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Small Audio Emitter — Parallax Forums

Small Audio Emitter

Jesse A.Jesse A. Posts: 4
edited 2010-05-02 04:05 in BASIC Stamp
Hello everybody, I'm new to the forum but have used Parallax products before in courses. I would like to create a small scaled device that plays small audio clips at set times (It's supposed to be really basic). I'm not sure where to get started but I just need that initial push and a brief explanation of what I need. I'm not sure if any Parallax product can play a small mp3 or wma audio clip. If this can't be done with Parallax products, could someone provide some alternative insight on where to begin? The materials I currently have is the Basic Stamp Kit. I can get more items as needed. Thanks so much!

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2010-04-30 15:28
    A Propeller, with an attached SD card, can play WAV files and can keep track of time. None of the Parallax products can play MP3 or WMA audio although they can be used to control a player. If you want to use a Stamp, you would need some kind of external RTC (real time clock) like the DS1302 plus some kind of MP3/WMA player which attaches to an SD card. Parallax carries the DS1302 and matching crystal and has examples of its use with the Stamp. SparkFun carries several different MP3/WMA players on their "breakout" boards. Here's one fairly complete module for example: www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=7832.

    Vinculum sells their VMusic2 which uses USB memory sticks for storage. I've used it with both a Stamp and the Propeller and haven't had any problems although others have complained about not being able to get it to work.

    Post Edited (Mike Green) : 4/30/2010 3:35:00 PM GMT
  • Jesse A.Jesse A. Posts: 4
    edited 2010-04-30 15:56
    WAV would be perfect. I just need short audio clips. I have quite a few extra 512 MB SD Cards so that's good to hear. Would there happen to be any project similar to this in the past I could make some reference to? I've never been exposed to this kind of project so it's all new and exciting. Thank you very much for the quick reply!
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2010-04-30 16:56
    Look in the Propeller Object Exchange for the WAV player under "Speech and Sound". Under "Tool", there's "jm_softrtc" for a software RTC.

    There are all sorts of Propeller boards to choose from. A Demo Board would have the stereo headphone output as well as video output if you want to use that for debugging. It's just missing the SD card socket which you can get from Parallax as a little piggyback board that plugs into the breadboard socket on the Demo Board. I've used the micro SD card socket "breakout board" from SparkFun which is smaller and mounts flat against the breadboard socket.
  • Jesse A.Jesse A. Posts: 4
    edited 2010-04-30 17:48
    Thank you very much. Would there happen to be something that is a small but audible speaker? I want something that could be connected to the board and doesn't need external speakers (if that's possible / available). I want to make this as small as possible. I think I want the Parallax items to be my 'prototype' and try to find ways to make it smaller.

    My ultimate plan is to have the device at it's smallest size including battery, speaker, etc and play a .wav (alarm beeping or so) at certain hours in the morning. I tried looking around for such projects but it's hard to conduct a search that gives the results I'm looking for. So any tips or information would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks again for all your help so far!
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2010-04-30 19:26
    If all you want is a beep with a limited frequency response, you could use a piezo-speaker connected between two Propeller I/O pins and dispense with the SD card and WAV player. If you need more frequency range, you'll need a little amplifier like an LM386 (available from RadioShack). It all depends on what frequency range you want, how much volume you'll need, and your space requirements. Volume level also depends on how you have things enclosed. For example, Griffin makes a nice accessory for the Apple iPhone that's essentially a stand containing a folded horn that couples to the very tiny speaker in the iPhone to improve the volume and frequency response. It's all purely acoustic, molded into a block of clear plastic.
  • Spiral_72Spiral_72 Posts: 791
    edited 2010-04-30 20:23
    Yea, what kind of sounds do you have in mind?? The Basic Stamp alone with a small speaker can play beeps, boings, bomb drops, play melodies whatever you want.... Just not speech or some complicated sound.

    Heck with that said, the earliest speech synthesisors used a bare minimum of resources (memory and processing power) and some smart people..... although I wouldn't want to tackle it! nono.gif

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    "puff"...... Smile, there went another one.
  • Jesse A.Jesse A. Posts: 4
    edited 2010-05-01 18:59
    I would like a very short voice recording. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm new to this. I get to take my first electronics course in college this fall. I've only taken circuits which doesn't seem to help me in this situation. I want to make this as small as possible and play different .wav recordings. Thanks for your help guys. Just anything is beneficial to me. Any good place to start?
  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2010-05-02 04:05
    You've got lots of choices. You'll learn something useful and get a working device no matter which choice you make. You decide what suits your fancy and will satisfy what you want to learn. You should price out several of the choices suggested and see what suits your budget too.
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