[Walker]

I'll try to keep this simple. I'd like some type of device that I can program to play custom sound clips. The kind of thing where you press a button or key and it plays a sound clip The best setup would be a small electronic piano keyboard hooked up to a speaker for extra loudness. I realize I could use a laptop computer but I don't want to spend that much money and I'd rather this device have the single function of playing sound clips.

Anyone have an idea how I could do this?

[Andy8]

If you have an iPhone you could use it for this setup.

[Walker]

That's a good idea, but I want it to be a dedicated device that will stay in it's spot permanently. Don't want to sacrifice an expensive iPhone for this.

[Andy8]

An iPod shuffle would be cheap and effective for the same setup too. (assuming you want to play only a few repeating clips)

[Walker]

Need to be able to select from around 6 different specific sound clips. Imagine something like being able to press a specific key/button and get the sound of thunder each time you press that key/button.

[Andy8]

So an iPod is not going to work unless it has a touch screen (iPod Touch), depends how fast you need to react. If its not super critical you could use an iPod Nano (scroll to select each sound to play)

[Spheric Harlot]

You're looking for what's called a "sampler" or "Sample player".

If you don't want to use one of the numerous sample players for iPhone/iPod touch, then I suggest a visit to the nearest musicians' store.

You can either use a keyboard to play a sampler via MIDI, or a keyboard with built-in sampling.