New library for PWM playback from SD cards: SimpleSDAudio

Hi,
for performance reasons, audio pins are fixed in the library. But the library is written in a way, that all that must be defined to use a certain timer is placed in the file SimpleSDAudioDefs.h, so take a look in that file, maybe you can patch it for your purposes. All defines there are used from assembly as well as c-files, so there should no need to touch any other files.

@TroyO
Hi, I've analysed your stop-issue, I think you are right, there is a little bug in the library that clears the stop-flag in the init-function. Calling SdPlay.stop(); after .init should also solve the issue.

good to know tuttut-

@TroyO-

I saw the 'double press' in the video..

glad it can all be 'fixed' with a line of code. :slight_smile:

I'll be using this heavily in a project over the next 3-4 weeks..

I have high hopes for this lib. :slight_smile:

(will be starting next week hopefully!) :slight_smile:

This is a really good lib. Been playing with it all morning, really should be doing work on my other project, and I've had no problem playing files converted with:

$ sox inputfile -b 8 -r 64000 -c 1 -t raw outputfile

Good work on getting all this together, I bought an arduino with a few projects in mind, but never thought
I'd be playing music off of the thing. Keep up the awesome progress!

Fantastic library, got it working within few minutes! :slight_smile:
Is it possible to play Audio in parallel while Arduino does other things? I wasn't able to figure out how. I wanted to see if I can dump WaveShield in favor of this library. WaveShield allows me to play Audio regardless of other things I'm doing, which is essential for my Alarm clock (shows time, blinking dots while playing alarm audio file).
I did some testing with SimpleSDAudio and it looks like if delay between calling SdPlay.worker() greater than 5 milliseconds, playback slows down and becomes choppy... Even calling Serial.println ("test") slows down playback noticeably. Here's example of code from loop:

void loop(void) {
  Serial.println ("running");
  //delay (5);
   if (!SdPlay.isPlaying() ) SdPlay.play();
  // Let the worker work until playback is finished
  SdPlay.worker();
 }

Let me know if there's a trick to it :slight_smile:
Maybe buffer can be auto-filled by Interrupt?

bratan:
Fantastic library, got it working within few minutes! :slight_smile:
Is it possible to play Audio in parallel while Arduino does other things? I wasn't able to figure out how. I wanted to see if I can dump WaveShield in favor of this library. WaveShield allows me to play Audio regardless of other things I'm doing, which is essential for my Alarm clock (shows time, blinking dots while playing alarm audio file).
I did some testing with SimpleSDAudio and it looks like if delay between calling SdPlay.worker() greater than 5 milliseconds, playback slows down and becomes choppy... Even calling Serial.println ("test") slows down playback noticeably. Here's example of code from loop:

void loop(void) {

Serial.println ("running");
 //delay (5);
  if (!SdPlay.isPlaying() ) SdPlay.play();
 // Let the worker work until playback is finished
 SdPlay.worker();
}



Let me know if there's a trick to it :)
Maybe buffer can be auto-filled by Interrupt?

Don't quote me on this, but from looking at the code, I think you could do such given that you make a call to the SdPlay.worker() function often enough to keep the buffer filled. I'm not sure how much of the processor is left once playing audio, but it seems you could squeeze in a few other non time dependent things. (Like adding up time or checking for a button and updating its state...simple things)

From what I have gathered, the SdPlay.worker() function reads the next sector of the sdcard into a buffer. So if you call it often enough, you should be okay, just don't ask for anything that needs a ton of resources while playing audio.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I have gathered so far.

Edit: Just from playing with the serial I can see what you are saying, but I haven't come up with a solution.
Edit2: If you hear the skip when using serial at 9600, move it to a higher speed. I'm running at 115200 just to see, and there isn't a noticeable skip when using the serial commands in the demo.

Hi

I'm exited about this library. I might have a troublesome SD Card module.
I keep getting an error code: 49. I cant find out what code 49 is.
If I use Arduino's standard SD example listfiles, I get a correct list of files on the SD card. The SdFat library from Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting. also read the SD Card with the same wiring. So the wiring must be correct. And I use SdPlay.setSDCSPin(10); as pin 10 is my CS pin.
Then I commented the line: SPSR |= (1 << SPI2X);
Same result.

My sd module is this one http://www.lipoly.de/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=213383

I really hope someone can with this problem.

EDIT ----
It was not the SD Card Module but the SD Card itself. I tried with another one. Now it works.

timberwolf9:
Don't quote me on this, but from looking at the code, I think you could do such given that you make a call to the SdPlay.worker() function often enough to keep the buffer filled. I'm not sure how much of the processor is left once playing audio, but it seems you could squeeze in a few other non time dependent things. (Like adding up time or checking for a button and updating its state...simple things)

From what I have gathered, the SdPlay.worker() function reads the next sector of the sdcard into a buffer. So if you call it often enough, you should be okay, just don't ask for anything that needs a ton of resources while playing audio.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I have gathered so far.

Edit: Just from playing with the serial I can see what you are saying, but I haven't come up with a solution.
Edit2: If you hear the skip when using serial at 9600, move it to a higher speed. I'm running at 115200 just to see, and there isn't a noticeable skip when using the serial commands in the demo.

No you are right, my thoughts exactly (about buffer). I also guessed that increasing baud rate will improve things, but never tested it so you just proved it :slight_smile: It makes sense. However I'm just wondering how did they pull off the trick with WaveShield? I can do lots of heavy things with microprocessor while wave is playing, it never skips a beat... Can same be accomplished with this library? :slight_smile: Or because there's no DAC it's impossible to do? I'm curious to hear what author thinks.

AllanB:
Hi

I'm exited about this library. I might have a troublesome SD Card module.
I keep getting an error code: 49. I cant find out what code 49 is.
If I use Arduino's standard SD example listfiles, I get a correct list of files on the SD card. The SdFat library from Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting. also read the SD Card with the same wiring. So the wiring must be correct. And I use SdPlay.setSDCSPin(10); as pin 10 is my CS pin.
Then I commented the line: SPSR |= (1 << SPI2X);
Same result.

My sd module is this one http://www.lipoly.de/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=213383

I really hope someone can with this problem.

EDIT ----
It was not the SD Card Module but the SD Card itself. I tried with another one. Now it works.

Just my two cents, I had this same error and was to fix it by reformatting the sd as FAT. You may be able to do the same with your sd, but don't use the quick format or the card will give the same error.

Hi, I will try answer some of your questions:

@timberwolf9:
Why the argument -r 64000? If you use a 16 MHz Arduino, it should be 16 MHz / 256 = 62500. But anyway, the sound is just a little bit to slow then...

@bratan & timberwolf9:
I will tell you some internal details about my library: The library uses a ring buffer of 1024 bytes when no work buffer is set manually. As the buffer is filled in one sector blocks of 512 bytes each, the buffer became a ping-pong buffer in most cases. With 512 bytes, at 8-Bit/Mono/62.5kHz that is about 8ms time, because the data reading from sd-card also takes some time, your observation of 5ms max delay between worker()-calls is very realistic.

On mega-arduinos is still a lot of RAM availible, so you can try to increase the audiobuffer by calling setWorkBuffer(...) before calling init(). With an increased buffer you will get more time between worker-calls.

By using the function isUnderrunOccured() you can detect if you even had a slight buffer underrun. But beware, I think this function returns true on every first call after calling play().

I also thought about calling the worker-function automatically in a timer interrupt. This should be possible, but only if that interrupt is set to non-blocking to guarantee the main audio interrupt the maximum priority. Maybe I will try to implement such in a next version of my lib, so that calling worker() is not necessary then anymore.

@AllanB:
Error code 49, which is 0x31, indicates that something is wrong with the bootsector on that cards. Maybe there is more than one partition on the card or something else is wrong. That explains why other cards work for you.

@bratan:
Yes, rising the baud-rate should solve issues with print-functions, as then the worker-calls are called more often.

To your question about other Audio-Playback-Shields: As far as I have seen it, all other audio-shields contain a dedicated processor that reads the audio-data from storage and feed it to an audio-DAC. For a good sound the DAC must be feed with low jitter at the audio rate of the audio material, otherwise you may recognize audio distortions like slowdowns or stuttering. With a dedicated processor it doesn't matter what your Arduino does while audio is playing, but my library is for all those who don't want to spend extra money to such a thing. SimpleSDAudio get the most out of the AVR's by pushing the Arduino processor strongly to its limits - that's the price you have to pay if you want nice audio from that little thing.

And one detail on top: The magic trick of getting a good sound out of the AVR's PWM is that mainly PWM-frequency matters more than anything else. It is the sampling rate of >32kHz that make the big difference between this lib and the well known bad telephone-like audio-playbacks often sampled at only 8 kHz of other approaches. With PWM frequency as high as 31/62kHz a low-pass is often not necessary. And you only need more than 8-bit if you want to listen to something that has not been as fucking dynamic compressed as most of the actual radio stuff nowadays is.

Tuttut:
Hi, I will try answer some of your questions:

@timberwolf9:
Why the argument -r 64000? If you use a 16 MHz Arduino, it should be 16 MHz / 256 = 62500. But anyway, the sound is just a little bit to slow then...

@bratan & timberwolf9:
I will tell you some internal details about my library: The library uses a ring buffer of 1024 bytes when no work buffer is set manually. As the buffer is filled in one sector blocks of 512 bytes each, the buffer became a ping-pong buffer in most cases. With 512 bytes, at 8-Bit/Mono/62.5kHz that is about 8ms time, because the data reading from sd-card also takes some time, your observation of 5ms max delay between worker()-calls is very realistic.

@Tuttut
"-r 64000" gives reasonably good audio on my arduino uno, it may be my setup that has gone wonk, but when converting using the rate you gave, the audio was always really high pitched and fast moving. So I played around with the terminal options for sox and found that to be a sweet spot where the audio tone and play speed are warm and spot on.

If I read the internals correctly, we could get away with performing micro task once the audio is playing. 704 is not a lot of RAM to play with, but for listening to the network and flashing a light, it may be enough. (704 is more than enough for flashing a light...I would think)

Also, Tuttut, I ran into the 49 error code on my card until I did a FAT format. Once that was done, everything else went smooth as butter.

Tuttut:
I also thought about calling the worker-function automatically in a timer interrupt. This should be possible, but only if that interrupt is set to non-blocking to guarantee the main audio interrupt the maximum priority. Maybe I will try to implement such in a next version of my lib, so that calling worker() is not necessary then anymore.

That would be awesome! :slight_smile:

Tuttut:
To your question about other Audio-Playback-Shields: As far as I have seen it, all other audio-shields contain a dedicated processor that reads the audio-data from storage and feed it to an audio-DAC. For a good sound the DAC must be feed with low jitter at the audio rate of the audio material, otherwise you may recognize audio distortions like slowdowns or stuttering. With a dedicated processor it doesn't matter what your Arduino does while audio is playing, but my library is for all those who don't want to spend extra money to such a thing. SimpleSDAudio get the most out of the AVR's by pushing the Arduino processor strongly to its limits - that's the price you have to pay if you want nice audio from that little thing.

Thanks for the info!
I think MP3 decoder shield might have such processor, but not WaveShield. From description they only have DAC with some basic low pass filters.
BTW, I'm just trying to understand how things work, not in any way implying anything bad about your library. In fact I think it's brilliant work, nobody else did anything like this with no external hardware (other than SD card)!

You are right, WaveShield doesn't have an additonal processor so the AVR has to cope with every sample. In the end, the external DAC mainly give the convenience that you don`t have to convert the sample rate of the audio file. I think WaveShield perfektly fits the hole between my radical simple hardware library and shields that came with additional controller.

Thanks for this library. It works like a dream.
For the fun of it, are there any way to speed up or slow down the speed. You know, making Schwarzenegger sound like Mickey mouse?
/Allan

I saw a video on YouTube where it appears someone has this working on the Due. Has anyone tried it on the Teensy 3.0 yet? I'd imagine the Due and Teensy3 could decode an actual WAV file..

update:
Sorry to mislead.. after some more tests.. I see this is really just an IDE 1.0 thing..

I tried to load another sketch (blink).. to my +3.3v/8MHz internal clock board.. and it gave same errors..

I opened IDE v.23 and the blink program loaded just fine... without error..

(the only problem now is.. SimpleSDAudio doesnt work with any IDE under 1.0....right?)

thanks!

Hi Tuttut
I would love to be able to read a text-file from the SD-Card to read some default settings to initialize my music-box. Would that be possible to add to the library without too much effort?
/Allan

Hi,

@xl97: I don't know if my lib works under Version below 1.00, but I think other people tried it as well and got it running, but I am not sure. Maybe you can try, within the last version of my lib I included at least something that picks other Arduino-default libs for versions below 1.0, but I never tested it.

@AllanB: My lib uses a own SD card implementation, but you could use this also to access other files on card. It is based on 3 layers: l0 does the hardware access to sd-card - you only have to change this if you want to use this lib on a different architecture. l1 gives access to sectors (sector read/write), whereas l2 gives access to filesystem. Using SD_L2_SearchFile you can find the first cluster of a file on card. Use then SD_L2_Cluster2Sector to get the appropriate sector that belongs to the file and finally read the sector using SD_L1_ReadBlock. Analyse the SimpleSDAudio.cpp to see how it works. It's not hard, but very low level...

hi Tuttut-

dont mind me!..

although it would be great if it did work with IDE v23 (and someone posted a 'how to')....

my realy problem is with IDE 1.0 (and not your lib at all)..

I made a minimal/breadboard hardware set-up (+3.3v @ 8MHz internal clock)... purpose built to use your lib for the project.

However.. my '3.3v/8MHz breadboard bootloader chip does NOT work with IDE 1.0 out of the box..

so Im reading up on how to make it 'compliant'.. (something to with boards.txt edits... and maybe another step as well?)

When I couldnt get the BLINK sketch to upload either.. I knew it was board/IDE problem.

thanks!

Hi xl97,

even it's off-topic, one of my next project I am working on is an special Arduino board with library for very low power applications. I already got my own bootloader for mega328 with 8 MHz internal clock (but 32kHz crystal-calibration) to work - I placed a boards.txt in a folder under /hardware/<my_arduino_board_name>. Compared to your file, it contains two lines that seems to be important for compilation:

gcduino168.build.core=arduino:arduino
gcduino168.build.variant=arduino:standard

Maybe that info will help you...