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Thread: What ideas can you give me?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2020
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    Default What ideas can you give me?

    Evening, I have been using this forum for many weeks to help with the construction of my laser projector! You can check out my small progress here:

    https://youtu.be/WNaIoATPM7Y
    It's a cliche Cmedia USB DAC with DC modification, some opamps and a couple of resistors. I designed a PCB and ordered it from China about 7 weeks ago but i have recently got frustrated with the delays so i bought a breadboard on Monday from the internet to construct the system to have a mess around with.

    I have 5 coming so will have a couple left over, I plan to do another revision with my findings, but i used my own schematic on the breadboard so hopefully all is in order . If you would like a board hit me up. Im from the UK probably wont be prepared to ship internationally... but if you are desperate ill be sure to hear from you.

    Here is the PCB:

    Click image for larger version. 

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    The PCB contains an Arduino which will also allow me to display patters as I have added a dual channel SPI DAC. The source (either from USB DAC OR SPI DAC) is selected with 2 transistors; turning either pair on or off. The Arduino will also read the R G B signal and set a TTL output, but im not sure how well this going to be as the sampling frequency is probably sub 100k but we will soon find out when the laser module arrives.

    I have so far looked into making .ild files with various pieces of software and then converting to a .wav file with laserboy which has been great! I was planning on creating a tiled application so the user could select which file to play at parties etc. But I was wondering what pieces of software you can recommend to mess around with?

    I ideally was looking for something that lets you select patters, generate patters on the fly almost like windows media player's visualisation. I see that lots of the members have dedicated cards, but is there any drivers that allow me to output the audio real-time instead of having to save ild and converting them manually.

    My second question, i hear people talk about q2000 etc etc or cards from professional suppliers. Cheeky question, but has anyone managed to create the firmware for a micro processor of any sort? would be great to use the professional software real time instead of exporting ild files.

    I look forward to your responses! I am also creating an instructable when i have some down time. Ill be sure to post it!

    Thank you for the all the tips and tricks. I was very pleased with my results today!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    768

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by tboultwood View Post
    I have so far looked into making .ild files with various pieces of software and then converting to a .wav file with laserboy which has been great! I was planning on creating a tiled application so the user could select which file to play at parties etc. But I was wondering what pieces of software you can recommend to mess around with?

    I ideally was looking for something that lets you select patters, generate patters on the fly almost like windows media player's visualisation. I see that lots of the members have dedicated cards, but is there any drivers that allow me to output the audio real-time instead of having to save ild and converting them manually.

    Welcome to the forum!

    If you want something simple, SpiroDAC is a basic real-time function generator app that can drive a soundcard. You can edit the EzAudDac.ini file to
    select the proper sound card and signal polarities for your specific hardware. When you first run SpiroDAC, it will create a file called EzAudDac.txt
    which lists all connected audio devices and their corresponding numbers.

    https://photonlexicon.com/forums/sho...938#post352938


    If you're looking for something more involved, try LWave- it's a pre-processor type 3D abstract generator with a wide range of options. LWave can read
    and write 6&8 channel wav files (and ild) that are 100% compatible with LaserBoy. A number of plots in LWave can track off of a selected stereo music
    file to include a rotating 3D spiral trace oscilloscope and lots of other stuff. If you choose 8 channel sound generation, you'll always get something
    to listen to in ch 7&8.


    Since you are already using LaserBoy, download the LWave_10_16_Package and install it to your Laserboy\wav directory.

    https://photonlexicon.com/forums/sho...896#post345896

    Once you get things up and rolling you can download the latest update of LWave.exe posted later in the thread.




  3. #3
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Connecticut
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by tboultwood View Post
    I ideally was looking for something that lets you select patterns, generate patterns on the fly almost like windows media player's visualisation.
    Nice work! If I think I understand this correctly, you want to change patterns or create patterns from some other device? I've been wanting to do just this for a couple of years now! I have lots of experience using Bluetooth Low Energy and Arduino using something like this:

    http://www.dsdtech-global.com/2017/09/sh-m08.html

    Once you connect that to Rx/Tx Arduino pins, you can write a mobile app (I use Cordova) to send/receive commands and data to the Arduino. (you can see what I'm doing with this here: https://ev-cpo.com/wasp/horn.php)

    If you want more details on this, just let me know and I'd be happy to collaborate.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    Akron, Ohio USA
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    Default

    If you create a bunch of nice little waves of various patterns, you can use SpiderPlayer or a similar wave player in loop mode. If you associate the .wav file extension to SpiderPlayer, and you have named all of your waves with good descriptive names, all you need to do is double click away. Each time it will simply replace the wave that is currently playing and since it's in a loop it doesn't stop until you stop it.

    Have you tried any of the animation effects that are available in LaserBoy?
    Creator of LaserBoy!
    LaserBoy is free and runs in Windows, MacOS and Linux (including Raspberry Pi!).
    Download LaserBoy!
    YouTube Tutorials
    Ask me about my LaserBoy Correction Amp Kit for sale!
    All software has a learning curve usually proportional to its capabilities and unique features. Pointing with a mouse is in no way easier than tapping a key.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2020
    Posts
    11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dchammonds View Post
    Welcome to the forum!

    If you want something simple, SpiroDAC is a basic real-time function generator app that can drive a soundcard. You can edit the EzAudDac.ini file to
    select the proper sound card and signal polarities for your specific hardware. When you first run SpiroDAC, it will create a file called EzAudDac.txt
    which lists all connected audio devices and their corresponding numbers.

    https://photonlexicon.com/forums/sho...938#post352938


    If you're looking for something more involved, try LWave- it's a pre-processor type 3D abstract generator with a wide range of options. LWave can read
    and write 6&8 channel wav files (and ild) that are 100% compatible with LaserBoy. A number of plots in LWave can track off of a selected stereo music
    file to include a rotating 3D spiral trace oscilloscope and lots of other stuff. If you choose 8 channel sound generation, you'll always get something
    to listen to in ch 7&8.


    Since you are already using LaserBoy, download the LWave_10_16_Package and install it to your Laserboy\wav directory.

    https://photonlexicon.com/forums/sho...896#post345896

    Once you get things up and rolling you can download the latest update of LWave.exe posted later in the thread.



    I have had a little play with these this afternoon, definitely a start, its tempting me to maybe utilise my day job and make something that i wouldnt say better, but almost 'more customizable '? a lot more sliders so i can manipulate lots of functions and mix equations together? I would alsost be tempted to write something in matlab, generating lines is the easy bit, its outputing/modulating multiple at the same time... I will be keeping both of these tools, it'll be something to always mess around with when i have some down time!

    Thank you very much for the response!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2020
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    11

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by HankLloydRight View Post
    Nice work! If I think I understand this correctly, you want to change patterns or create patterns from some other device? I've been wanting to do just this for a couple of years now! I have lots of experience using Bluetooth Low Energy and Arduino using something like this:

    http://www.dsdtech-global.com/2017/09/sh-m08.html

    Once you connect that to Rx/Tx Arduino pins, you can write a mobile app (I use Cordova) to send/receive commands and data to the Arduino. (you can see what I'm doing with this here: https://ev-cpo.com/wasp/horn.php)

    If you want more details on this, just let me know and I'd be happy to collaborate.
    Hello, yes almost. I can actually convert the ild files to memory for use on an Arduino as i have added an SPI interface. It was more of something to mess around with i suppose creating the ild files in the first place. Not like some of software you might find professionally (though maybe i should take a closer look) but an app that has sliders for manipulating traces and curves?

    Ive not come into the chip you mentioned before, but there is a chip called the esp32 which has wifi and bluetooth which i wish i had used for this pcb. ITs a dual core chip and has a stupid amount of ram for a similar size. Price? less than a 5£ from china which is amazing. I was thinking of trying to even stream the audio file from a aoip (audio over ip server) such to control all the function of the board wirelessly. It can be added in the arduino ide too which makes programming for me very doable as i have plenty of experience here. It is 100% doable but no one has done such a thing... yet? it could be something commercially attractive too? I would like to make something going into the future, we should keep in touch!

  7. #7
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    May 2014
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    Connecticut
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    884

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    Quote Originally Posted by tboultwood View Post
    Ive not come into the chip you mentioned before, but there is a chip called the esp32 which has wifi and bluetooth which i wish i had used for this pcb. ITs a dual core chip and has a stupid amount of ram for a similar size. !
    Yup! I'm already testing one of those boards and I intend to migrate to it for my next iteration and eliminate the stand-alone BT board: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079PVCF2G

    Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #8
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    May 2020
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    Quote Originally Posted by james View Post
    If you create a bunch of nice little waves of various patterns, you can use SpiderPlayer or a similar wave player in loop mode. If you associate the .wav file extension to SpiderPlayer, and you have named all of your waves with good descriptive names, all you need to do is double click away. Each time it will simply replace the wave that is currently playing and since it's in a loop it doesn't stop until you stop it.

    Have you tried any of the animation effects that are available in LaserBoy?

    Thanks James, ill start by saying thank you, you've supplied me with hours of entertainment. If your ever in the UK hit me up and ill get you a couple of beers!

    Perfect suggestion, i haven't checked it out yet but i assume its essentially a tilling audio player..? Which is half way there.

    I have to be honest i haven't, i suppose im still getting my head around the UI. Give me this bank holiday to investigate it and ill get back to you!

    Trevor

  9. #9
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    Mar 2012
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    Akron, Ohio USA
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    SpiderPlayer is just a simple wave player that knows how to play multichannel waves. Just navigate to the file folder with the waves in it. Every time you double click one Windows opens it in the currently running SpiderPlayer.

    You should spend some time looking at everything LB can do. It's pretty extensive. In a nutshell it is a complex dynamic memory object that can host an arbitrary number of frames, each with and arbitrary number of consecutive vertices in 3D short integer space, with either local RGB values (per vertex) or colors from any one of an arbitrary number of palettes. A single key stroke can invoke a function that effects the data in memory. It might be something as small as moving a vertex a set number of coordinate spaces in x or time optimizing the entire frame set. You can draw by placing points and positioning them in space or render shapes and math figures by coordinate values. You can copy, move scale and rotate any portion of a frame. You can also render lines of vector text. It reads and writes a collection of relevant file types and converts between them. It can do stuff not related to laser at all, like import a bunch of dxf files and output that as a directory full of bitmap files of any size square that you can then use ffmpeg to compile into a video. And one of the more impressive things it does is it's animation effects. You can start with a single frame, a set of selected frames or a whole frame set and call functions by name to created animation effects that are all in 3D. If you really want to make something unique, you can apply several effects in the proper order to do all kinds of stuff. Many of the effects allow you to enter parameters of your own. If you know how to program in C++ and you know how to compile the LB source code, you can write your own effects and add them to the menu system.
    Last edited by james; 05-23-2020 at 19:24.
    Creator of LaserBoy!
    LaserBoy is free and runs in Windows, MacOS and Linux (including Raspberry Pi!).
    Download LaserBoy!
    YouTube Tutorials
    Ask me about my LaserBoy Correction Amp Kit for sale!
    All software has a learning curve usually proportional to its capabilities and unique features. Pointing with a mouse is in no way easier than tapping a key.

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