lerxstrulz

September 23, 2016

I've been updating my build thread frequently. But here is a front and back view of the completed setup:

And a final video:

https://www.facebook.com/darkpain714/videos/10154517249274787/

That looks great! Where is your build thread?

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September 20, 2016

If anyone needs a case I have 3 that I 3D printed...2 black and 1 orange. They are V2 cases as seen in previous pics.

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September 6, 2016

Everything is fine tuned and working like a champ. Added padding per ukswrath, adjusted mic sensitivity per lerxstrulz, added pots for fan control, added individual switches to power each fan, fans converted to usb power on the old power pack instead of the AA battery pack, and the new usb battery arrived to power the TK Talkie... WHEW! Do I have a lot of wires to clean up!

Thanks all. This has been great!

Affirmative we have a woot *click*

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September 2, 2016

I need to adjust the mic sensitivity a bit. While the fans ARE installed, they are not running in the video. Once I turn them on the noise keeps the channel open and no pops and clicks. I'm also looking into an adjustment knob to dial the fans down a bit. They're blasting pretty hard.

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So a good way to check what your minimum noise level is while you are not talking and fans are on inside the helmet is hook the board up to the computer and fire up arduino/teensyduino. Add the following line at the beginning of the loop:

float val = rms1.read();
Serial.println(val);

Of course enable the Serial.begin line in the setup function

Then just open the serial monitor and see what kind of numbers you are getting. They will be rolling by pretty fast but should give you an idea. Then just set your VOL_THRESHOLD_TRIGGER value a couple points above that and adjust as needed.

For example, if you are getting .05 from the fans, set your trigger to .07 and go from there. You will also need to set the VOL_THRESHOLD_MIN close to whatever volume you are getting from the fans as this is your "silent/not talking" baseline.

September 2, 2016

So lets try a video. Please let me know if you can see this:

https://www.facebook.com/darkpain714/videos/10154459801104787/

Yeah man that sounds pretty good! Nice job!

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September 2, 2016

I was looking for an alternative case for the PCB and given the specs I think this may come pretty close.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231467383590

The audio shield is roughly 36mm x 37mm. Those say they are 35mm

I think the boards together are 17mm tall...will have to double check tonight. I designed the case to be as compact as possible and still fit everything. I think I have the depth and height as low as they can go...I chose to go wider to fit the jacks and keep the height down so that it could fit in the helmet or chestplate nicely. I would be interested to see if those would work, though. The smaller the better!

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September 2, 2016

Are you talking about here:?

// stereo input channels...just a little gain

// for the MIC or LINE-IN inputs...adjust as needed.

mixer1.gain(0, 1);

mixer1.gain(1, 1);

Either way, with just the TK Talkie, or with the AMP2 I seem to get the same volume level before the feedback starts.

The TK Talkie by itself I can't turn the know up to about 3/4 before it seems to hit a limit and cuts out.

Yes that's it. There's also the mic gain. The idea is to let one thing control the volume....just give it a decent signal. I'm using the settings in the default sketch and I just have to barely crank the aker to get decent volume.

When you go above 7 on the teensy it tends to start distorting. What are the speakers in the hovi's rated at? Does it cut out at 3/4 with another speaker or headphones?

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September 1, 2016

Volume pot and AMP2 volume knob.

Ah...yep that's prob a lot of gain...maybe try setting the mixer input to 1 for the mic in the software (below 1 attenuates the sound, above 1 adds gain, so this is base level) and turning the thumb volume to 2 or 3, then you could use the AMP2 as primary volume control without having a really hot signal. I am not familiar with the AMP2, though. Just remember the teensy is already already amplifying the signal, so amplifying an amplifed signal is feedback heaven (or hell...lol)

Heck you might even try just plugging the hovi's directly into the teensy if possible (you may need to turn up the audio shield volume in the software and use the thumb vol to dial it in, though.)

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September 1, 2016

As soon as I get a handle on the feedback issue I'll be sure to do that.

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Are you increasing volume using the software mixer or via the onboard volume pot?

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September 1, 2016

What are the dimensions on the V2 case if you don't mind me asking?

66mm wide X 39mm deep X 18.5mm tall

August 31, 2016

V2 Case

Woot! I have the V2 case designed and printed and everything fits great! If you want to print your own, you can grab the .stl file from the website. I've had a few requests for printed cases, so let me know if you are interested.

Note: Again, I didn't sand or file or put any finishing touches on the print in the pics...just wanted to test the fit ASAP!

August 30, 2016

...it takes up a lot of space in my helmet but not ready to throw down a lot of money on a ROMFX card.

The case I have designed is 66mm wide X 39mm deep X 18.5mm tall. Trying to keep it as compact as possible...the hard part is leaving room to easily take the board in and out and then making room for connections (in/out jacks.) I have a few successful prints and if I can get the final tweaks printed today I'll try to post the .stl file by tomorrow.

August 30, 2016

I think you've got me sold. Sounds like an awesome Winter project. Just gotta figure out how to wire it in my current ukswrath setup. The iComm has it's own battery so I may have to treat this more like a ROMFX and put a voltage regulator in.

Just be sure to give it 5V. The Teensy has a built-in regulator that supplies the 3.3V needed by the audio shield.

August 30, 2016

Very awesome project you have here. Kind of hard to tell from your video on page 1 but does this change the sound of your voice or just add the radio static sound? I am looking at an alternative to my iCOMM as it takes up a lot of space in my helmet but not ready to throw down a lot of money on a ROMFX card.

It does not do any pitch shifting (yet.) But you can dial-in your sound via the software equalizer. It also employs a couple of bitcrushers (which you can also customize) to help distort the voice a bit.

August 30, 2016

<face palm> Now that you point me in the right direction it's glaringly obvious!!

Thank you!

Lol no prob!

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August 30, 2016

The new sketch is amazing. What is driving me nuts is that I am trying to figure out how to turn up the sound effects without turning up the volume. I've been playing with the mic gain and the EQ.... I know it's something simple that I'm missing. An output volume for the WAV files??? Any help would be great!

The wav files are now in the first two channels of mixer2 (0 and 1). Any setting below 1.0 attenuates the volume and any setting above gains db's. Try adjusting those inputs on mixer2 in the setup function.

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August 28, 2016

While I'm waiting on the 3D printer I fiddled with the software a bit and made some improvements

I posted the updated sketch on my github. Because of the new changes I had to tweak some of the settings regarding the thresholds, but the result is a much truer Voice Activation and now it supports PTT.

Added a pink noise generator that activates when you are talking to make it sound more like a radio
Added support for PTT...the system starts in Voice Activated (VA) mode and the first time you push the button it goes into PTT mode. You can hold the button for 2 seconds without talking to switch it back to VA mode (of course this is all customizable.) I did this so that you can switch between the two modes without having to unplug the PTT button When using PTT mode it looks for a WAV file named BUTTON.WAV (just a copy of TKT_CLK3.WAV) and plays that each time you push the PTT button, then plays a random burst afterwards.
When you are not talking (in either PTT or VA mode) the mixer channels for the mic are turned off, and will turn on when you push the button in PTT mode or start talking in VA mode. Had to tweak the threshold settings a bit...again, this is customizable to your voice. You MAY need to set these thresholds according to your voice so that they fire correctly...everyone's voice is a tad different

There are a lot of changes in this sketch so if you upgrade, be sure to make a backup of your current sketch so you can apply any tweaks you have made. I put the original V1 sketch in an archives folder on github. The new sketch is Version 1.1.

I mounted everything behind my chest plate last night and tested it and it sounds great if I do say so myself. :lol: The sound really comes together.

August 26, 2016

Looks like you can access the SD card. That is awesome. I really need to get one of those newfangled printer thingies.

Well, you kinda can...with a pair of tweezers One of the tweaks I have made to the sketch is to bring the back in more so you can actually reach the card. I have a new printer showing up Sunday and will get to try the new design hopefully Sunday night or Monday. I'm also about to add a PTT button to the mix, so have added another hole in the back for the 3.5mm jack (that can be used or not....)

August 26, 2016

V2 Case Update

Well....have been tweaking both the V1 and V2 cases for a couple of days now, trying to get them as compact as possible and still get clean prints. Then the 3D printer decided to take a dump, so had to pull it apart, fix it, put it back together and spend half a day recalibrating it....sigh...

I was finally able to get a pretty decent V2 case printed today (the very first print of the V1 case was nearly perfect, except I wanted to enlarge the mounts a bit.) Still needs a couple of tweaks but completely functional...yay! Unfortunately I won't have access to the printer for the next 4 days...

Also, these photos are of the box straight off the printer, before sanding and touchups...and you can see the 3D printer could probably use a little more fine tuning...

August 23, 2016

I'm very happy with this addition. This is quite excellent. My family was complaining I sounded too "high pitch". I assume it's from my cheap little amp. But these settings with a bit of tweaking fixed that AND I got the tin can effect.

Mando can wait till 3.6. *crosses fingers for vocorder*

Excellent! Glad to hear it!

August 23, 2016

Version 1 Case

I was able to 3D print a case for the Version 1 setup today. It came out pretty well. I printed it with PLA plastic (may try ABS just to compare.) Everything fit really well! I had to drill out the holes I made for screws (they were too small) so I'm going to tweak the STL before posting it.

Version 2 Case

I also printed a case I designed for the Version 2 setup, however some of my measurements were just slightly off so more tweaking of that and another test print tomorrow. Almost there, though! It's a lot thinner than the Version 1 case, although the V1 case is about a millimeter shorter than the Aker speaker so will fit under the breastplate just fine.

August 21, 2016

I'm still looking for an acceptable vocal mod for the mando setup. Bitcrusher alone doesn't seem to do it.

FWIW I posed this question on the Teensy forum and Paul (the developer) said he has a phase vocoder on the to-do list for the upcoming Teensy 3.6. Hopefully it makes it in that release. It will allow you to shift the pitch of the inputs (microphone) up or down, which will be really cool.

Also, I just updated the code a tad after digging around in the Teensy docs. There is an onboard equalizer (both 5-band graphic and 7-band parametric.) I added the 5-band and set the bands to push up the mids for more of a "tin-can" sound. Add this code after the input select code in the setup function:

// Activate the onboard pre-processor
audioShield.audioPreProcessorEnable();
// Turn on the 5-band graphic equalizer (there is also a 7-band parametric...see the Teensy docs)
audioShield.eqSelect(3);
// Bands (from left to right) are: Low, Low-Mid, Mid, High-Mid, High.
// Valid values are -1 (-11.75dB) to 1 (+12dB)
// The settings below pull down the lows and highs and push up the mids for 
// more of a "tin-can" sound.
audioShield.eqBands(-1.0, 0, 1, 0, -1.0);

You might be able to tweak this or use the 7-band to get closer to the sound you are looking for. The settings above work really well with my voice, at least.

August 20, 2016

Yeah, I seem to have the version 2. But still working great. Used the same Samsung earbud box you did and its working quite well. I added a couple screws to keep the board in place as it was sliding around in there a bit too much and couldnt plug things in without opening it up. I'm still looking for an acceptable vocal mod for the mando setup. Bitcrusher alone doesn't seem to do it.

Nice setup! I am going to put my V2 on a breadboard with some pots and hook those up to settings for the different effects and play around with it and see what I can get.

Maybe we should see if the guys at Teensy can add a "New Zealander Accent" module to get that "just right" Mando sound :0Lighten:

August 20, 2016

FWIW, I'd be leery of making tolerances too tight. In my limited experience, one thing I've definitely seen is that boards go through revisions all the time, and the "X" board you bought from company "Y" two months ago but end up being revised, and the "X v.1.1" board has a different shape with different components.

Yeah I'm going with more room on the redesign. Really wanted the SD card accessible without having to remove the lid, but don't think it will be possible.

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August 20, 2016

I printed the enclosure I designed today and...well...back to the drawing board

I was trying to be too concise with the measurements, and the result is you can't put the board in the box because there is no room to wedge it in there. Sigh...I did not allow for extra space to actually put the board in the box lol...

Also, I purchased another Teensy setup (this time with the pre-pinned board) and the Audio Shield is not even the same size as the one I purchased previously (it's pretty close, but not exact) so I'll have to allow for tolerances in the size of the board when redesigning the enclosure, which also means more room in the enclosure to get the board in. My goal is to make it as compact as possible, yet allow access to the SD card so you can swap it out as well as the thumbed volume pot (if you attach it.) Truth be told, with the SD card on the opposite end as the other connections (headphone, micro-USB) this makes it a bit tricky. I may end up having to make it to were you have to take the lid off to swap out the SD, which I REALLY don't want to do...I have some ideas

Plus, to get REALLY exact in 3D printing you have to have a pretty decent printer. I have access to a Lulzbot Taz at the office and even then getting down to 1mm accuracy is iffy...

Version 2...

ALSO, I noticed the pre-pinned Teensy is soldered differently from the way I did it (the pins are on the other side of the board.) I'm calling this new version "Version 2" (and the original Version 1) and working on a new tutorial and have updated the original tutorial. The new tutorial is on my website here.

I am in the process of redesigning an enclosure for Version 1 and once that is done I'll design a box for Version 2. Here are some reference pics to note the differences in the setup. the main difference is in the height of the stack...Version 1 is approximately 20mm tall and Version 2 is around 7.5mm! Awesome! Also, the USB connection is in a different position due to the board being oriented differently.

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