[sdiy] kinda interesting audio arduino thing

[Jason Proctor]

hey Martin (& list)

thanks for the info. now some of the stuff i've read about analogue 
I/O being PWM makes some sense :-)

well, i took the plunge and ordered an Arduino and Wave Shield. can't 
wait to start hacking with it.



>Hi Jason
>
>Erm, I always forget to ensure I answer on the list - feel free to 
>reply on the list again to keep the discussion in the public (if 
>not, that's fine too).
>
>Jason Proctor wrote:
>>i have to confess my ignorance -- what does it mean when the 
>>analogue outputs are PWM?
>
>Pulse width modulation. It's not actually an analog output, but a 
>digital one with a programmable duty cycle. This is fine for 
>controlling the brightness of an LED or driving a motor, but it 
>definitely needs low-pass filtering in order to get a usable CV. 
>I've never tried this myself.
>
>>i've been waiting for an "embedded" environment that fits my 
>>requirements for a while and i think this one is it -- (a) cheap 
>>(b) USB with Mac support (c) language that i know (C++). should be 
>>very easy to knock together some clock processing etc modules.
>
>Definitely give it a try, it's really cool and as easy as it gets. 
>Once you want to go a bit beyond the original intention of the 
>design, just read the ATmega 168 datasheet and start hacking away. 
>While the Arduino development environment is designed to hide all 
>the "complexity", it doesn't prevent you from digging deeper.
>
>Bye
>Martin
>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Jason,
>>>
>>>Jason Proctor wrote:
>>>>IIRC, there are analogue pins on the basic Arduino board that 
>>>>could be used for CV ins and outs.
>>>
>>>The outputs are PWM, with a default frequency of about 500Hz 
>>>(although hackable - but be aware of side-effects...). There are 6 
>>>analog inputs (8 if you take one of the surface mount variants) - 
>>>not extremely precise, but they should be perfectly fine for a lot 
>>>of cool CV trickery.
>>>
>>>I've done some projects with the Arduino. It's an extremely easy 
>>>to use environment. Although after getting my feet wet with that 
>>>platform, I now just take a bare AVR chip for the stuff I do, 
>>>unless I need the USB or Bluetooth connection - that saves space 
>>>and money once you've invested a modest sum into the AVRisp 
>>>programmer.
>>>
>>>Bye
>>>Martin