Newbie. Help with an interactive sound feedback project

Hi,

For a project i'm looking to build an interactive electronic sound feedback system.
I'm new to arduino, but someone directed me to use arduino since it would probably be possible with it.

The system is solar powered, and the energy is stored in a battery, the battery is connected to the arduino.

The system has to have:

• has to drive 3 Speakers (no piezo) of good quality (100-20000 Hz) 85db (not yet defined)
• has to amplifie the signal to produce the right amount of sound ( amplifier)
• I have made a precomposed set of complex tones (sounds) , that i stored in MP3 format, but since it is a interactive project, the system has to be able to produce, or play, at least 4 of these tones at the same time.
I dont know if this would be possible with a shield, like the sparkfun Mp3 shield. Would this be able to play 4 tones at the same time?
•If an Mp3 is not an option, is it possible for the arduino (or an add-on) to produce complex tones.
•The tone (sound played) is correlated to the amount of shade there is on the solarpannels, so the solarpannels (intensity, energy output) has to be connected to the arduino and be able to trigger the MP3's.

I would like to know if this is indeed possible, and if so, with which arduino/components.

My sincerest gratitude to the ones, willing to help me.

Linda

The description of your sound apparatus does not mention feedback. It uses control, not feedback.
I use the Arduino Due for my project. It has 96 kbytes of RAM. It has two digital to analog converters. Those items are useful for controlling audio frequency signals. I can hear 13000 hertz. 20000 hz is not audible to old folks like me.

Shadows are interesting for control. People like to use shadows.

A sample and hold multiplexor can be used to make 4 sounds from 2 DACs.
.wav files can signal the DACs.
.mp3 is tougher to use.

If you have 4 sound modules like these
http://www.mdfly.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9_53&products_id=284
you can command each one to play an .mp3 file independently.
Take their output and run thru amplifiers.

The sound(s) are to be selected based on solar panel output? So you will have a resistive load and meaure the voltage across the resistor?
How will you differentiate between shade on the solar panel and low output due to location of the sun in the sky?
Or are you looking at a steadier light source?

I to think that shade gives a different dimension, a really playful one. The underlaying thought behind the project is to establish a link between the sun and actual energy as people now it.

Is it not possible to do without 4 extra additions? like 1? The system does not

The system will work with normal sunshine and diffuse lighting because it will log the surrounding light intensity. It will be constantly calibrated. This means the system will maintain a certain responsiveness related to the solarcell area covered.The difference caused bij the extra shade will trigger a certain value (a percentage of the logged surrounding light intensity, with a certain delay, otherwise the system would not go of, this parameter defines the "snappyness" of the system and the shade/time that is necessary to trigger the system), if above this value the system detects the shade as a shade caused by the user. The amount of shade (drop in intensity) will be linked to a sound (the total of intensity is divided in 8 parts, with 8 different sounds).

I have got the algorithm to a certain degree (not code, but if and than statements), but i have almost no understanding of electronics and arduino.

My guess, for the system to work is: 3 85dB 1w/1m speakers (this means low energy consumption) it is used @ 75dB., a 3W, 3way amplifier (?), an arduino and than the missing parts to make it al come together?

What would i actually need to be able to accomplish this?

Regards and thanks for the replys!

Addition: the whole solar call system will produce as much energy, as: 4kwh/year. This means the components must consume as little energy as possibly.

I am sorry if this starts to look like a puzzle, but i would really appreciate feedback

These little speakers put out quite a bit of sound.
I drive them with a single MOSFET and a 12V source using Tone output from Arduino.
http://www.mpja.com/4-Ohm-Mini-Speaker/productinfo/14618%20SP/

(the switch at the top left lets the 68 ohm resistors be connected in parallel or in series as a high/low volume control, which my wife says is too loud either way)

You could also use a little music mixer
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=248-6232
and an amp
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=320-329
to take the MP3 card to outputs and amplify it to drive the speakers.

the whole solar call system will produce as much energy, as: 4kwh/year. This means the components must consume as little energy as possibly.

So I make it that you have 1.2mW / second for everything. How is that going to drive a 3W amplifier or anything come to think of it.

It is only a feed back system when some output is fed back into the input. You are not designing a feed back system.

Is it not possible to do without 4 extra additions? like 1?

Yes it is possible but more difficult, it depends on what sort of tones you want to produce.

I think you might need to be a bit better with the English, some of your description is difficult to follow like:-

Is it not possible to do without 4 extra additions? like 1? The system does not

Does not what?

It will be constantly calibrated.

No how can that be, to calibrate something you take a known quantity and see what measurements you get. Then use that to adjust the conversion between input and output. Calibration is something you only do once or occasionally.

@ CrossRoads: Thank you for all the input and links. The amplifier cam in handy.

@Grumpy_Mike
-Well it does and i shall enlighten you how it will work: The sound isn't continually playing, perhaps at most 1 hour a day.
4kwh/y = 14,4MJ. that's 0,034MJ=329452J a day. Since the energy is stored in the battery, the system has about this much (average) energy at it's disposal every day.

If the system only produces 1 hour of sound per day, it means the system would be able to drive ?11W of equipement.

-It is a feedback system in the field of industrial design and human interaction. Maybe the therm feedback has an other definition of a "feedback system".

-English is not my native language (I'm Dutch)

-The therm calibration might be miss used. But if the software logs a period of time of light intensity, it has a point to look to. (It works, not gonna explain the whole thing, to much time)