuit was requested by one of the keen readers of this blog, so I designed this interesting little circuit, which is simple and easily gets embedded inside any standard greeting card fold.

Table of Contents
  • Circuit Operation

Looking at the given circuit diagram, we see a design consisting of a very few number of components, rigged via connecting wires.

The design may be understood with the following explanation:

Circuit Operation

The main music generating component is the IC UM66, which has a digitally processed music data embedded inside it.

The IC just requires a 3 volt supply for reproducing the content over an appropriate speaker.

Since the output from the above IC is pretty low, it requires some kind of amplification before it can be practically heard, a transistor stage needs to be introduced.

The BC547 transistor performs this function well and is therefore positioned for amplifying the tiny music info inside the IC.

To keep things extremely thin and slim, a piezo is incorporated as the speaker as these devices require hardly any space to sit and also operate with nominal signal outputs.

The amplified music from the transistor is though not too powerful, is significant enough to drive the connected piezo element so that the user is able to hear it at reasonably good volume.

Now the main criterion with a musical greeting card is that, the music should play only when the card is opened and should shut off when it's closed.

In order to implement this we need some kind of trigger arrangement, a leaf switch could have been a good option, however employing an LDR looked more technical and solid state.

An LDR here becomes the base bias resistor for the transistor. When the card is opened, ambient light falls over the LDR lowering its resistance value which in turn switches the transistor and music starts playing.

The moment the card is closed, LDR is inhibited from the ambient light, it's resistance shoots up in Mega Ohms choking up the transistor conduction and instantly switches OFF the music from the piezo.

A 3V button cell becomes enough for sustaining the functioning of the system almost forever.

The entire shown circuit should be carefully fixed inside a good quality greeting card, making sure that the LDR is able to "see" the ambient light whenever the card is opened.

simplemusicalgreetingcardcircuit

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About Swagatam

I am an electronics engineer with over 15 years of hands-on experience. I am passionate about inventing, designing electronic circuits and PCBs, and helping hobbyists bring their projects to life. That is why I founded homemade-circuits.com, a website where I share innovative circuit ideas and tutorials. Have a circuit related question? Leave a comment.... I guarantee a reply!

Previous Post: « Designing a Grid-Tie Inverter Circuit
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jonathan Speters says

    March 19, 2025 at 7:44 pm

    I am Jonathan I have created a doorbell from the circuit that amplifies the sound to a speaker with a hundred decimals and can be connected directly to a existing doorbell switch replacing your fashioned solenoid doorbell by reading your web thank you

    Reply
  2. John Dagnall says

    August 28, 2023 at 8:21 pm

    Can you email me a diagram of how to put the components on a perf board as I’m a complete novice to electronics and have bought every tool and component and watched lots of videos on YouTube but still don’t know how to go about making circuits that could be easy to make…thanks in advance

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      August 29, 2023 at 8:52 am

      Sorry, I do not have a diagram to show how to put components in perfboard. I think you can find the answer through YouTube videos, so I would recommend you to search this on Youtube.

      Reply
  3. Rraju says

    January 1, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    Can you please contact on 9158846000 for providing me specialized musical greetings cards circuit in 8 to 10 days

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      January 1, 2023 at 1:25 pm

      Sorry, I don’t manufacture and sell electronic circuits from this website.

      Reply
  4. Jim says

    November 24, 2020 at 5:15 am

    Where can I get the parts?

    Reply
  5. Meenu says

    March 28, 2018 at 9:47 pm

    How do we connect the button cell?? Could you please upload the video?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      March 29, 2018 at 8:01 am

      scratch clean both positive/negative surfaces of the cell, apply little solder flux, and tin the area with little solder….after this you can connect flexible wire ends to these surfaces by soldering, and use other ends of the wire for supplying the circuit

      Reply
  6. steeve daniel says

    March 20, 2016 at 3:34 pm

    How much does this COB cost? Need them in bulk.

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      March 21, 2016 at 4:24 pm

      around Rs 500/- for 100 pcs,

      Reply
  7. Manish Chavan says

    November 19, 2015 at 2:51 am

    Dear Swagatam,
    Can I get the programmable cob somewhere in Mumbai? Got to use it for my wedding cards in bulk quantity. Please help
    Regards,
    Manish Chavan.

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      November 19, 2015 at 6:20 am

      Dear Manish,

      Please inquire in Lamington Road, you'll surely find an appropriate guy who'll be able to do it for you.

      Reply
  8. Dr Ankit says

    November 2, 2015 at 4:11 pm

    Dear Sir, This COB is not available at my place and online sites. So, can this be made?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      November 3, 2015 at 4:08 pm

      Dear Ankit, In that case you might have to visit Mumbai…..sorry it cannot be made at home.

      Reply
  9. Dr Ankit says

    November 1, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    Dear Sir,
    1.Can a circuit be designed (operating on 12V) which generates speaking sound such as "Welcome" or other simple sentences.
    2.Further, as mentioned above, What is a COB, where can we get one.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      November 2, 2015 at 5:25 am

      Dear Ankit, yes it can be done by using a COB which might have an embedded programmed audio to reproduce the particular length of speech.

      COB or chip on board are programmed music or speech ICs available in electronic markets….for example in Lamington Road Mumbai

      for a 12V circuit you might need elaborate modifications in the above circuit

      Reply
  10. Devan Shah says

    January 16, 2014 at 7:39 am

    which are programmable IC's? and can we put a switch instead of LDR? how much power it consumes?

    Reply
    • Swagatam says

      January 18, 2014 at 4:49 am

      you can use any 3V operated COB in place of the shown UM66 IC. consumption will be around 2 to 5mA

      Reply

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