Emic 2 help.

babo18

Hello, I am new to electronics and I am trying to learn on my own. I do fairly well with th basic stamp basics but need some help with Emic 2 board troubleshooting. I cannot get any output from the Emic2 board. I hooked it up as per the instructions (gnd, 5V, sin, sout, and 2 speaker leads) but get no output. The orange led lights during start up and then the green led stays lit. I am using the sample code from the Parallax Emic2 page for the basic stamp. The program executes but I never see the red led light, so I assume there is no communication between the stamp and Emic2. Below is the program I am using.

' {$STAMP BS2}
' {$PBASIC 2.5}


EmicBaud VAR Word
EMIC_TX PIN 0
EMIC_RX PIN 1
Init:
DEBUG CLS, "Emic 2 Text-to-Speech Module Demonstration", CR, CR
EmicBaud = 16468
SEROUT EMIC_TX, EmicBaud, [CR]
SERIN EMIC_RX, EmicBaud, 5000, No_Response, [WAIT(":")]: DEBUG "Ready!", CR '

Main:
DEBUG "Speaking some text..."
SEROUT EMIC_TX, EmicBaud, ["S", "Hello. My name is the Emic 2 Text-to-Speech module. I would like to sing you a song.", CR]
SERIN EMIC_RX, EmicBaud, [WAIT(":")]
PAUSE 500
SEROUT EMIC_TX, EmicBaud, ["D1", CR]
SERIN EMIC_RX, EmicBaud, [WAIT(":")]
DEBUG CR, "Demonstration complete!"
END
'

---

[ Subroutines ]

---

No_Response:
DEBUG "Ending demonstration!"
END

I run the program and I get the message:" Emic 2 Text-to-Speech Module Demonstration", followed by a pause(5000), then the message "Ending demonstration!"
I am using p0 and p1 on the basic stamp. I have reversed these just in case I had them in the wrong place, but the result is still the same. I am not sure what I am doing wrong?
Any help would be greatly appriciated.
Thank You.

erco

Welcome to the forums, babo18. Emic2 is a great board. Which Stamp & board (BoE or Homework) are you using? Can you post a photo of your setup?

babo18

I am using the BS-2 Stamp and the Board of Education.

erco

Thanks for your fast reply!

Just curious, are you sure your Emic board works? Have you ever heard it speak?

babo18

No, I bought it, took it out of the package and plugged it into the breadboard.

erco

I just hooked mine up with the attached code and it worked fine with a BS2 on a BoE. Try this code, just in case you have a typo in your code. It took a lot of cut & paste editing from the Parallax code listing, which opens as a sad jumble of text. NOTE TO PARALLAX !

Red & green LEDs are both on initially for 2 seconds, then red only while speaking, then green only after speech ends.

' ========================================================================= ' ' File....... Emic2_Demo.bs2 ' Purpose.... Demonstration of the Emic 2 Text-to-Speech Module ' Author..... Joe Grand, Grand Idea Studio, Inc. [www.grandideastudio.com] ' E-mail..... support@parallax.com ' Updated.... 14 FEB 2012 '
   ' {$STAMP BS2}
   ' {$PBASIC 2.5} '
   ' =========================================================================
   ' -----[ Program Description ]--------------------------------------------- '
   ' This program provides a simple demonstration of the Emic 2 Text-to-Speech ' Module. Please refer to the product manual for full details of system ' functionality and capabilities. '
   ' -----[ Revision History ]------------------------------------------------ '
   ' 1.0: Initial release '
   ' -----[ I/O Definitions ]-------------------------------------------------
   EMIC_TX PIN 13'  Serial output (connects to Emic 2 SIN)
   EMIC_RX PIN 14 ' Serial input (connects to Emic 2 SOUT)
   ' -----[ Constants ]-------------------------------------------------------
   #SELECT $STAMP
   #CASE BS2, BS2E, BS2PE
   T9600 CON 84
   #CASE BS2SX, BS2P
   T9600 CON 240
   #ENDSELECT
   EmicBaud CON T9600
   ' -----[ Initialization ]--------------------------------------------------
   Init: DEBUG CLS, "Emic 2 Text-to-Speech Module Demonstration", CR, CR ' when the Emic 2 powers on, it takes about 3 seconds for it to successfully ' intialize. it then sends a ":" character to indicate it's ready to accept ' commands. if the Emic 2 is already initialized, a CR will also cause it ' to send a ":" DEBUG "Waiting for Emic 2..."
   SEROUT EMIC_TX, EmicBaud, [CR]
   SERIN EMIC_RX, EmicBaud, 5000, No_Response, [WAIT(":")]
   DEBUG "Ready!", CR ' -----[ Program Code ]----------------------------------------------------
   Main: DEBUG "Speaking some text..."
   SEROUT EMIC_TX, EmicBaud, ["S", "Hello. My name is the Emic 2 Text-to-Speech module. I would like to sing you a song.", CR] ' Send the desired string to convert to speech
   SERIN EMIC_RX, EmicBaud, [WAIT(":")] ' Wait here until the Emic 2 responds with a ":" indicating it's ready to accept the next command
   DEBUG "Done!", CR
   PAUSE 500 ' Short delay DEBUG "Singing a song..."
   SEROUT EMIC_TX, EmicBaud, ["D1", CR] ' Play the built-in demonstration song. See the product manual for exact settings used to create this song.
   SERIN EMIC_RX, EmicBaud, [WAIT(":")] ' Wait here until the Emic 2 responds with a ":" indicating it's ready to accept the next command
   DEBUG "Done!", CR
   DEBUG CR, "Demonstration complete!"
   END
   ' -----[ Subroutines ]-----------------------------------------------------
   No_Response: ' if we get here, it means we did not receive a ":" from the Emic 2
   DEBUG "No response!", CR, CR, "Ending demonstration!"
   END
   ' -----[ End of File ]----------------------------------------------------

erco

BTW, I tested your code. It works after one modification. I change your line:

EmicBaud = 16468

The correct value is 84.

babo18

Thanks Erco,
Sorry it took so long to reply, I had to give it up for the night. I used your code and it works great. I agree that the parallax sample code was confusing to decode as printed in the sample. I came up with the number 16468 by an online formula: (1000000/9600)-20, covert to binary, add 1 or 0 to the 13th, 14th,and 15th places, then convert back to a number. I found this formula in multiple places so I assumed it was correct. I really really appriciate your help on this because it was getting very frustrating.
Thanks Again,
Babo18

erco

Happy to help, babo18. Now that your BoeBot can speak, it can sing too. I want a little competition! I used a Robovoice chip here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inM04mo9D8Q and

babo18

Thanks, but I am no where near that level yet.

erco

The EMIC2 has better (more intelligible) speech than the RoboVoice chip, and probably better text to speech capability, justifying its higher price.

Both chips are a lot of fun to play with. As soon as you get speech down, all sorts of new project ideas will pop into your head. Here's one of my faves:

KronicKold

As an update I was able to get ERCO's code to work after I changed line 6 and line 7 to match the pins I used for serial in and out. Just a heads up to anyone following this double check this and it should work.