Issue with playing sound and running lights at same time

Projects Programming
1

Hi Arduino community,

I'm having a little trouble with making my setup do what I want it to.

I have LED's, an optical sensor (works similar to a garage door sensor) and an 8ohm speaker

What it's doing currently in this specified order:
(in the void setup( ) )

  1. Arduino turns on
  2. pins 1-5 LED's turn on an off one after the other with a delay of 150 milliseconds
  3. pins 6-8 LED's all turn on and off at same time
  4. they are all on LOW after this has been done

(in the void loop( ) )

  1. If something passes through optical sensor #1 (labeled WINsensor in code), LED's turn on and off one after the other with a delay of 150 milliseconds
  2. pins 6-8 LED's turn on and stay on
  3. The default melody plays
  4. pins 6-8 LED's turn off

What I want it to do:

(in void loop ( ) )

  1. If something passes through optical sensor #1 (labeled WINsensor in code),pins 1-8 complete their sequence while the melody is playing

Here is my program currently:

 #include "pitches.h"



int led13= 13;
int led1 = 1;
int led2 = 2;
int led3 = 3;
int led4 = 4;
int led5 = 5;
int led6 = 6;
int led7 = 7;
int led8 = 8;


int melody[] = {
  NOTE_C4, NOTE_G3,NOTE_G3, NOTE_A3, NOTE_G3,0, NOTE_B3, NOTE_C4};
  int noteDurations[] = {
  4, 8, 8, 4,4,4,4,4 };


void setup() {

 


  pinMode(led1, OUTPUT); 
  
 pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);
 
 pinMode(led3, OUTPUT);
 
   pinMode(led4, OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(led5, OUTPUT);
   
  pinMode(led6, OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(led7, OUTPUT);
  
  pinMode(led8, OUTPUT);

  
  pinMode(led13, OUTPUT);
 
  digitalWrite(led13, HIGH);  //One LED will always stay on 
  
  
  
 //*****Sequence for lights*******
  
   digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led3, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led3, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led4, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led4, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led5, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led5, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
    digitalWrite(led6, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(led7, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(led8, HIGH);
  
  
  delay(1000);

  digitalWrite(led6, LOW);
  digitalWrite(led7, LOW);
  digitalWrite(led8, LOW);
  
  
  
}
  




void loop() {

  

  
  
 int WINsensor = 12;         // **WINNING SENSOR DEFINED HERE** 
pinMode(WINsensor, INPUT);


 if (digitalRead(WINsensor) == HIGH){
 
 
  
 digitalWrite(led1, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led2, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led2, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led3, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led3, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led4, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led4, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
  digitalWrite(led5, HIGH);
  delay(150);
  digitalWrite(led5, LOW);
  delay(150);
  
    digitalWrite(led6, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(led7, HIGH);
  digitalWrite(led8, HIGH);
  
  
 for (int thisNote = 0; thisNote < 9; thisNote++) {
   
    
   
int noteDuration = 1000/noteDurations[thisNote];
 tone(9, melody[thisNote],noteDuration);
 
 
 
    int pauseBetweenNotes = noteDuration * 1.30;
 
  delay(pauseBetweenNotes);
   
 
    
   
   
    noTone(9);
   }
  


  
  
  delay(300);
  
  digitalWrite(led6, LOW);
  digitalWrite(led7, LOW);
  digitalWrite(led8, LOW);
  
  
  delay(250);   
 }
else {
  digitalWrite(led1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(led2, LOW); 
  digitalWrite(led3, LOW); 
  digitalWrite(led4, LOW);  
  digitalWrite(led5, LOW); 
  digitalWrite(led6, LOW); 
digitalWrite(led7, LOW);
 digitalWrite(led8, LOW); 
}
  }

Here is also a picture of my setup:

(if it doesn't come up, here's a link: Imgur: The magic of the Internet )

~I understand that it's the delay function that is causing my problem, but I'm not sure how I can incorporate the millis( ) into my program to make it do what I want to do.

I will gladly take any suggestions/tips/similar project code that you've done etc.

Thank you in advance!!

2

To make your MCU do 'multitasking' you must rewrite...
Use 'millis()' to decide when an action is to take place.
Remove all delays.

make a timetable where every change has its place.
let the loop take care of changes at correct time

alternative: let one (of two) tasks be driven by an interrupt (set up a timer to generate it at your decided pace)

3

If it is any consolation your code is doing exactly what you wrote it to do.

4

make a timetable where every change has its place.
let the loop take care of changes at correct time

alternative: let one (of two) tasks be driven by an interrupt (set up a timer to generate it at your decided pace)

Thank you knut_ny for replying. Can you please show me how I'd go about doing that? I haven't grasped the concept of the millis( ) when used with a variable to manipulate actions.

5

I haven't grasped the concept of the millis( ) when used with a variable to manipulate actions.

See:-

http://www.thebox.myzen.co.uk/Tutorial/State_Machine.html

6

I have not tried this, but I hope i shows one way to solve this..

#include "pitches.h"

byte power = 13; //power on led
byte led[] = { 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};
//sequence contains:  starttime(ms),pin,status,tonetoplay,duration(ms)  
// if pin=0 no change.. if note=0  no change
int sequence[][5]={
{0   ,1,HIGH,NOTE_C4,250},
{150 ,1,LOW,0,0},
{300 ,2,HIGH,NOTE_G3,500},
{450 ,2,LOW,0,0},
{600 ,3,HIGH,0,0},
{750 ,3,LOW,NOTE_G3,500},
{1000,4,HIGH,0,0},
{1250,4,LOW,0,0},
{1500,5,HIGH,NOTE_A3,250},
{1750,5,LOW,0,0},
{2000,6,HIGH,NOTE_G3,250},
{2000,7,HIGH,0,0},
{2000,8,HIGH,0,0},
{2300,6,LOW,NOTE_B3,250},
{2300,7,LOW,0,0},
{2300,8,LOW,0,0},
{2600,0,0,NOTE_C4,250}
};
int lines_in_array= sizeof(sequence)/10;

int melody[] = {
  NOTE_C4, NOTE_G3,NOTE_G3, NOTE_A3, NOTE_G3,0, NOTE_B3, NOTE_C4};
byte WINsensor = 12;         // **WINNING SENSOR DEFINED HERE** 
boolean running=false; //sequence is running
long time;
int pos; // position in sequence

void setup() 
{
  pinMode(WINsensor, INPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println(sizeof(led));
  for (byte i=0; i<sizeof(led); i++) pinMode(led[i], OUTPUT); 
  pinMode(power, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(power, HIGH);  //One LED will always stay on 
  //*****Sequence for lights*******
  for (byte i=0; i<6; i++)
  {
    digitalWrite(led[i], HIGH);
    delay(150);
    digitalWrite(led[i], LOW);
    delay(150);
  }
  for (byte i=6; i<=8; i++)digitalWrite(led[i], HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  for (byte i=6; i<=8; i++)digitalWrite(led[i], LOW);
}

void loop() 
{
  if ((digitalRead(WINsensor) == HIGH) && (!running))
  { running=true; time=millis(); pos=0; } // now start the sequence

  if (running)
  {
    if (millis()-time >= sequence[pos][0]) // found hit in this position..execute it
    { 
      if(sequence[pos][0]>0) digitalWrite(sequence[pos][1],sequence[pos][2]);
      if(sequence[pos][3]>0) tone(9,sequence[pos][3],sequence[pos][4]);
      pos++;
      if (pos >= lines_in_array)
      {
        pos=0;
        running=false;
      }
      noTone(9); // dont know if needed
    }
  }
}
7

I'm very appreciative of the Arduino community, let me first say that. Secondly, thank you Grumpy_Mike for the link, it really breaks this millis function down to an easily understandable format, the best I've seen all over the net.

Also, thank you knut_ny for your sample code. I'll admit it's quite intimidating at first glance but when I look at code I like to spend as much time looking at it until I fully understand what it will do. Thank you to all. If I have any further questions I will post again! :slight_smile: