Synchronizing Stamp Program to Music ?

Archiver

I need help in synchronizing the start of a Stamp program with the playing
of a passage of music. This is for a Halloween light display which will
have
a 'dancing light' display independent of the Stamp program. The Stamp
program however will allow the incorporation of additional lighting effects,
as well as, hopefully, some animatronics. The Stamp program I am
presently using is an adaptation of Jon William's "Sequencer" program
(published in volume 3 of 'Nuts & Volts of Basic Stamps').

I want to start the Stamp program either at the exact beginning of the
music or at a precise time during the passage. At present I am using a
standard cassette tape recorder to play the music; which is to be fed into
an
amplified speaker. I can only picture this synchronization in the rather
crude manner by noting the tape odometer reading and manually starting
the program - but this does not allow for accurate synchronization, and
doesn't provide for automatic display repetition. There must be a better
way.

I am not an electronics engineer and tend to think electronically in simple
terms such as relay logic or simple ic circuitry, so, to be helpful, any
suggestions must be accompanied by explicit diagramming and component
callout.

I have adapted Jon's program by incorporating the sequence directly into
program data statements, along with variable step delay (pause) times. I
am using a 74HC595 to provide the 8 channels of on/off output, then
through a ULN2803A to provide the voltage and power for the relays. I
can repeat the passage of music on the tape for a total of 45 minutes, which
is ample.

thanks for your thoughts, cheers, David

Archiver

I think Nuts & Volts had something on animatronics in the December issue --
the one with the Xmas train.

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Original Message

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> I need help in synchronizing the start of a Stamp program with the playing
> of a passage of music. This is for a Halloween light display which will
> have
> a 'dancing light' display independent of the Stamp program. The Stamp
> program however will allow the incorporation of additional lighting
effects,
> as well as, hopefully, some animatronics. The Stamp program I am
> presently using is an adaptation of Jon William's "Sequencer" program
> (published in volume 3 of 'Nuts & Volts of Basic Stamps').
>
> I want to start the Stamp program either at the exact beginning of the
> music or at a precise time during the passage. At present I am using a
> standard cassette tape recorder to play the music; which is to be fed into
> an
> amplified speaker. I can only picture this synchronization in the rather
> crude manner by noting the tape odometer reading and manually starting
> the program - but this does not allow for accurate synchronization, and
> doesn't provide for automatic display repetition. There must be a better
> way.
>
> I am not an electronics engineer and tend to think electronically in
simple
> terms such as relay logic or simple ic circuitry, so, to be helpful, any
> suggestions must be accompanied by explicit diagramming and component
> callout.
>
> I have adapted Jon's program by incorporating the sequence directly into
> program data statements, along with variable step delay (pause) times. I
> am using a 74HC595 to provide the 8 channels of on/off output, then
> through a ULN2803A to provide the voltage and power for the relays. I
> can repeat the passage of music on the tape for a total of 45 minutes,
which
> is ample.

Archiver

If I was doing this, I would use the left audio track on the tape as
my music, and then use the right audio track to hold the control
tones to signal the stamp. Obviously you only feed the left channel
to your audio amp so no one hears the beeps on the right channel.
This is the way the old Teddy Ruxpin talking teddy bears operated.

Hope this helps!
Joe Gingerich

> I need help in synchronizing the start of a Stamp program with the
playing
> of a passage of music. This is for a Halloween light display which
will
> have
> a 'dancing light' display independent of the Stamp program. The
Stamp
> program however will allow the incorporation of additional lighting
effects,
> as well as, hopefully, some animatronics. The Stamp program I am
> presently using is an adaptation of Jon William's "Sequencer"
program
> (published in volume 3 of 'Nuts & Volts of Basic Stamps').
>
> I want to start the Stamp program either at the exact beginning of
the
> music or at a precise time during the passage. At present I am
using a
> standard cassette tape recorder to play the music; which is to be
fed into
> an
> amplified speaker. I can only picture this synchronization in the
rather
> crude manner by noting the tape odometer reading and manually
starting
> the program - but this does not allow for accurate synchronization,
and
> doesn't provide for automatic display repetition. There must be a
better
> way.
>
> I am not an electronics engineer and tend to think electronically
in simple
> terms such as relay logic or simple ic circuitry, so, to be
helpful, any
> suggestions must be accompanied by explicit diagramming and
component
> callout.
>
> I have adapted Jon's program by incorporating the sequence directly
into
> program data statements, along with variable step delay (pause)
times. I
> am using a 74HC595 to provide the 8 channels of on/off output, then
> through a ULN2803A to provide the voltage and power for the
relays. I
> can repeat the passage of music on the tape for a total of 45
minutes, which
> is ample.
>
> thanks for your thoughts, cheers, David