AudioFX Mini Sound Board to play terrifying sound effects (not sure whether we need a powered speaker)
- WAV files or OGG Vorbis files
- No Arduino or other microcontroller required
- 3 to 5.5 VDC battery
- Built-in storage: 2 MB Flash
- Built-in Mass Storage USB
- Compressed or Uncompressed audio - go with compressed OGG Vorbis files for longer audio files, or uncompressed WAV files
- High-Quality Sound - 44.1KHz 16 bit stereo
- 8 Triggers
- Stereo line out - Right and Left, AC-coupled audio out. Use headphones, powered speakers, or even wire up one of our amplifiers to make loud sounds.
- Five different trigger effects
- Control over UART(9600 Baud) via any microcontroller.
- (play a single sound file per pin, through the naming convention to set it up. Then we will have multiple sound files that can be played per pin, but it’s not necessary.)
Triggering Audio
Each trigger bin is an input that we recommend using with a pushbutton or tactile button or other kind of switch. When the # pin is connected to GND for more than about 125 milliseconds it will trigger! There is a 100K pull up resistor on each one, so you do not need any extra resistors or pullups.
How long does it take for audio to play once I've triggered the pin?
From the moment the SFX board sees a ground level on the pin, it takes ~120ms to play a WAV file and ~200ms to play an OGG file. These are within 'instant feedback' expectation
If 'repeating' a file by keeping the button hend down, or doing a latching trigger type, theres a ~20ms delay (imperceptable) between WAV replays and ~120ms between OGG replays (noticable if the audio is meant to perfectly loop)
I’d like to choose WAV file.
Trigger Types
There's no code or firmware involved, only the file name of the audio file!
- Basic Trigger - name the file Tnn.WAV or Tnn.OGG to have the audio file play when the matching trigger pin nn is connected to ground momentarily
- Hold Looping Trigger - name the file TnnHOLDL.WAV or .OGG to have the audio play only when the trigger pin is held low, it will loop until the pin is released
- Latching Loop Trigger - name the file TnnLATCH.WAV or .OGG to have the audio start playing when the button is pressed momentarily, and repeats until the button is pressed again
- Play Next Trigger - have up to 10 files play one after the other by naming them TnnNEXT0.WAV thru TnnNEXT9.OGG. Will start with #0 and each one on every momentary button press until it gets through all of them, then go back to #0
- Play Random Trigger - just like the Play Next trigger, but will play up to 10 files in random order (TnnRAND0.OGG thru TnnRAND9.OGG) every time the button is pressed momentarily
Serial Audio Control
(UG to Ground, TX to #5, RX to #6 and RST to #4)
Download the Adafruit_Soundboard Library.
You can open up File->Examples->Adafruit_Soundboard->menu and upload to your Arduino wired up to the breakout
General Usage
For connections we recommend at a minimum
- Connect UG to GND (to start the sound board in UART mode)
- Connect RX to the data-output pin from the microcontroller into the sound board
- Connect TX to the data-output pin to the microcontroller from the sound board
- Connect RST to another microcontroller pin, when toggled low, it will reset the sound board into a known state
Power Pins
- Vin - This is the primary 'battery' power input pin. Power with 3-5.5 VDC
- GND - there's a couple ground pins but we suggest this one for power input. The others can be used for signal grounds
- BUS - this is the 5V that comes from the USB connector. We break this out in case you want to use it to say charge a LiPoly battery (See the Powering It page!)
- PB - this is the 'Power Button' pin, which we use for testing. Just leave it disconnected for use.
UART pins
- TX - this is the serial OUT from the board. 3.3V logic
- RX - this is the serial INTO the board. We add some level shifting so you can use 3-5V logic.
- UG - the UART/GPIO selector pin. Pulled high for default GPIO trigger mode. Tie to ground and reset the board for UART mode.
Volume Trigger pins
These are two extra inputs that can be used to adjust the volume in GPIO trigger mode only. Connect buttons that go from each pin to ground, when the button is pressed, the volume will decrease or increase
The volume is not stored during power cycling or resets, so it will have to be re-applied after restarts.
Audio Outputs
If you don't want to use the headphone jack, connect your amplifier to the Right, Left and Ground pins. These are line level outputs for headphones of about 30 ohms, not for big speakers! There are output DC blocking capacitors so you can safely connect directly to any kind of amplifier
Trigger Pins
Each pin has a pullup resistor, use a button/switch to connect to ground when pressed in order to 'trigger' it. The board has debouncing logic built in.****
Other Pins
- Rst - this is the reset pin, you probably don't need to use this pin but when tied to ground it resets the board.
- Act - this is the Activity pin, which goes low when an audio file is played
- CS - this is the chip select line for the onboard flash chip, do not connect anything to it! We use it for programming the chip during manufacture!
**TourCopying Audio Files**
