The good one

[Blaktorne]

Hi all,

Need advices from masters of this community.  I want to mimic the darth maul double saber. I saw the Menace hilt. But even after reading lots of review about it i am not sure about the sound part or light.
I dont wanna  modify sound, just want it to sound like the one in Phantom menace. Is the lite sound enough? I dont want it to change color, it will stay always red.  The led system seems the way to go. I intend to use it in choregraphy
with others lightsabers users. So what the longevity of those sabers ( i mean if i use it like 2-3 hours a week approximately).

Thanx my masters

[scifidude79]

As far as sounding exactly like Maul's saber, it won't with Lite sound. Lite has the default Obsidian font, which is a nice generic saber sound font. The only sound options that let you change fonts are Premium and Diamond. For your needs, Obsidian V3 would probably work fine if you want to put a Maul font on it.

To make a staff with sound, you'll need two hilts, though only one needs sound, and a vented coupler. Though, the coupler will add 1.75" to the length of the combined saber. I recommend the flush one so it doesn't interfere with your choreography.

As for longevity, the saber should last you a very long time. It's aluminum and the blade is polycarbonate. The electronics are also usually solid and last a long time. Samhain138 is a Maul cosplayer who uses his Menace staff for choreography, and he loves it:

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=39584.0

[Infinit01]

I would definitely go with the Obsidian Premium sound so that you change change the sound font to your desired sound font to closely match Maul's from the movies

[imgumby001dammit]

Here, here!! I concur whole heartedly!!!

[Blaktorne]

wow tx for good advice, i am already better informe. Good point on the single hilt sound though. But is it better if i order two hilt with sounds or it will do two much sound and break the feeling of manipulating it,

tx again you guys rocks

[Lord_S_Gray]

wow tx for good advice, i am already better informe. Good point on the single hilt sound though. But is it better if i order two hilt with sounds or it will do two much sound and break the feeling of manipulating it,

tx again you guys rocks

Well the way sound works is it is motion activated ie swing or twist and you get a sound - so with a double bladed sabre where both have sound you might run into the issue of a twirl or swing causing each sabre to play a different sound. 

To get the best of both worlds though I would recommend Obsidian v4 Sound (an extra $10 on a Obsidian premium sound sabre) as you can program multiple sounds fonts.

The Obisidan 4 comes pre loaded with 6 (regular sound board plus Blackstar which has a more crackle 'Sith' sound IMHO and a few movie ones including a Episode 1 font) plus there are many free ones fans have made on this forum you can look into loading and experimenting with (Check out Obsidian Order Thread) - even if you find you prefer the default at least it gives you the extra options for experimenting and really refining.

AND you can set one of the 6 fonts on the sabre to Mute - so if you find two sabres with sound is causing issues just Mute one of them and leave the other on - again i like the Obsidian 4 because it leaves all your options open.

[ktulu1347]

I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts based on my limited personal experience.  A few months back I bought two Menaces and a coupler to make a full Maul staff.  For months I had planned on only ordering sound in one of the two hilts but changed my mind and got sound in both, mainly for the two distinct power up and power down sounds when slightly staggering those actions. 

When I assembled the staff and tried the limited motions I can manage in my house, I discovered another unexpected benefit.  Since the sound boards (and their motion sensors) are located near the pommels of the hilts, the resulting placement near the center of the staff naturally reduces the relative movement of the boards during some moves which means the detection threshold for a swing noise may not be reached.  With two sound boards in slightly different locations, the chances for swing detection go back up somewhat since it's unlikely both will follow identical paths.  You can change the detection threshold in the launcher of course, but it's a balancing act to avoid making it too sensitive.  Also, regarding both boards triggering different swing sounds, the staff is just two lightsabers stuck pommel to pommel so why wouldn't the two component sabers make different swing sounds? 

As others have stated, I highly recommend going with V4 sound whether you get it in one or both hilts.  That additional $10 gets you a bunch of extra functionality that I feel is more than worth the price.  I'm also a big fan of the Black Star sound font, though personally I think the default Sith font is a better Maul option and that's what my Menaces are usually set to.  Black Star is my choice for my Emperor's Hand to accurately represent the attitude of a certain redhead we all know and love.

Anyway, you can't really go wrong with a double Menace no matter what you choose.  They look good, they're nicely sized, and they're actually a good deal lighter than I expected.  Someone who knows what they're doing should have no trouble performing all sorts of cool displays.  Good luck and happy sabering!