sparkfun KIT-14173 Technical document

Spectacle Light and Sound Kit Hookup Guide
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Introduction
The Spectacle Light and Sound Kit allows you to add button-activated
sound and light effects to your projects with ease.
Suggested Reading
Before proceeding, you should read through the Spectacle User’s Guide. It
will give you the basics you’ll need to know about how Spectacle works to
follow the rest of this tutorial.
Spectacle Audio Board
The Spectacle Audio Board allows you to add sound to your Spectacle
projects. It accepts a microSD card with sounds in .ogg format (more on
this later), and has a 1/8" (3.5mm) audio jack to connect to external
amplifiers.
Spectacle Light and Sound Ki
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tl;dr (essentials)
1. Audio files for Spectacle should be formatted as .ogg files.
2. Audio files should have names 00.ogg, 01.ogg, 02.ogg, etc.
3. The audio jack on the Audio Board produces output suitable for
amplification only. It is not suited to headphones or unpowered
speakers.
Meet the Spectacle Audio Board
Designed to be a low-cost and easy to use method of adding sound to
projects, the Spectacle Audio Board integrates with the rest of the
Spectacle ecosystem to provide sound effects on demand.
It has three 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks: two for Spectacle control signals and one
for the audio output. Be certain you are plugging cables into the right
jacks! Plugging an audio device into one of the Spectacle jacks could
cause damage to the audio device. Note that the Spectacle data jacks are
directional: the one marked “In” should be plugged into the “upstream”
board (i.e., closer to the Director Board than this one) and the one marked
“Out” connects to the next downstream board. The “Out” jack is not for
audio signals.
The audio output is designed for amplified devices only. This means that
any attempt to use the Spectacle Audio Board with headphones or
unamplified speakers will fail to produce audible output. SparkFun sells a
small, amplified, rechargeable speaker which is specifically intended for use
with the Spectacle Audio Board.
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The Spectacle Audio Board uses a microSD card to store the audio files to
be played. The files should be stored as .ogg Vorbis encoded files. This
free audio file format can be played and created on any type of computer.
Later in the tutorial we’ll show you how to convert from MP3, WAV, or other
file formats to the .ogg format.
The files must be named by number, which is how they will be referred to
from within the configuration application. Filename examples are 00.ogg,
01.ogg, 02.ogg, and so forth.
Spectacle Button Board
The Spectacle Button Board allows you to add input from buttons or
switches to your Spectacle projects. It has a total of 9 signal inputs, eight of
which can come from external buttons and one button directly on the board.
tl;dr
1. Buttons or switches can be connected to the board by pushing wires
into the “poke home” type connectors on the board.
2. Up to nine signals are available.
3. Button signals can be either momentary or continuous.
Meet the Spectacle Button Board
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Designed to bring simple signals from the world into your Spectacle
projects, the Spectacle Button Board provides input for any of your
Spectacle projects.
It has two 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks for connecting to other boards in a Spectacle
system. Note that the Spectacle data jacks are directional: the one marked
“In” should be plugged into the “upstream” board (i.e., closer to the Director
Board than this one) and the one marked “Out” connects to the next
downstream board.
There are 8 “poke home” connectors on the Button Board. Each one can be
connected to one (or more) buttons. To add a connection, simply push the
stripped end of a wire into the hole on the connector. The connector will
automatically grab on and hold the wire in place. If you need to remove the
wire later, an small object (bobby pin, ballpoint pen, etc.) can be used to
depress the release button, allowing the wire to be extracted without
damage.
There is an input button on the button board itself which can be used to
provide an input signal if no other buttons are available. It functions like any
other normal button that might be attached. Be certain you’re pressing
the button labeled ‘8’ and not the one labeled ‘Reset’! Pressing the
reset button will reset your button board, probably causing your entire
system to stop working properly until you reset your Director Board!
Spectacle Light Board
The Spectacle Light Board allows you to add some fairly complex lighting
effects to your Spectacle projects. It has connections for up to three strands
of addressable LEDs and a connector for external power.
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tl;dr
1. If more than approximately 10 pixels will be on at once, we
recommend powering the Light Board through the onboard micro-B
USB port.
2. For smaller numbers of pixels, it is possible to power them directly
over the Spectacle control cable.
3. Most of the LED effects want a continuous type signal, such as the
Button board “Latch On/Latch Off” function.
4. Only WS2812 (NeoPixel) type addressable LED strips will work with
the Spectacle Light Board.
Meet the Spectacle Light Board
Designed to make it easy to add relatively complex lighting effects to your
Spectacle projects, the Spectacle Light Board integrates with the rest of the
Spectacle ecosystem to allow you to control lighting effects relatively
effortlessly.
It has two 1/8" (3.5mm) jacks for Spectacle control signals. Pay attention
to the directionality of the jacks! The one labeled “In” should be plugged
into a board that is closer to the Director Board than the Light Board is, or
into the Director Board itself.
The Light Board supports up to three strands of addressable LEDs. Each
strand can have up to 60 individual pixels. Not all types of addressable
LEDs are compatible with the Spectacle Light Board. If you have
questions about whether or not a particular type of LED strip is compatible
with the Light Board, contact SparkFun technical support.
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The Light Board has a Micro B USB connector to allow it to be directly
powered by an external power supply. The relatively slender cables the
Spectacle data travels over are not adequate for the large amount of
current drawn by more than a few pixels.
The Configuration Utility
Spectacle Audio Board
The Spectacle Audio Board only supports one action: Play Sound. As you
can see above, there are a number of settings associated with this action.
•“listen to channel number __” - This is the channel number which
triggers the audio to start playing. As long as this channel’s value is
above the threshold level (see below), the sound will repeat playing
at a rate determined by the two time intervals specified lower down.
•“wait __ seconds and play” - This is the first delay in the system.
You can sequence events however you see fit by delaying when a
sound plays.
•“file number __” - This is where you tell the board which file to play.
Remember, when copying the audio files to the microSD card, they
should be named as 00.ogg, 01.ogg, 02.ogg, etc. The number in this
field corresponds to the number in the name of the audio file. If there
is no audio file with the corresponding number, no sound will play.
•“do not allow another sound to interrupt until __ seconds” - The
number in this field should correspond to the length of the audio file.
If this value is less than the length of the sound file, another trigger
sent to the audio board will interrupt the sound before it finishes. If it
is longer than the sound, there will be a period of silence after
playback before another playback can be initiated.
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•“activation threshold” - As it says in the app, most of the time you
don’t need to adjust this. Adjusting the slider can set the angle at
which the Spectacle Accelerometer Board triggers a sound, or the
frequency with which a Random Trigger Virtual Board causes a
sound to play.
Spectacle Button Board
For the Button board, there are five options: three which produce a
momentary pulse type output and two that produce a continuous switch
type output.
Action on press
Trigger an action when a button is first pressed, regardless of how long it is
subsequently held down.
•“When button number __ is pressed” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“trigger channel number __” - A single, momentary pulse will be
sent out on this channel. It is suitable for starting a sound, initiating a
motion, or setting the color of a light strip. This feature is not intended
for continuous sound playback or for turning on a light strip effect.
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Action on releas
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Trigger an action when a button is released, regardless of how long it has
been held down prior to being released.
•“When button number __ is released” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“trigger channel number __” - A single, momentary pulse will be
sent out on this channel. It is suitable for starting a sound, initiating a
motion, or setting the color of a light strip, but not for continuous
sound playback or for turning on a light strip effect, for instance.
Action on press or release
Trigger an action when a button is pressed, then trigger the same action
again when the button is released.
•“When button number __ is either pressed or released” -Thisis
the number of the button we wish to assign to this action. The button
numbers are printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“trigger channel number __” - A single, momentary pulse will be
sent out on this channel both at the time the button is pressed and at
the time it is released. It is suitable for starting a sound, initiating a
motion, or setting the color of a light strip, but not for continuous
sound playback or for turning on a light strip effect, for instance.
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Action while holding
Trigger an event as soon as a button is pressed, then continue to trigger
that event as long as the button is held down.
•“While button number __ is pressed” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“activate channel number __” - A continuous will be sent out on
this channel. It is suitable for triggering and repeating a sound, or for
turning on and keeping on (at least, while the button is held) a
lighting effect.
Latch On/Latch Off
This action is like a latching power switch. One press turns the signal on,
another later press turns the signal off.
•“While button number __ is pressed” - This is the number of the
button we wish to assign to this action. The button numbers are
printed on the board, and run from 0 through 8.
•“activate channel number __ until button is pressed again” -A
continuous will be sent out on this channel. It is suitable for triggering
and repeating a sound, or for turning on and keeping on a lighting
effect.
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Spectacle Light Boar
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The Light Board supports 9 different actions. Most of them want a
continuous-type signal input, although a couple of them can be used with
momentary input signals. We’ll cover the difference under each action.
Each action will have a field for the number of pixels the lightstrip that
action is being applied to has, and we won’t mention it again.
Rainbow Effect
The rainbow effect displays a rainbow of colors across the strip, changing
the color of each pixel indvidually to make it appear as though the rainbow
is scrolling along the lightstrip.
•“While channel number __ is active” - The rainbow effect persists
only while the channel is active, so a continuous input signal is
needed.
•“rainbow scroll lightstrip number __” - Select which lightstrip you
wish the rainbow effect to operate on. To have the same effect on
multiple lightstrips, you must create multiple actions.
•scroll speed slider - controls how fast the pattern moves as it scrolls
past.
Theater chase
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Theater chase mode behaves like a marquee light border. The lights will
march along making it appear as though the lightstrip is moving in steps.
•“While channel number __ is active” - The theater chase effect
persists only while the channel is active, so a continuous input signal
is needed.
•“theater chase lightstrip number __” - Select which lightstrip you
wish the theater chase effect to operate on. To have the same effect
on multiple lightstrips, you must create multiple actions.
•chase speed slider - controls how fast the pattern moves as it
scrolls past.
•color picker input - allows you to select the color of the lights.
Scanning effect
Scanning mode sees a small group of lights bouncing back and forth along
the length of the lightstrip, reminiscent of Cylons from Battlestar Galactica.
•“While channel number __ is active” - The scanning effect persists
only while the channel is active, so a continuous input signal is
needed.
•“scan lightstrip number __” - Select which lightstrip you wish the
scanning effect to operate on. To have the same effect on multiple
lightstrips, you must create multiple actions.
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•scan speed slider - controls how fast the pattern moves as it scrolls
past.
•color picker input - allows you to select the color of the lights.
Twinkle effect
Causes individual lights on the selected strip to perform a twinkling action.
•“While channel number __ is active” - The twinkle effect persists
only while the channel is active, so a continuous input signal is
needed.
•“twinkle lightstrip number __” - Select which lightstrip you wish the
twinkle effect to operate on. To have the same effect on multiple
lightstrips, you must create multiple actions.
•color picker input - allows you to select the color of the lights.
•speed slider - controls how fast the twinkles are moves as it scrolls
past.
•magic slider - controls how magical the twinkles are. Play with it!
Lightning effect
Causes the entire strip to strobe in a manner that looks a lot like a lightning
flash.
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•“While channel number __ is active” - The lightning effect persists
only while the channel is active, so a continuous input signal is
needed.
•“lightning on lightstrip number __” - Select which lightstrip you
wish the lightning effect to operate on. To have the same effect on
multiple lightstrips, you must create multiple actions.
•color picker input - allows you to select the color of the lights.
•speed slider - controls how often the lightning strike occur moves as
it scrolls past.
•fury slider - controls how furious the lightning is. Play with it!
Flame effect
Causes the entire strip to crackle like a fire.
•“While channel number __ is active” - The flame effect persists
only while the channel is active, so a continuous input signal is
needed.
•“make fire on lightstrip number __” - Select which lightstrip you
wish the flame effect to operate on. To have the same effect on
multiple lightstrips, you must create multiple actions.
•color picker input - allows you to select the color of the lights.
Experiment with different colors!
Fade effect
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The lightstrip will change from one color to another over time, then back to
the first.
•“While channel number __ is active” - The fade effect persists only
while the channel is active, so a continuous input signal is needed.
•“fade lightstrip number __ back and forth” - Select which lightstrip
you wish the fade effect to operate on. To have the same effect on
multiple lightstrips, you must create multiple actions.
•“from color” color picker - This is the initial color that the lightstrip
will power up with.
•“to color” color picker - The other color, which the strip fades to
and from periodically.
•“fade speed” slider - Controls how fast the fading action occurs.
Fill
Fills some number of lights on the light strip with a single color. Blanks the
other lights to off.
•“listen to channel number __” - A momentary signal on this
channel is all that is needed to trigger a fill operation, and the fill will
persist until another effect starts.
•“wait for __ seconds” - This delay allows for sequencing effects.
Most often you’ll probably set it to 0.
•“clear lightstrip number __” - Select the lightstrip to operate upon.
•“and fill __ pixels” - The number of pixels, from closest to the Light
board out, to turn on.
Light pixel
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Turns on one light and blanks the rest of the lights to off.
•“listen to channel number __” - A momentary signal on this
channel is all that is needed to trigger a light pixel operation, and the
lit pixel will persist until another effect starts.
•“wait for __ seconds” - This delay allows for sequencing effects.
Most often you’ll probably set it to 0.
•“clear lightstrip number __” - Select the lightstrip to operate upon.
•“and light pixel number __ ” - The number of the pixel, from closest
to the Light board out, to turn on.
Converting Sounds to OGG Vorbis
Format
The files used by the Spectacle Audio Board must be in OGG Vorbis
format. This free, lossy codec has a higher compression ratio than MP3,
and, more importantly, can be used without paying a licensing fee to any
third part organization.
Download and Install Audacity
We’ll be using the free, open source program “Audacity” to convert from
whatever your file’s current format is to OGG Vorbis.
Audacity is available across all three major operating systems, so you
shouldn’t have any trouble getting it installed.
When you start Audacity, you’ll see this screen, or one very like it. While at
first blush it seems extremely complex, none of this crap is important to
us, so don’t panic.
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Load a file
Like most programs, “loading a file” just means selecting “Open” from the
File menu and choosing which file you wish to convert. Audacity is capable
of editing most types of audio files: WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, and others.
By default, Audacity shows all files, not just compatible audio files, when
you bring up the open dialog. There’s a dropdown menu that allows you to
change that so it shows only compatible audio files along the bottom edge
of the window.
Once you select which file you wish to edit, a rather alarmist message may
pop up warning you about editing files without making a copy of them. Just
click “OK”.
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You’ll see, then, something like this show up. This is what your audio file
looks like, to the computer. Again, don’t panic! Unless you want to edit the
sound in some way (which we don’t), none of the settings or pieces of
information that have popped up here matter to us.
Convert to OGG
Now that you have the file loaded, you need to convert it to OGG Vorbis
format. To do so, open the “File” menu and select the “Export Audio…”
menu item about halfway down. A familiar looking save window should pop
up.
Right below the “File name:” field you’ll see a drop-down menus labeled
“Save as type:”. Select “Ogg Vorbis Files” in that drop down.
A slider will appear at the bottom of the window. The default value of ‘5’ is
probably good enough for most purposes. Click “Save” and another window
will pop up.
This one allows you to set metadata about the file. You can ignore
everything and just click “OK” to skip past this.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully converted a file to OGG Vorbis
format. You may now copy that file to the Micro SD card (don’t forget to
rename it to a number!) for use with the Spectacle Audio Board.
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Extra credit- trimming the fat and making the sound louder
As you can see in my file above, there’s a great deal of room between the
extents of the sound and the extents of the window. In the time (horizontal)
axis, this manifests as flat lines before and after the content of the sound
file. In the “loudness” (vertical) axis, this manifests as space between the
top and bottom of the waveform file and the top and bottom of the playback
position window.
Let’s eliminate some of that dead time before and after the sound plays. To
do so, simply click inside the playback position window and drag, as though
you are trying to select a section of text. The part you’ve selected will be
highlighted, as above. Now, just hit the “Delete” key on your keyboard, and
that section will be removed. Repeat the process at the other end of the
sound.
Now, let’s see what we can do about volume. Under the “Edit” menu, look
for the “Select” submenu, and choose “All” to select the entire sound. You
can also just use the drag-and-highlight method from above.
Now that you’ve got the entire sound selected, click on the “Effect” menu
and select the “Amplify…” option.
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A new window will pop up with a slider, a couple of text boxes, and one
checkbox. The slider will be pre-positioned to amplify the sound as much as
possible without “clipping” it. “Clipping” occurs when you try to amplify a
sound more than the system you’re playing it through can stand, and it
results in a sort of grating buzzing noise during playback.
You have a choice, now: you can either accept the system’s suggested
level, or you can click on the “Allow Clipping” check box and increase the
amplification more with the slider. I’ve chosen to accept the clipping
limitation for the image above; comparing it to the image of the file higher
up, you can see how I’ve trimmed the dead time at the ends and increased
the amplitude vertically.
Why would you want to allow your sound to clip? Well, first of all, the preset
amplification only takes into account the peak value of your sound, so if one
small section of the audio is allowed to clip, it may allow the vast majority of
the sound to be substantially louder. Secondly, if you’re playback device is
of relatively poor quality, or the sound file itself is, allowing clipping may
increase volume significantly without making the sound quality too much
worse than it already is. Thirdly, volume intensity may be far more important
than sound quality, and allowing clipping lets you push the volume as high
as you can.
Now that you’ve successfully edited the sound, export it to OGG Vorbis as
we covered above.
Example Project
Let’s use the contents of the Spectacle Light and Sound Kit to put together
a working project! We’re going to set up a laser gun type setting, where a
light comes on and a sound plays when a button is pressed, then the light
goes off when the button is released.
Connect the boards
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Start by connecting up the boards. All of the required hardware is included
with the kit.
First, plug one end of one of the TRRS cables into the “Direct” jack on the
Director Board.
Next, take the other TRRS cable and plug it into the “Program” jack on the
Director Board.
Take the other end of this cable and plug it into the audio jack of the phone,
tablet, or computer that you’ll be using to program the system.
Then take the other end of the first TRRS cable (the one plugged into the
“Direct” jack on the Director Board) and plug it into the “In” jack on the
Button Board.
Grab another of the TRRS cables and plug it into the “Out” jack on the
Button Board.
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