im trying to create a simple lighting system for my friends' band for their shows. im hoping to interface the arduino to an XLR kick drum trigger that will signal 4 of the output channels RANDOMLY which i have connected to utility lights. as you can probably already tell, i am an extreme beginner at this stuff and some help would be GREATELY appreciated!
the XLR signal will probably have to be amplified somehow(no clue how to do that). and i could use some help writing a simple code to do this?
well, xlr is just a connector. you need to find out how the trigger sends an output. as for powering the lights, you might look into solid state relays. you can use them to directly switch the lights.
Well i just bought the solid state relays. i want the box to work by itself without someone having to operate them. the trigger basically will just clamp onto the acoustic bass drum and hopefully connect straight to the arduino somehow. at this point the band will not actually be using triggered sounds through a drum module, the trigger will be solely for the lights
As pointed out above, you need to find out what the trigger source looks like electrically as the word XLR conveys no meaning apart from simply being the name of a connector.
Is it a contact closure?
Is it a voltage?
Is it a change in resistance?
Is it some sort of serial connector?
Without knowing which it is it is imposable to tell you what you need. Can you post a link to the trigger you are using?
haha thanks for bearing with me here guys. it must be similar to a microphone, it has no power source. made by ddrum(.com) the description says it uses a transducer that presses against the drum head. did some research, i think t is a piezoelectric sensor if that helps
In which case look at this project:-
http://code.google.com/p/ardrumo/
And use your sensors in place of that shown here.
im really not trying to record this with my computer or even use my computer. bassicaly i need to know how to amplify the signal from this trigger (microphone) so tht it can be picked up by the arduino to trigger the lights that i have pluged into the outputs through relays
can i wire this bad boy directly to the arduino?!?
its a piezo element, i believe i saw on another website a similar product tht could be used with the arduino
an i wire this bad boy directly to the arduino?!?
Yes that is why I pointed you to that project, it wasn't to do the whole project but to show you how it could be wired up and what code you write to see the input signal.