Sabertec Golden harvest v3 User manual

Contact: info@sabertec.net

Website: https://sabertec.net

SaberTec

Owner: Frederic Folz

Brentanoweg 3

66802 Überherrn

GERMANY

Thank you

Thank you for sharing your passion with us! It’s only your support that enables us to further develop

our technology and continue optimizing it. Without you, we couldn’t realize our visions! Back in 2016,

we founded SaberTec with the goal to develop a soundboard that can provide the most impressive

and realistic saber experience imaginable –four years of hard work later the Golden Harvest v3 was

born. Our company’s fundamental philosophy is to closely include you, the community, into everything

we do –may it be the development of our saber heart, the decision of its name or the further

improvement of it. In this sense, we want to invite you to participate in this great project. If you have

any ideas or wishes, we would be honored if you would shared them with us! Just write a mail to

[email protected]. We are excited to hear from you!

Safety notice

As our Golden Harvest board uses electronic parts, it is sensitive to electrostatic discharge. Please

handle it with care and make sure to install it correctly. Furthermore, we recommend to use only

protected Li-Ion batteries. Also make sure to check the sections "Soldering advice" and "Handling

advice". We cannot be held responsible for any damage that arises from a faulty install or use of the

board. Furthermore, be cautious when using the Golden Harvest v3 if you have photosensitive epilepsy

or if you are photosensitive in general because the light effects can contain a series of flashing lights.

Legal information

We are not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company™ or Lucasfilm Ltd.™. All brands and trademarks

mentioned are the exclusive property of their respective owners. Furthermore, we are not affiliated with

Adafruit™. The trademark Neopixel™ is their exclusive property.

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Content 
Features of the Golden Harvest v3.......................................................................................................... 7 
Technical Specifications....................................................................................................................... 7 
Installation and Use............................................................................................................................. 7 
Audio Engine........................................................................................................................................ 7 
Motion Detection................................................................................................................................ 9 
Light Effects......................................................................................................................................... 9 
Firmware Updates............................................................................................................................. 11 
USB Charging and File Transfer ......................................................................................................... 11 
Evolution of the Board .......................................................................................................................... 12 
How to Recognize the Different Hardware Iterations....................................................................... 12 
Wiring of the Board............................................................................................................................... 13 
Power Rating and Polarity of LED channels....................................................................................... 15 
Soldering Advice................................................................................................................................ 15 
Handling Advice................................................................................................................................. 16 
Battery Recommendation ..................................................................................................................... 20 
In-Hilt Setup....................................................................................................................................... 20 
Neopixel Setup .................................................................................................................................. 20 
Setting Up Your Board........................................................................................................................... 20 
Choosing Your Hardware Setup ........................................................................................................ 20 
Choosing Your Light Effects............................................................................................................... 21 
Folder Structure on microSD Card......................................................................................................... 21 
Hibernation Mode................................................................................................................................. 22 
Motion Detection Engine ...................................................................................................................... 22 
Smooth Swing.................................................................................................................................... 22 
Legacy Motion Detection .................................................................................................................. 22 
General Settings .................................................................................................................................... 22 
Blade Styles ........................................................................................................................................... 29 
In-Hilt................................................................................................................................................. 31 
Neopixel............................................................................................................................................. 44 
Classic ............................................................................................................................................ 52 
Color Flow...................................................................................................................................... 52 
Frozen Pulse .................................................................................................................................. 54 
Wave.............................................................................................................................................. 56 
Flame Blade................................................................................................................................... 60 

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Gradient......................................................................................................................................... 61 
Focus Deflection............................................................................................................................ 62 
Thunder Storm .............................................................................................................................. 65 
Kylo Blade...................................................................................................................................... 69 
Unstable Blade .............................................................................................................................. 70 
Magnetic Flare............................................................................................................................... 72 
Shockwave..................................................................................................................................... 73 
Responsive Lockup ........................................................................................................................ 77 
Responsive Drag............................................................................................................................ 77 
Responsive swing effects for Neopixel.......................................................................................... 78 
Preon and postoff light effects for Neopixel................................................................................. 79 
Color menu........................................................................................................................................ 80 
Effect menu ....................................................................................................................................... 80 
Two momentary buttons............................................................................................................... 81 
One momentary button ................................................................................................................ 81 
Accent Profiles....................................................................................................................................... 82 
Blade matching RGB switch LED for Neopixel................................................................................... 90 
Accent menu...................................................................................................................................... 90 
Battery Indicator.................................................................................................................................... 90 
Charging indicator ................................................................................................................................. 90 
Volume Control ..................................................................................................................................... 91 
Saber editor........................................................................................................................................... 91 
Color profile edit mode ..................................................................................................................... 92 
Pixel number edit mode.................................................................................................................... 93 
Ignition speed edit mode .................................................................................................................. 93 
Retraction speed edit mode.............................................................................................................. 94 
Battle configuration edit mode......................................................................................................... 94 
Gesture controls edit mode .............................................................................................................. 94 
Effect font slot edit mode.................................................................................................................. 95 
Blaster block for one momentary button setups.................................................................................. 95 
Blaster block for two momentary buttons setups ................................................................................ 96 
Force push for one momentary button setups..................................................................................... 96 
Force push for two momentary buttons setups ................................................................................... 96 
Lockup for one momentary button setups ........................................................................................... 97 
Lockup for two momentary buttons setups.......................................................................................... 97 

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Sound Fonts........................................................................................................................................... 98 
Sound Font Settings File.................................................................................................................... 99 
Default Sound Font Package ........................................................................................................... 102 
Sound File Requirements ................................................................................................................ 103 
Background Music........................................................................................................................... 104 
Common Folder............................................................................................................................... 104 
Sound menu .................................................................................................................................... 104 
Two momentary buttons............................................................................................................. 104 
One momentary button .............................................................................................................. 105 
Pairing of sound fonts with blade profiles, color profiles, on top effects and accent profiles ....... 106 
Preon sounds................................................................................................................................... 106 
Postoff sounds................................................................................................................................. 107 
Firmware Updates............................................................................................................................... 107 
Installing Directly on the microSD Card........................................................................................... 108 
Installing Using the Seedling Module.............................................................................................. 108 
USB Charging and File Transfer Using the Seedling Module............................................................... 108 
Menu Navigation................................................................................................................................. 109 
Navigation Using Two Momentary Buttons.................................................................................... 109 
Navigation Using Only One Momentary Button ............................................................................. 111 
Frequently Asked Questions ............................................................................................................... 114

Features of the Golden Harvest v3

Technical Specifications

➢tiny dimensions of 28.5 mm x 18.5 mm x 3.7 mm / 1.12 ” x 0.73 ” x 0.15 ”

➢powered by 3.7 V (single 18650 Li-ion cell for example)

➢provides 9 LED channels that can be customized independently from each other:

o4 LED channels can deliver up to 9 A each:

▪can drive SingleCrees, DualCrees, TriCrees and QuadCrees

▪can drive Neopixel

o5 LED channels can deliver up to 20 mA each:

▪can drive accent, crystal chamber or switch LEDs for example

ocapable of delivering up to 36 A in sum (in practice, both battery and heat dissipation

are the limiting factors here)

ofull customizability even of accent LEDs such as switch LEDs or crystal chamber LEDs

using the whole range of our effect engine

➢optional USB charging and file transfer feature (using our Seedling module, see below)

➢microSD card slot

Installation and Use

➢huge solder pads for easiest installation possible

➢your hardware setup can be easily chosen per drag-and-drop on the microSD card

➢full functionality accessible even if used with only one momentary switch

➢can also be used with two momentary switches

➢customizable deep sleep (hibernation mode)

Audio Engine

➢maximum audio amplifier power output: 4 W

osupported speaker power: 1 W - 6 W

osupported speaker impedance: 4 Ohm, 8 Ohm, 16 Ohm and 32 Ohm

ohigh dynamic range: 115 dB

oreal-time dynamic range compression

ohigh signal-to-noise ratio: 100 dB

o16 bit audio sample resolution

ointegrated speaker protection algorithms:

▪exceeding voice coil excursion protection

▪overtemperature protection

▪overcurrent protection

▪undervoltage protection

▪15 kV ESD protection of speaker output

➢full-blown sound effect engine:

ounlimited smooth swing pair sounds

ounlimited smooth swing accent sounds

ounlimited swing sounds

ounlimited clash sounds

ounlimited stab sounds

ounlimited spin sounds

ounlimited begin lockup sounds

ounlimited lockup sounds

ounlimited end lockup sounds

ounlimited begin melt sounds

ounlimited melt sounds

ounlimited end melt sounds

ounlimited begin drag sounds

ounlimited drag sounds

ounlimited end drag sounds

ounlimited blaster sounds

ounlimited force sounds

ounlimited boot sounds

ounlimited pre-on sounds

ounlimited power on sounds

ounlimited power off sounds

ounlimited post-off sounds

ounlimited hum sounds

omenu sounds

ounlimited sound fonts that contain all these sound effects

othe following sound fonts are supported without needing to rename any files:

http://www.saberfont.com/Optimized-for-Plecter-CFX-Smooth-Swing-Compatible-

by-Era-_c_92.html

➢background music engine:

ounlimited tracks

oplaylist feature

ocan be controlled on the fly

odefault package comprising 4 music tracks that come with the board:

▪"Fate and Fortune" by Scott Buckley

▪"Inflection" by Scott Buckley

▪"Light in Dark Places" by Scott Buckley

▪"Helios" by Scott Buckley

➢default package comprising 16 sound fonts that come with the board:

o"Balance" by LordBlako Saber Fonts

o"Psy-Borg" by CrystalSoniX

o"Daddy Issues Complete" by Fourzze FX

o"Guardian" by LDN Sabers

o"Cryo Carbon" by Repulse Custom Sounds

o"Peace" by Kyberphonic Fonts

o"Violence" by Kyberphonic Fonts

o"Son of Darkness" by Dark Path Media

o"Eternal Prince" by Repulse Custom Sounds

o"The Phantom" by Project Fonts

o"The Shadow" by Project Fonts

o"Shadows" by Echo Studio

o"Dark Harvest" by Blueforce Company

o"The Classic Villain" by Fourzze FX

o"Energy Pike" by The Proplicator

o"Knighthood" by Fourzze FX

Motion Detection

➢both Smooth Swing and legacy motion detection supported

➢Smooth Swing enhanced by Accent Swings and Accent Spins

➢highly sophisticated legacy motion engine:

ocustomizable sensitivity

oultra low motion-to-sound latency

odetects swings

odetects clashs

odetects stabs

odetects spins

➢real-time measurement of orientation of the saber:

odisplay of drag light and sound effects according to orientation of the saber

ousage of pre-on sounds can be controlled by orientation of the saber

ousage of post-off sounds can be controlled by orientation of the saber

oresponsive light effects

ointeractive menu navigation using orientation of the saber

Light Effects

➢both in-hilt LEDs and Neopixel (ws2812b) are supported

➢game-changing blade styles:

ointroduced as an analogue to sound fonts

ocontain all customizable light effect parameters

ocan define certain effect styles just as sound fonts define certain sound styles

ocan be changed on the fly

ounlimited number of blade styles supported, i.e. you can have as many saber effect

styles as you want, not only different colors

opairable with sound fonts on the fly as the Golden Harvest board remembers with

which blade style a sound font was lastly used

odefault blade styles and manual available on https://sabertec.net/downloads

➢in-hilt LED effects:

ooverwhelming light effect engine

ofull customizability of the effects

oeach LED channel can have completely independent light effects

ocustomizability of crystal chamber effects for example

opulse effects:

▪conventional pulse

▪speed transition pulse, a.k.a. “HyperPulse”

▪intensity transition pulse, a.k.a. “ÜberPulse”

▪color transition effects

▪6 different pulse shapes: sine, impulse, inverted impulse, rising sawtooth,

falling sawtooth, rectangular

oflicker effects:

▪conventional flicker

▪intensity transition, a.k.a. “PhaseFlicker”

▪3 different flicker types: subtractive, additive and mixed

▪flicker synchronization

oconfigurable fade out

oconfigurable effect duration

oindependent basic effects

oindependent clash effects

oindependent stab effects

oindependent swing effects

oindependent spin effects

oindependent lockup effects

oindependent melt effects

oindependent blaster effects

oindependent force effects

oas there are more than 600 parameters, you can literally invent your own light

effects

oassuming there are 1000 possible values for each parameter (which is a hard under-

estimation), you could create 10^1800 (a one with 1800 zeros) possible blade styles

–that’s more than there are atoms in the universe!

oingenious online configuration tool for designing, saving and sharing your light

effects (will be released very soon)

oalso default parameter settings available, so you get already epic light effects even

without having to change any of the parameters:

▪10 presets for dedicated color LED

▪120 presets for RGB LED

▪120 presets for RGBW LED

▪120 presets for RGBA LED

➢Neopixel effects:

ooverwhelming light effect engine

ofull customizability of the effects

ocomes with three effect packages comprising more than 900 presets for Neopixel

effects that can be changed on the fly:

▪basic effect package: includes 30 presets

▪default effect package: includes 140 presets

▪extended effect package: includes 924 presets

oall Neopixel effects consist of background effects and on top effects that can be

arbitrarily combined with each other

o6 different background effect categories:

▪Classic (e. g. Red, Green, Blue, Flicker, Pulse, …)

▪Color Flow (e. g. Rainbow, Dual Transition, Blizzard Transition, …)

▪Frozen Pulse (e. g. Spatial Pulse, Color Pulse, …)

▪Wave (e. g. Railgun, Pulsing Wave, Tiger Tail, Rattlesnake, Candy Stick, …)

▪Flame Blade (e. g. Red Flame, Green Flame, Blue Flame, …)

▪Gradient (e. g. Dual Phase, Pulsing Phase, …)

o7 different on top effect categories:

▪None

▪Focus Deflection

▪Thunder Storm

▪Unstable Blade

▪Kylo Blade

▪Magnetic Flare

▪Shockwave

oconfigurable fade out

oconfigurable effect transition:

▪configurable transition time

▪configurable transition type:

•Basic

•Window

•Unstable Blade

•Flame Blade

oconfigurable effect duration

olocalized clash

olocalized lockup

olocalized drag

olocalized melt

olocalized blaster block

oindependent basic effects

oindependent clash effects

oindependent stab effects

oindependent swing effects

oindependent spin effects

oindependent lockup effects

oindependent blaster effects

oindependent force effects

➢5 independent channels to drive standard accent LEDs

➢capability of defining unique light effects even for standard accent LEDs

➢sequencer for standard accent LEDs:

oup to 16 different steps

oduration of each step customizable

obreak between steps customizable

➢up to 8 independent Neopixel accent LEDs

➢capability of defining unique light effects even for Neopixel accent LEDs

➢sequencer for Neopixel accent LEDs:

oup to 16 different steps

oduration of each step customizable

obreak between steps customizable

Firmware Updates

➢there will be free firmware updates on a regular basis which you can simply install yourself

by saving a file on your microSD card

➢many more features will be introduced with firmware updates in future

➢you’re invited to take part in planning new features by discussing them with us or providing

your own ideas in our Golden Harvest soundboard group on Facebook

USB Charging and File Transfer

➢using our Seedling USB module, the Golden Harvest can be recharged and the microSD can

be accessed via microUSB

➢charging with up to 1.5 A

➢you can use any wall adapter independent from the maximum current it can supply thanks to

a smart charging algorithm

➢easy to install as the module needs only 4 wires to be connected to the Golden Harvest

➢smaller than 11 mm x 19 mm / 0.433" x 0.748"

Evolution of the Board

Since its first release, several minor hardware changes of the Golden Harvest v3 have been

implemented. The different hardware iterations of the board are labelled as phase 1, 2, 3 and 4. Each

of these boards is capable of using the very same firmware. In the following, we describe how you can

determine which hardware iteration you own and what the differences are.

How to Recognize the Different Hardware Iterations

The phase 1 boards are green, all other boards are black. You can recognize the phase 2 boards as they

have a resistor across two of the 5 circular pads on the top side of the board. The phase 3 boards have

a brown rectangular part in the upper left corner of the top side of the board. The phase 4 boards are

currently in production. Their look is not yet revealed. They will be the final hardware iteration.

Phase 1 Phase 2

Phase 3 Phase 4

Changes introduced by phase 2:

- Decreased wait time when disconnecting and connecting the battery.

- Batt. + pad on the top side instead of on the back side.

Changes introduced by phase 3:

- Wait time when disconnecting and connecting the battery completely removed.

- Part in the upper left corner of the top side of the board replaced by a protected one to make it

more robust against mistakes during install.

- Reverse polarity protection added.

- Accent LED channel 5 added.

Changes introduced by phase 4:

- Short protection for the audio amplifier added.

- Audio clarity and volume could be further enhanced.

- Protection against overheating during soldering could be further extended.

- ESD protection of the buttons was enhanced.

- ESD protection of the Pixel data line was enhanced.

- ESD protection of the power line was enhanced.

- Deep sleep shelf time was increased (current draw was reduced).

- A "PHASE4.GHV" file is automatically created on the SD card as an identification.

The protection mechanisms added to phase 4 are very powerful. However, this does not mean that

you shouldn't be careful during soldering and handling.

Wiring of the Board

After getting in touch with the technical specifications, we’ll now come to how to install the Golden

Harvest v3 correctly. The general wiring of our board is shown in the wiring diagrams on the following

pages which are examples for different LED setups (there are much more possible than shown though).

As mentioned above, our board features four different high-power LED channels. These are accessible

via the pads labelled as "LED1", "LED2", "LED3" and "LED4" which need to be connected to the negative

of the LEDs. Please make sure to use appropriate resistors for your in-hilt LEDs (we don’t take any

responsibility for possible damage due to using inappropriate resistors). To calculate the needed

resistivity, have a look at the data sheets of the LEDs you want to use. The four high-power LED

channels don’t necessarily have to drive your blade LED as you can even drive accent LEDs with them.

If you decide to use only two LED channels for the blade for example, you can use the remaining LED

channels to drive a switch LED or crystal chamber LEDs for example. As each LED channel provides up

to 9 A, you could even connect up to 450 accent LEDs in parallel to each LED channel (assuming they

need 20 mA each). As you’ll see in one of the following sections, you can even define custom light

effects for the accent LEDs. They can be synchronized to the blade effects, but you can also choose

them to be completely independent of the blade effects. This enables you to design independent

crystal chamber effects for example.

Another important pad is the "Pwr. Sw." pad to which you connect the power switch as its name

already suggests. The power switch has to be a momentary switch. If you decide to go for a two-switch

configuration, you can add a second switch to the "Aux. Sw." pad which has to be a momentary switch.

The second pin of each switch has to be connected to the "GND" pad.

For each switch, it is recommended to twist its two wires around each other. That way, the impact of

electromagnetic induction can be reduced. This is important as electromagnetic induction could

potentially lead to random behavior. Furthermore, it is important to use the "GND" pad between the

"Aux. Sw." and the "Pwr. Sw." pad to solder the ground wire of each switch.

Top side of the board Back side of the board

The position of the Batt. + pad indicated above holds only for the black boards. For the green boards,

please use the Batt. + pad on the back side. The LED channel 5 is only available on phase 3 and phase

4 boards.

The table below lists the functions of each pad on the top side of the board.

Pad

Function

Remark

Batt. -

Connect to negative of battery

Internally connected to all GND pads

Batt. +

Connect to positive of battery

Spk. -

Connect to negative of speaker

Spk. +

Connect to positive of speaker

Strip

Connect to data line of Neopixel

Resistor is already included on the board

D +

Connect to D + of the USB module

D -

Connect to D - of the USB module

Aux. Sw.

Connect to auxiliary switch

(must be momentary if used)

Second pin of the switch needs to be

connected to GND

GND

Ground

Pwr. Sw.

Connect to power switch

(must be momentary)

Second pin of the switch needs to be

connected to GND

LED1 -

High-power LED output

(4,2 V and 9 A)

LED2 -

High-power LED output

(4,2 V and 9 A)

LED3 -

High-power LED output

(4,2 V and 9 A)

LED4 -

High-power LED output

(4,2 V and 9 A)

LED5 +