SiriusLab Electronics SolarSounds User manual

SolarSounds
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‘’World’s first solar powered digital musical instrument’’
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User guide
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SiriusLab Electronics SolarSounds User Guide v1.0
To properly understand the working principles of operation please carefully read
the user guide. If any problems should arise during use, please contact SiriusLab
Electronics.

This is a solar powered digital music instrument and as such has a solar panel that
generates electricity and a printed circuit board which has all electronic
components soldered to it. The light source necessary to operate the device
might come from the Sun or other forms of light like a light bulb or an LED light.
The device will work on low light levels, for example on an overcast day, but still
has limitations. There are no batteries in the device and no serviceable parts.
With proper care, the operational lifetime of the device is unlimited.
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To use the device, orient the solar panel side of the device towards a light source.
The change of the pitch and notes is achieved by casting a partial shadow on the
solar panel or by limiting the amount of light hitting the solar panel by any other
means.
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To operate the device it needs to be pointed towards a light source.
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1. Basics
The device has two main modes of operation. One is called LINEAR and the other
is COMPLEX.
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LINEAR mode makes the pitch linearly proportional to the amount of light
hitting the solar panel. That means that more light makes higher pitch sound and
less light produces lower frequency sound. The MUTE button can be used to
mute the speaker. The frequency starts at 278 Hz and ends at 3230 Hz.
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COMPLEX mode plays a selection of discrete notes according to the amount of
light on a solar panel. The more light hits the solar panel, a higher note from the
selection is played and vice versa. The notes are sequentially changed according
to the amount of light hitting the solar panel.
The desired notes can be manually selected and the device comes
preprogrammed with the 12 most popular chords and the 12 most popular scales
in C.
List of the preprogrammed chords and scales can be found in the appendix.
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The device is tuned to 440 Hz and all selected notes are translated to two octaves
even though there is only a single octave selection. Notes start from C6 and end
on B7.
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SiriusLab Electronics SolarSounds User Guide v1.0
The functional regions of the device are divided to four parts:
●Function buttons - RED
●Mode switches - GREEN
●Note switches - BLUE
●MENU/MUTE button - ORANGE
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2. Function buttons
Four function buttons are located on the top side of the device..
They allow the user to browse through saved modes. MENU/MUTE button is on
the bottom and can simply mute the speaker or in combination with function
buttons on the top, change the mode of the device.
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a) FN1/CHORDS
b) FN2/SCALES
c) FN3/CUSTOM
d) FN4/SAVE
e) MENU/MUTE
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SiriusLab Electronics SolarSounds User Guide v1.0
3. Mode switches
Two mode switches are in the middle of the device and on the left side there is a
VOLUME control enabling you 2 volume levels MAX and MIN.
On the right side is a switch that sets the device in LINEAR or COMPLEX mode.
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a) VOLUME
b) COMPLEX/LINEAR
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4. Note selection switches
On the bottom of the device there are 12 switches representing a single octave.
In CHORDS and SCALES mode, those switches are used to access the predefined
chords and scales and in CUSTOM mode, they allow you to choose single notes to
be played.
While in CHORD and SCALE mode just toggling the switch loads the predefined
notes on that switch while in CUSTOM mode the switch needs to be in ON
position for the note to be added on the playing list. If all switches are in OFF
position, the device will be silent. The switches are ON while in the down position
as suggested by the arrow on the right hand side of the device.
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5. Using Function buttons
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A press on the FN1/CHORDS button instantly enters the saved notes in bank 1.
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To enter CHORDS mode, the user needs to press MUTE and while holding MUTE,
press the FN1/CHORDS button. You should hear a beeping sound while holding
the buttons to let you know that device is about to enter a new mode. Upon
releasing the button, it will enter CHORDS mode.
In this mode you can dynamically change chords.
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A press on the FN2/SCALES button instantly enters the saved notes in bank 2.
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To enter SCALES mode, the user needs to press MUTE and while holding MUTE,
press the FN2/SCALES button. You should hear a beeping sound while holding
the buttons to let you know that the device is about to enter a new mode. Upon
releasing the button, it will enter SCALES mode.
In this mode you can dynamically change scales.
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A press on the FN3/CUSTOM button instantly enters the saved notes in bank 3.
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To enter CUSTOM mode, the user needs to press MUTE and while holding MUTE,
press the FN3/CUSTOM button. You should hear a beeping sound while holding
the buttons to let you know that the device is about to enter a new mode. Upon
releasing the button, it will enter CUSTOM mode.
In this mode you can dynamically change played notes.
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SiriusLab Electronics SolarSounds User Guide v1.0
A press on the FN4/SAVE button instantly enters the saved notes in bank 4.
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To SAVE the current selection the device needs to be in CHORDS, SCALES or
CUSTOM mode. It will save the current arrangement of the notes in either of the
selected FN button banks.
To SAVE, press and hold the MENU/MUTE button then press FN4/SAVE. After
releasing the buttons you should hear a double beep and then 3 seconds of
silence. While the device is silent, press the FN button that you want to save the
current selection to. If the save was successful, you should hear a double beep
confirming the save process. After the successful save, the device will be in the
saved mode with the selection you have just made.
If no buttons were pressed in 3 seconds, the save command will be canceled and
the device will return to the mode it was previously in.
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The device comes with preprogrammed FN buttons so the easiest way to start
playing the device is to change the FN button modes and change the amount of
light falling on the solar panel. This will make a melodic progression and can be
a base for a composition.
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6. Good to know
Microcontroller used in SolarSounds has permanent EEPROM memory and all
settings are stored each and every time they something changes. If the save
process is not completed correctly(the device loses power), the memory might
get corrupted and the device won’t make expected sounds. If that happens try
pressing different buttons and cycle the power on/off until the device starts
working normally again.
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If any unresolvable problems occur, the device can be resetted to the default
factory settings.
To RESET the device, press and hold all 5 buttons ( 4 FN buttons and
MENU/MUTE) while the device is turned off and then while holding the buttons
pressed expose the solar panel to the light. You should hear a demo song and
upon the next power up all settings should be resetted to the factory default.
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7. Precautions
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●Do not spill liquids on the device. This might cause the device to
malfunction or stop operating.
●Do not expose the device to unreasonable high powered light sources.
●Do not expose the device to extreme heat or extreme cold.
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SiriusLab Electronics contact information:
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eMail: [email protected]
Web: https://www.siriuslab-electronics.com/

SiriusLab Electronics SolarSounds User Guide v1.0
Appendix
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1. Chords preprogrammed in note switches while in CHORDS mode
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They are arranged in the order they appear on the note switches:
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C, G, D#, F, D, A, E, B, Am, Em, Cm, Dm
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2. Scales preprogrammed in note switches while in SCALES mode
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They are arranged in the order they appear on the note switches and are all in C:
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Major, Natural minor, Harmonic minor, Melodic minor, Dorian, Phrygian
dominant, Lydian, Mixolydian, Locrian, Whole tone, Pentatonic, Blues
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