Hi all, I sorry to start yet another thread about arduino, but i'm too lazy to search the archives and i suppose that they are upgrading the different models frequently. I have been using a hacked gamepad-turned-stompbox to control my live patches, and right now i feel that it's time to build something else that would suit my needs more closely. I have to choose between a decent gamepad that i could hack and a arduino board. Only, i don't know anything about arduino. So it'd be nice if a list member could help me a little bit. Here's what i have right now :
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal).
I'd like to have more buttons (I could have 12 using the game controller, can i have more with a arduino board?). And it'd be nice if could have more "analog" pots (i could have up to 4 using the gamepad, but they're hard to solder...). Also, i'd like to know the "resolution" of the analog inputs of a arduino board. Is it higher than that of a gamepad? That'd be cool because i could have a smoother control over certain values in my patch.
And finally, what do i need to connect the arduino board to Pd? Is it the HID object or something different?
Any help welcome.
Cheers!
Pierre
They have a lot of models (not accounting for spin-offs done by other folks, which some are great - long live open hardware), I think there are some more parameters for choosing an arduino model:
- Does size matters?
- Does price matters?
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal). Extendability up to 12.
- do you wanna multiplex[1], or simple coding?
Maybe if you really want a lot of inputs, Duemillianuove will not suffice, and maybe Mega is the way to go, but its more expensive and bigger.
[1] http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/4051
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 2:14 PM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all, I sorry to start yet another thread about arduino, but i'm too lazy to search the archives and i suppose that they are upgrading the different models frequently. I have been using a hacked gamepad-turned-stompbox to control my live patches, and right now i feel that it's time to build something else that would suit my needs more closely. I have to choose between a decent gamepad that i could hack and a arduino board. Only, i don't know anything about arduino. So it'd be nice if a list member could help me a little bit. Here's what i have right now :
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal).
I'd like to have more buttons (I could have 12 using the game controller, can i have more with a arduino board?). And it'd be nice if could have more "analog" pots (i could have up to 4 using the gamepad, but they're hard to solder...). Also, i'd like to know the "resolution" of the analog inputs of a arduino board. Is it higher than that of a gamepad? That'd be cool because i could have a smoother control over certain values in my patch.
And finally, what do i need to connect the arduino board to Pd? Is it the HID object or something different?
Any help welcome.
Cheers!
Pierre
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
Hi Pedro, thank you for this quick response.
- Yes, size does matter, because it all needs to fit in a stombox. But the
boards don't seem to be to large anyway...
- Price matters too (i'm not gonna buy the one at at 130 or something).
- What is multiplex? I need something like 12 simple switches (digital
inputs??), and maybe 3 or 4 analog inputs (i v'e read on their website that one can have up to 6, is that right?). The only thing that really matters concerning the analog inputs is the "resolution". I just read somwhere on their website that one board outputs integers from 0 to a little more than 1000 for it's analog inputs. If this is true, this would mean than i would get a resolution that's a little less than 10 times higher than that of my gamepad. But there seems to be different boards with different a difference resolution (i'm assuming it's 8, 16 or 32 bit, am i right?). I don't know if i can order any pre-assembled model with any board.
I also saw that the board could power LEDs. This could be very interesting, because i'm going to assign a switch to the connection of the expression pedal (analog) with certain parts of my patch. So for instance at startup the pedal controls effect 1, and if i push the button i goes to effect 2, etc., and only goes back to effect 1 after it's reached the last pedal-controlled effect. So it'd be nice to have one LED for each effect on my stompbox so that i know exactly which one is currently controlled by the pedal. Do you think I could program this easily?
Pierre 2011/4/10 Pedro Lopes pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt
They have a lot of models (not accounting for spin-offs done by other folks, which some are great - long live open hardware), I think there are some more parameters for choosing an arduino model:
- Does size matters?
- Does price matters?
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal). Extendability up to 12.
- do you wanna multiplex[1], or simple coding?
Maybe if you really want a lot of inputs, Duemillianuove will not suffice, and maybe Mega is the way to go, but its more expensive and bigger.
[1] http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/4051
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 2:14 PM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all, I sorry to start yet another thread about arduino, but i'm too lazy to search the archives and i suppose that they are upgrading the different models frequently. I have been using a hacked gamepad-turned-stompbox to control my live patches, and right now i feel that it's time to build something else that would suit my needs more closely. I have to choose between a decent gamepad that i could hack and a arduino board. Only, i don't know anything about arduino. So it'd be nice if a list member could help me a little bit. Here's what i have right now :
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal).
I'd like to have more buttons (I could have 12 using the game controller, can i have more with a arduino board?). And it'd be nice if could have more "analog" pots (i could have up to 4 using the gamepad, but they're hard to solder...). Also, i'd like to know the "resolution" of the analog inputs of a arduino board. Is it higher than that of a gamepad? That'd be cool because i could have a smoother control over certain values in my patch.
And finally, what do i need to connect the arduino board to Pd? Is it the HID object or something different?
Any help welcome.
Cheers!
Pierre
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
-- Pedro Lopes (MSc) contact: pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes / http://pedrolopesresearch.wordpress.com/ | http://twitter.com/plopesresearch
Beware that analogue inputs (can) have noise (they fluctuate a little). The analogRead() command converts the input voltage range, 0 to 5 volts, to a digital value between 0 and 1023.
If you can settle with 12 inputs the Uno will suffice: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno
p.s.: Multiplexing/de-multiplexing is the ability of addressing (or conversely be addressed) of several outputs with fewer inputs. You have chips that do that, example with 3 binary digits you can multiplex to 8 outputs, with 000 being the first, 001 the second, etc,.. up to the 111, which would be the 8th. People also call it MUX and DEMUX.
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 2:44 PM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.com wrote:
Hi Pedro, thank you for this quick response.
- Yes, size does matter, because it all needs to fit in a stombox. But the
boards don't seem to be to large anyway...
- Price matters too (i'm not gonna buy the one at at 130 or something).
- What is multiplex? I need something like 12 simple switches (digital
inputs??), and maybe 3 or 4 analog inputs (i v'e read on their website that one can have up to 6, is that right?). The only thing that really matters concerning the analog inputs is the "resolution". I just read somwhere on their website that one board outputs integers from 0 to a little more than 1000 for it's analog inputs. If this is true, this would mean than i would get a resolution that's a little less than 10 times higher than that of my gamepad. But there seems to be different boards with different a difference resolution (i'm assuming it's 8, 16 or 32 bit, am i right?). I don't know if i can order any pre-assembled model with any board.
I also saw that the board could power LEDs. This could be very interesting, because i'm going to assign a switch to the connection of the expression pedal (analog) with certain parts of my patch. So for instance at startup the pedal controls effect 1, and if i push the button i goes to effect 2, etc., and only goes back to effect 1 after it's reached the last pedal-controlled effect. So it'd be nice to have one LED for each effect on my stompbox so that i know exactly which one is currently controlled by the pedal. Do you think I could program this easily?
Pierre
2011/4/10 Pedro Lopes pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt
They have a lot of models (not accounting for spin-offs done by other folks, which some are great - long live open hardware), I think there are some more parameters for choosing an arduino model:
- Does size matters?
- Does price matters?
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal). Extendability up to 12.
- do you wanna multiplex[1], or simple coding?
Maybe if you really want a lot of inputs, Duemillianuove will not suffice, and maybe Mega is the way to go, but its more expensive and bigger.
[1] http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/4051
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 2:14 PM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.comwrote:
Hi all, I sorry to start yet another thread about arduino, but i'm too lazy to search the archives and i suppose that they are upgrading the different models frequently. I have been using a hacked gamepad-turned-stompbox to control my live patches, and right now i feel that it's time to build something else that would suit my needs more closely. I have to choose between a decent gamepad that i could hack and a arduino board. Only, i don't know anything about arduino. So it'd be nice if a list member could help me a little bit. Here's what i have right now :
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal).
I'd like to have more buttons (I could have 12 using the game controller, can i have more with a arduino board?). And it'd be nice if could have more "analog" pots (i could have up to 4 using the gamepad, but they're hard to solder...). Also, i'd like to know the "resolution" of the analog inputs of a arduino board. Is it higher than that of a gamepad? That'd be cool because i could have a smoother control over certain values in my patch.
And finally, what do i need to connect the arduino board to Pd? Is it the HID object or something different?
Any help welcome.
Cheers!
Pierre
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
-- Pedro Lopes (MSc) contact: pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes / http://pedrolopesresearch.wordpress.com/ | http://twitter.com/plopesresearch
Pierre Massat wrote:
I also saw that the board could power LEDs. This could be very interesting,
Yes, but the Digital Input are "shared" with the digital outputs. So if you put a button on a line, you cannot put a led too. You have up to 12 inputs/outputs IN TOTAL. You choose in your program if you want something to be a input or an output.
Given your questions (no offense), I would go with a Mega board and not bother with multiplexing yet. That way you get a fully assembled, ready-to-use 50 inputs/outputs for your leds and buttons, + 16 analog inputs, with plenty of program space.
Depends on what you want the leds to do. If you simply want them to shine when buttons are pressed, dont waste arduino code on that. But if you want them to blink or react to the controller state (hence code) they'll have to be controlled via some digital pins (in output state) as Goyard stated, as thus you are requesting more pins (maybe the mega as I say in my first message).
Althought: multiplexing LEDs is very easy. 3 outputs can control 8 leds and so forth. But more coding/control effort.
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 3:12 PM, Charles Goyard cg@fsck.fr wrote:
Pierre Massat wrote:
I also saw that the board could power LEDs. This could be very
interesting,
Yes, but the Digital Input are "shared" with the digital outputs. So if you put a button on a line, you cannot put a led too. You have up to 12 inputs/outputs IN TOTAL. You choose in your program if you want something to be a input or an output.
Given your questions (no offense), I would go with a Mega board and not bother with multiplexing yet. That way you get a fully assembled, ready-to-use 50 inputs/outputs for your leds and buttons, + 16 analog inputs, with plenty of program space.
-- Charles
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
Thank you both for your replies. I don't think i will need multiplexing. @Pedro : what do you mean by "fluctuate a little"? This could be anoying if they fluctuate too much, because i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly).
I think i will get the Mega. It's not too expensive (probably quite cheap actually), and i could use it for something else later on. On last question : is it powered by USB, or do i need a power adaptor?
Thanks again for your help!
Pierre
2011/4/10 Pedro Lopes pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt
Depends on what you want the leds to do. If you simply want them to shine when buttons are pressed, dont waste arduino code on that. But if you want them to blink or react to the controller state (hence code) they'll have to be controlled via some digital pins (in output state) as Goyard stated, as thus you are requesting more pins (maybe the mega as I say in my first message).
Althought: multiplexing LEDs is very easy. 3 outputs can control 8 leds and so forth. But more coding/control effort.
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 3:12 PM, Charles Goyard cg@fsck.fr wrote:
Pierre Massat wrote:
I also saw that the board could power LEDs. This could be very
interesting,
Yes, but the Digital Input are "shared" with the digital outputs. So if you put a button on a line, you cannot put a led too. You have up to 12 inputs/outputs IN TOTAL. You choose in your program if you want something to be a input or an output.
Given your questions (no offense), I would go with a Mega board and not bother with multiplexing yet. That way you get a fully assembled, ready-to-use 50 inputs/outputs for your leds and buttons, + 16 analog inputs, with plenty of program space.
-- Charles
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
-- Pedro Lopes (MSc) contact: pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes / http://pedrolopesresearch.wordpress.com/ | http://twitter.com/plopesresearch
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
You can filter out some noise if that happens. I have done several arduino projects (namely public installations or sculptures with sensors), one thing I learned is that you can always filter the (some) noise, by ignoring some values and so forth. Another fun aspect is that in public installations whenever I connected the arduino to the AC power outlets (instead of battery) the noise was much higher. (which makes sense, since AC powers of houses, steet, etc.. are actually noisy (have you ever noticed that AC induces noise on most laptop on-board sound-cards - due to ground loop and so forth) )
use i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear gliches
if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly). But don't panic about it, its workable. You can defined thresholds, and if it varies withing a certain range you will not consider as the pot has moved, if you do not have noise: even better. But electricity is not perfect, components are definitely not perfect either :)
Best, Pedro
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 3:50 PM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.com wrote:
uctuate a little"? This could be anoying if they fluctuate too much, because i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly).
Probably the thing will read quieter if the pots are lower resistance. The data sheet for the atmega microcontroller used in the arduino says hat the impedance of the analog source should be less than 10kOhm. Also putting a .1uF capacitor from the analog pin to ground will smooth out glitchy noise. (And averaging a few values in software helps too.)
The arduino can send its data as MIDI by using two 220 Ohm resistors (one from 5V to MIDI pin 4, the other from TX to MIDI pin 5, ground to pin 3) and a baud rate of 31250. That can eliminate noise caused by the USB connection, but you have to program the MIDI messages yourself instead of using pduino, as well as powering the arduino from a battery (quiet) or AC adapter (noisy).
I have built a MIDI pedal that uses an optical sensor to detect the pedal position. It is much quieter than a potentiometer.
Martin
On 2011-04-10 10:56, Pedro Lopes wrote:
You can filter out some noise if that happens. I have done several arduino projects (namely public installations or sculptures with sensors), one thing I learned is that you can always filter the (some) noise, by ignoring some values and so forth. Another fun aspect is that in public installations whenever I connected the arduino to the AC power outlets (instead of battery) the noise was much higher. (which makes sense, since AC powers of houses, steet, etc.. are actually noisy (have you ever noticed that AC induces noise on most laptop on-board sound-cards - due to ground loop and so forth) )
use i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear
gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly). But don't panic about it, its workable. You can defined thresholds, and if it varies withing a certain range you will not consider as the pot has moved, if you do not have noise: even better. But electricity is not perfect, components are definitely not perfect either :)
Best, Pedro
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 3:50 PM, Pierre Massat <pimassat@gmail.com mailto:pimassat@gmail.com> wrote:
uctuate a little"? This could be anoying if they fluctuate too much, because i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly).-- Pedro Lopes (MSc) contact: pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt mailto:pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes / http://pedrolopesresearch.wordpress.com/ | http://twitter.com/plopesresearch
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I've been using the Uno with pduino recently and I couldn't be happier. They are cheap and really reliable, 6 analogue pins and somehting like 12 digital. So not huge, but still pretty versatile.
Just upload the pduino firmata to the Uno, and in a flash (hehe) you have signal, and you can spend your time patching in Pd.
I like the noise, on one of my devices I soldered switches in between the signal on a couple of the pots just to get noise! =)
On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 1:28 AM, Martin Peach martin.peach@sympatico.cawrote:
Probably the thing will read quieter if the pots are lower resistance. The data sheet for the atmega microcontroller used in the arduino says hat the impedance of the analog source should be less than 10kOhm. Also putting a .1uF capacitor from the analog pin to ground will smooth out glitchy noise. (And averaging a few values in software helps too.)
The arduino can send its data as MIDI by using two 220 Ohm resistors (one from 5V to MIDI pin 4, the other from TX to MIDI pin 5, ground to pin 3) and a baud rate of 31250. That can eliminate noise caused by the USB connection, but you have to program the MIDI messages yourself instead of using pduino, as well as powering the arduino from a battery (quiet) or AC adapter (noisy).
I have built a MIDI pedal that uses an optical sensor to detect the pedal position. It is much quieter than a potentiometer.
Martin
On 2011-04-10 10:56, Pedro Lopes wrote:
You can filter out some noise if that happens. I have done several arduino projects (namely public installations or sculptures with sensors), one thing I learned is that you can always filter the (some) noise, by ignoring some values and so forth. Another fun aspect is that in public installations whenever I connected the arduino to the AC power outlets (instead of battery) the noise was much higher. (which makes sense, since AC powers of houses, steet, etc.. are actually noisy (have you ever noticed that AC induces noise on most laptop on-board sound-cards - due to ground loop and so forth) )
use i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear
gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly). But don't panic about it, its workable. You can defined thresholds, and if it varies withing a certain range you will not consider as the pot has moved, if you do not have noise: even better. But electricity is not perfect, components are definitely not perfect either :)
Best, Pedro
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 3:50 PM, Pierre Massat <pimassat@gmail.com mailto:pimassat@gmail.com> wrote:
uctuate a little"? This could be anoying if they fluctuate too much, because i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly).
-- Pedro Lopes (MSc) contact: pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt mailto:pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt
website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes / http://pedrolopesresearch.wordpress.com/ | http://twitter.com/plopesresearch
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
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Hi, I just ordered a Uno, i think it will suffice.
Martin, I'd like to replace my pot with an optical sensor if it's quieter. Only i've never used one. How does it work? How do i put this in the pedal?
Looks like i'm not nearly through asking questions about arduino...
Pierre
2011/4/10 Martin Peach martin.peach@sympatico.ca
Probably the thing will read quieter if the pots are lower resistance. The data sheet for the atmega microcontroller used in the arduino says hat the impedance of the analog source should be less than 10kOhm. Also putting a .1uF capacitor from the analog pin to ground will smooth out glitchy noise. (And averaging a few values in software helps too.)
The arduino can send its data as MIDI by using two 220 Ohm resistors (one from 5V to MIDI pin 4, the other from TX to MIDI pin 5, ground to pin 3) and a baud rate of 31250. That can eliminate noise caused by the USB connection, but you have to program the MIDI messages yourself instead of using pduino, as well as powering the arduino from a battery (quiet) or AC adapter (noisy).
I have built a MIDI pedal that uses an optical sensor to detect the pedal position. It is much quieter than a potentiometer.
Martin
On 2011-04-10 10:56, Pedro Lopes wrote:
You can filter out some noise if that happens. I have done several arduino projects (namely public installations or sculptures with sensors), one thing I learned is that you can always filter the (some) noise, by ignoring some values and so forth. Another fun aspect is that in public installations whenever I connected the arduino to the AC power outlets (instead of battery) the noise was much higher. (which makes sense, since AC powers of houses, steet, etc.. are actually noisy (have you ever noticed that AC induces noise on most laptop on-board sound-cards - due to ground loop and so forth) )
use i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear
gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly). But don't panic about it, its workable. You can defined thresholds, and if it varies withing a certain range you will not consider as the pot has moved, if you do not have noise: even better. But electricity is not perfect, components are definitely not perfect either :)
Best, Pedro
On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 3:50 PM, Pierre Massat <pimassat@gmail.com mailto:pimassat@gmail.com> wrote:
uctuate a little"? This could be anoying if they fluctuate too much, because i wanted to use a pot to control a delay length (you can hear gliches if the delay length jumps from one value to another rapidly).
-- Pedro Lopes (MSc) contact: pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt mailto:pedro.lopes@ist.utl.pt
website: http://web.ist.utl.pt/Pedro.Lopes / http://pedrolopesresearch.wordpress.com/ | http://twitter.com/plopesresearch
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
On 2011-04-16 07:09, Pierre Massat wrote:
Hi, I just ordered a Uno, i think it will suffice.
Martin, I'd like to replace my pot with an optical sensor if it's quieter. Only i've never used one. How does it work? How do i put this in the pedal?
I got a reflective sensor which consists of an IR LED and a photo transistor in one package, with both components facing in one direction like the Vishay TCRT5000L: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=751-103...
You put a 10 kOhm or so resistor to 5V on the collector of the transistor (bigger resistor = more sensitivity but adds noise) and a 330 Ohm resistor from 5V to the anode of the LED (smaller resistor = more sensitivity but don't burn out the LED), the other two pins to ground. Then connect the transistor collector to an arduino analog in.
Mechanically, mount the device so it's looking up at the underside of the pedal and adjust things until you get a good range of values. It may help to stick some reflective material on the pedal, for greater sensing range.
These kinds of sensors are used a lot in printers to detect paper, so if you pull apart old printers that's one thing to look for, besides the motors.
Martin
Hi, I just got my Uno in the mail today. It's so cool! I'm all excited. I've been searching their website for some basic info regarding he components i should use, but haven't found anything. Do you know if i could use just any pot? Or is there a specific value i should use? Also, can i use a battery for power? It seems like their tutorials are mainly about programming the boards, and not so much about interfacing them with the real world. And as of 2011 Tron is still just pure fiction, and guess what, i'm still plain real.
Thank you all very much for your advice!
Pierre
2011/4/16 Martin Peach martin.peach@sympatico.ca
On 2011-04-16 07:09, Pierre Massat wrote:
Hi, I just ordered a Uno, i think it will suffice.
Martin, I'd like to replace my pot with an optical sensor if it's quieter. Only i've never used one. How does it work? How do i put this in the pedal?
I got a reflective sensor which consists of an IR LED and a photo transistor in one package, with both components facing in one direction like the Vishay TCRT5000L:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=751-103...
You put a 10 kOhm or so resistor to 5V on the collector of the transistor (bigger resistor = more sensitivity but adds noise) and a 330 Ohm resistor from 5V to the anode of the LED (smaller resistor = more sensitivity but don't burn out the LED), the other two pins to ground. Then connect the transistor collector to an arduino analog in.
Mechanically, mount the device so it's looking up at the underside of the pedal and adjust things until you get a good range of values. It may help to stick some reflective material on the pedal, for greater sensing range.
These kinds of sensors are used a lot in printers to detect paper, so if you pull apart old printers that's one thing to look for, besides the motors.
Martin
Battery: yes. I use like this: http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Learning/9VBatteryAdapter
Pot: whatever suits you, try with a 1kOhm pot for starting up. There's different curves to it: lin (linear) and log (logaritmic) - this will show on how the pot reacts when turned, thus how the levels rise and lower when you move it (p.s. never used a exp (exponential) but should be more esoteric to find.)
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 10:28 PM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, I just got my Uno in the mail today. It's so cool! I'm all excited. I've been searching their website for some basic info regarding he components i should use, but haven't found anything. Do you know if i could use just any pot? Or is there a specific value i should use? Also, can i use a battery for power? It seems like their tutorials are mainly about programming the boards, and not so much about interfacing them with the real world. And as of 2011 Tron is still just pure fiction, and guess what, i'm still plain real.
Thank you all very much for your advice!
Pierre
2011/4/16 Martin Peach martin.peach@sympatico.ca
On 2011-04-16 07:09, Pierre Massat wrote:
Hi, I just ordered a Uno, i think it will suffice.
Martin, I'd like to replace my pot with an optical sensor if it's quieter. Only i've never used one. How does it work? How do i put this in the pedal?
I got a reflective sensor which consists of an IR LED and a photo transistor in one package, with both components facing in one direction like the Vishay TCRT5000L:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=751-103...
You put a 10 kOhm or so resistor to 5V on the collector of the transistor (bigger resistor = more sensitivity but adds noise) and a 330 Ohm resistor from 5V to the anode of the LED (smaller resistor = more sensitivity but don't burn out the LED), the other two pins to ground. Then connect the transistor collector to an arduino analog in.
Mechanically, mount the device so it's looking up at the underside of the pedal and adjust things until you get a good range of values. It may help to stick some reflective material on the pedal, for greater sensing range.
These kinds of sensors are used a lot in printers to detect paper, so if you pull apart old printers that's one thing to look for, besides the motors.
Martin
Hi Pierre, You can use any pot from about 1kOhm to 10kOhm. Less than 1kOhm will waste power and more than 10kOhm will not be able to charge the integrating capacitor fast enough, however if you only have one analog input in use it's probably OK to use much larger values. And you probably want a pot with a linear taper so the resistance changes by the same amount at each position. Audio taper is good for volume controls as the low resistance end is stretched out so you have more control at low levels. Most pots are linear. I would use a 7.5V rechargeable battery. 9V are too small. Or a stack of 4 AAs, depending how long you need it to last.
Martin
On 2011-04-26 17:28, Pierre Massat wrote:
Hi, I just got my Uno in the mail today. It's so cool! I'm all excited. I've been searching their website for some basic info regarding he components i should use, but haven't found anything. Do you know if i could use just any pot? Or is there a specific value i should use? Also, can i use a battery for power? It seems like their tutorials are mainly about programming the boards, and not so much about interfacing them with the real world. And as of 2011 Tron is still just pure fiction, and guess what, i'm still plain real.
Thank you all very much for your advice!
Pierre
2011/4/16 Martin Peach <martin.peach@sympatico.ca mailto:martin.peach@sympatico.ca>
On 2011-04-16 07:09, Pierre Massat wrote: Hi, I just ordered a Uno, i think it will suffice. Martin, I'd like to replace my pot with an optical sensor if it's quieter. Only i've never used one. How does it work? How do i put this in the pedal? I got a reflective sensor which consists of an IR LED and a photo transistor in one package, with both components facing in one direction like the Vishay TCRT5000L: http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=751-1034-5-ND <http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=751-1034-5-ND> You put a 10 kOhm or so resistor to 5V on the collector of the transistor (bigger resistor = more sensitivity but adds noise) and a 330 Ohm resistor from 5V to the anode of the LED (smaller resistor = more sensitivity but don't burn out the LED), the other two pins to ground. Then connect the transistor collector to an arduino analog in. Mechanically, mount the device so it's looking up at the underside of the pedal and adjust things until you get a good range of values. It may help to stick some reflective material on the pedal, for greater sensing range. These kinds of sensors are used a lot in printers to detect paper, so if you pull apart old printers that's one thing to look for, besides the motors. Martin
Exciting isn't it =)
My understanding is that Arduinos in general are pretty robust (which is good because my electronics knowledge is extremely minimal.) I've been using 1K pots with no problems at all. LEDs are another good place to start because they are cheap and easy to see when they are working. Good luck!
On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 5:28 AM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, I just got my Uno in the mail today. It's so cool! I'm all excited. I've been searching their website for some basic info regarding he components i should use, but haven't found anything. Do you know if i could use just any pot? Or is there a specific value i should use? Also, can i use a battery for power? It seems like their tutorials are mainly about programming the boards, and not so much about interfacing them with the real world. And as of 2011 Tron is still just pure fiction, and guess what, i'm still plain real.
Thank you all very much for your advice!
Pierre
2011/4/16 Martin Peach martin.peach@sympatico.ca
On 2011-04-16 07:09, Pierre Massat wrote:
Hi, I just ordered a Uno, i think it will suffice.
Martin, I'd like to replace my pot with an optical sensor if it's quieter. Only i've never used one. How does it work? How do i put this in the pedal?
I got a reflective sensor which consists of an IR LED and a photo transistor in one package, with both components facing in one direction like the Vishay TCRT5000L:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=751-103...
You put a 10 kOhm or so resistor to 5V on the collector of the transistor (bigger resistor = more sensitivity but adds noise) and a 330 Ohm resistor from 5V to the anode of the LED (smaller resistor = more sensitivity but don't burn out the LED), the other two pins to ground. Then connect the transistor collector to an arduino analog in.
Mechanically, mount the device so it's looking up at the underside of the pedal and adjust things until you get a good range of values. It may help to stick some reflective material on the pedal, for greater sensing range.
These kinds of sensors are used a lot in printers to detect paper, so if you pull apart old printers that's one thing to look for, besides the motors.
Martin
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
I have bought a 4.7 K pot yesterday, it's working perfectly. The guy at the shop said it didn't really matter as long as i stayed within the 1K - 10K range. I'm gonna strat building a real interface around the board pretty soon.
Pierre
2011/4/28 Richie Cyngler glitchpop@gmail.com
Exciting isn't it =)
My understanding is that Arduinos in general are pretty robust (which is good because my electronics knowledge is extremely minimal.) I've been using 1K pots with no problems at all. LEDs are another good place to start because they are cheap and easy to see when they are working. Good luck!
On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 5:28 AM, Pierre Massat pimassat@gmail.com wrote:
Hi, I just got my Uno in the mail today. It's so cool! I'm all excited. I've been searching their website for some basic info regarding he components i should use, but haven't found anything. Do you know if i could use just any pot? Or is there a specific value i should use? Also, can i use a battery for power? It seems like their tutorials are mainly about programming the boards, and not so much about interfacing them with the real world. And as of 2011 Tron is still just pure fiction, and guess what, i'm still plain real.
Thank you all very much for your advice!
Pierre
2011/4/16 Martin Peach martin.peach@sympatico.ca
On 2011-04-16 07:09, Pierre Massat wrote:
Hi, I just ordered a Uno, i think it will suffice.
Martin, I'd like to replace my pot with an optical sensor if it's quieter. Only i've never used one. How does it work? How do i put this in the pedal?
I got a reflective sensor which consists of an IR LED and a photo transistor in one package, with both components facing in one direction like the Vishay TCRT5000L:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=751-103...
You put a 10 kOhm or so resistor to 5V on the collector of the transistor (bigger resistor = more sensitivity but adds noise) and a 330 Ohm resistor from 5V to the anode of the LED (smaller resistor = more sensitivity but don't burn out the LED), the other two pins to ground. Then connect the transistor collector to an arduino analog in.
Mechanically, mount the device so it's looking up at the underside of the pedal and adjust things until you get a good range of values. It may help to stick some reflective material on the pedal, for greater sensing range.
These kinds of sensors are used a lot in printers to detect paper, so if you pull apart old printers that's one thing to look for, besides the motors.
Martin
Pd-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
-- Richie
Hi,
Pierre Massat wrote:
Here's what i have right now :
- 8 buttons + 1 potentiometer (in a pedal).
on a regular arduino (25 euros) you get 12 digital inputs (buttons) out of the box, expandable to 18 if you reuse the analog inputs. You also get 6 analog inputs (potentiometer). Load up firmata on the board, use pduino and you're good to go.
The analog inputs are 10 bits, so that's 0-1023. Eight times MIDI, two times DMX.
Cheers, Charlot
-
Charles Goyard -
Martin Peach -
Pedro Lopes -
Pierre Massat -
Richie Cyngler