thanks guys
the 3rd component is an adafuit fx sound board. I don't know much about serial stuff yet, but I think if I read right it can be controlled via serial.
so the next question or challenge is the volume is adjustable from 0 to 225. when interrupted by the RTC I want the volume raised. if it is interrupted by the PIR I want it lowered. unfortunately when you power off the fx board it loses the former vol setting. and in this case I want to have 2 different settings. which makes it a bit more complex.
so first it needs to determine the source interrupt, set volume, play, sleep, is how I imagine it.
am I on the right track?
it also has 10 triggers pins and uses a naming protocol to loop, play once, play random etc. I was thinking for simplicity using a rotary with 10 selections to pick the output pin of the fx. just dial in 1,2,3 or 4.