I’ve cast a few resin pack shells from a mock-up made from STEPAN’S plans. (Thanks to Stepan. Beautifully rendered btw!) They look really nice. Now I would like to load them up with LEDs and Sound. I have some experience with PIC Microcontrolers and small “looping” sound boards. Hyperdyne Labs produce beautiful products, but everything I’ve done has been DIY (Venkman71’s Casting Tutorial was of great help, thanks Venkie!), and I can’t afford the prices (Like I said, I’ve made a few, I can’t afford to BUY Light and Sound kits for all of them, but I could BUILD them). Plus I’d like to add a few of my own touches to my projects. Does anyone out there have a good basic PIC schematic for lights and sound (for those of us die-hard DIY’s that want to do the whole damn thing ourselves)? P.S. I’ll post pics when it’s all done. Sorry, I’m kinda “Monk-ish” about my projects (won’t show them until they’re perfect). Thanks, in advance, to all who reply.
P.P.S. This is the best props forum on the internet. You guys are the best. Thanks for all the work.
i know there are light plans available on gbprops but im not exactly sure they are accessible while aj is rebuilding the site. hopefully some one else will pop in that can give them, otherwise you’ll have to wait for the new site to be up. as for sound… i cant help ya on that. sorry
FYI in the end you won’t save much making your own with equal effect, quality and features…
When it comes to my light kits the only reason I can offer them for what I do is because I get substantial quantity discounts on the parts… If I was just building one (or a couple) I couldn’t even build it for what I sell them at…
Getting a quality sound design is quite a task in itself, well beyond most DIY people… I have have spent a good part of this last year knocking out my sound kit design (that will be released very shortly, keep an eye out this week) The trial and error and multiple design cost over this year would make your jaw drop, talk about spending huge amounts of money! There is one thing you quickly learn good sound = high dollar there is no cheap way to get quality sound that integrates seamlessly… Another FYI, the little digital sound recorders for the most part are useless for this application don’t waste your time or money…
As for schematics for a µcontroller version, there was a very basic cyclotron/powercell one the old ASAP boards long ago can’t say it survived the EZboard crash though… Other then that I don’t believe there are any more publicly released versions… But honestly the schematics for hooking LEDs to a µcontroller is pretty much very basic electronics 101 and examples can be found all over the web, designing a proper and good circuit over one that simply works is another story…
I have seen several ‘self destructing’ improperly posted hack jobs posted over the years, I wouldn’t suggest following any of them as they have multiple design flaws that will cause problems in time…
You’re working on a sound system? Thank you, Exoray. I was gonna buy your light kits anyway when I start building my pack, so this is icing on the cake. Be sure to tell all of us when you finish it.
I plan on posting up a pre-order post later this week/weekend all the details of my sound kit will be in that post until then you will have to sit tight…
Keep your eyes open for that post, no need to clog this thread with questions
Well, I’ve got some PIC code for the 16F690 that I’m using for the particle thrower lights and the power cell lights. The system I’ve got going uses multiple PIC chips, but that’s no big deal since they’re about $2.50 for the 16F690s. I use one chip for the wand, one for the power pack, and then I’ll eventually have another for the sound. Using multiple chips gives me complete control over the light sequence for all 15 LEDs on the power pack and wand.
Also, the way I’ve got it hooked up, when you hit the trigger, the particle thrower lights change patterns and the power cell lights increase their “fill up” speed.
Both sets of lights also have a power-up sequence so that when you first switch the power on it looks like they’re going through some sort of self-check before they begin their normal fill-up sequences.
For the sound I’m planning on using one of several diferent MP3 boards that can be found online and which allow for random access of the individual tracks. Paired with another PIC for the processing, it shouldn’t be too hard to get up and running, but that’s still left to do at this point.
I’ve prototyped the lights on a breadboard, but haven’t actually soldered up a permanent version yet.
Code for the PICs as it stands right now is attached. No warranties or guarantees on anything of course.
The Daisy from Make Magazine is probably the most widely used and documented, but it’s also the most expensive. On the other hand, the one called “MP3 Mini Board” is the cheapest, but doesn’t include a slot for a memory card so you’d have to work that up yourself.
I’m leaning towards the uMP3 module from Roge Robotics. It has a slot and interface for a SD card built-in, can be accessed in a serial or parallel fashion, and works in the 5v range which is the same as the rest of my electronics…
Ok, I’m a little confused. Why buy a kit for and mp3 player when you can get one off ebay for under $20? Would this be a dedicated system with pack sounds, so when you turn on the pack, the sound and lights work together? If so, then I can see why this would be in demand. I have a CD/mp3 player glued inside the Mac Pac 2.0, but I have to manually turn it on, and the pack needs to be turned on separately (same with the wand). I’m anxious to see what Exoray has up his sleeve. Thanks for doing all that expensive R&D work to get to where you are with your kits, too.
The whole idea of those sound boards is that they can be controlled by the same circuit that controls the light… like a real one.
Ashman - seing how these would be controlled with a microcontroller, I’m starting to wonder if it would be easier to simply have the decoder IC hooked up to the uC instead of having a separate board passing by the same ISP signals. What do you think?
Yeah, you could certainly use the uC to directly control the data movement and operation of the MP3 chip.
However, this would require a higher level uC than the $2.50 ones that I’ve been playing with and a lot more complex code to be written.
If you wanted to go that route, then I’d suggest the cheapest of those boards above because it has a pinout for the data lines, but no chip for handling the data transfer as far as I can tell.
I figured I’d go for one that’s a bit more expensive and save myself the headache of having to write the code for it. That way I can just send out signals for “Play song 1” or “stop” instead of having to write the code for accessing memory, piping the data on a clock signal, etc…
The secret is that the uC doesn’t process the data, so I think its doable.
However, the VS1001 chip seams to be around 20$ standalone, which might not be that much of a deal compared to the cheapest board you have at 22$ including an VS1002
plus you save development time by getting something that’s working already and interfacing with it. (like you said - less complex code and debuging to be done = less headeach)
My main concerns with the readymade boards is that they are intended for MP3 playing device, not prop sound systems… I’m uncertain if we can
If you’re feeling adventurous - you could always use a computer!
Gumstix.com - smaller mobo’s and expansions that you could use to power your pack.
While it won’t be as cheap as Exoray’s kit (at least, if his prices stay the same), it does offer a lot more in terms of what you can do.
For example - mine is to be powered by a rechargable li-on battery, have amped audio out, GPIO pins for the led’s and switches.. etc, pretty standard right? But it will also have 10/100mbps ethernet, be able to be a full server, and other things a computer can do.
If I wanted to it could have wireless network access too.
Maybe just the geek in me, but a proton pack than can respond to ping? That’s funny
A base setup for one of these things (verdex mobo, plus audiostix) will set you back about $169. That’s without a li-on battery or anything, just the computer (powered by a 3.6-5v power supply.. your choice as to how you do that). However.. it’s pretty cool
those are small… but they seems to not have any IO with the bare motherboard, only if you add some IO boards? (maybe I’m wrong). It reminds me of the industrial PC-104 architechture I had to use before.
how do you connect switches, speakers, etc to it?
The other kind of small form computer I heard about were the mini-itx form factor.
I still think I’d go with microcontroller for most electronics in props - less power usage, reduced costs.
Well the bare mobo is just that, a mobo. The Audiostix adds audio, and if you hook up a USB Host card (or wire a port to the 24pin verdex flex connector) you could add something like the USB Micro and get GPIO, or something like a i-Pac for keyboard input simulation.
Or… get a tweener, and use the serial pins…
It’s a computer… the options are pretty limitless actually. That’s what makes those boards nice - they are designed for hobby/robotics/prototype kits.
Like I said tho - it’s more adventurous in a sense…
Just to be clear: We’re on a board dedicated to building a proton pack - where an aluminium heat sink replica with the correct angled edges can go for $70… and this is overkill? :sigh:
Seriously though… I know it’s not for everyone. I just want my pack to be able to do something useful, as well as be an awesome prop.
Hell.. it’s a sturdy prop.. if you want overkill - lets stick a Macbook Air in there to power it all :vinzclortho:
yes, but your aluminium heat sink replica do just what it wants to do: replicate. It doesn’t “look like the real one, plus puts butter on your toasts”, it simply does the trick of being equal to the original. Price is not a factor of overkilling, fulfilling a task is.
We’re talking about having a computer to replace a simple TTL sound and light board… That is what I call overkill - taking more then what’s necessary for doing a task.
I’m not talking price, but ressources.
overkill in military speak is when you use more bullets then what’s require to take a target down. Each and every extra bullet is “wasted” and no longer available to other tasks.
using a VGA-capable, network pingable and interfacable full fledge computer to play sound and light some leds is not “the normal way to go” and is having more resources then what is actually required. if you don’t agree to call that overkill, then I have no more comments on the topic.
Now, even being overkill, its a cool project and a good usage of a wearable computer. In fact, it could be more accessible to some people to make it themselves then having a pre-made electronics board. In any case, it would be a nice project to make. That’s why I say that it is not adventurous, but maybe overkill.
Thanks, in advance, to all who reply.
