I’m new to everything programming, but have a long history being around it via my dad and brother. My wife and I are working on a project where we convert a small area under the stairs into a “spaceship” for my son. I would love to be able to have a system where he can press a button and an audio file will play through a speaker (counting down from ten to launch). LED light strips would also flash/change colors during the sequence.
Originally I thought about hiring somebody on Upwork to do this project, but then I wanted to research what it would take to do it myself. Is this project even feasible to do on an Arduino? If so, is it something I should hire out, or is it something I could tackle myself by learning basic Arduino skills?
Fairly straightforward project.
Use an SD card module and record a wav file of whatever you like on the SD card.
Then with the button press, operate the countdown to play once, and do whatever with the LEDs etc.
Could even include a blast off sound.
Any Arduino should be able to handle the code.
Plenty of examples around on the internet.
Could even add a countdown display in a 16 x 2 LCD or similar.
Best approach is to do one thing at a time and when each is working then combine into the one program.
Start with flashing the LEDs.
I've not used it but there is a small board called DFPlayer that you can control via serial commands that plays MP3 files. You can get whatever sound effects you like from the internet and play them.
Your son will love it!
I did something similar back in the 1960s - without the luxury of a processor or LEDs !
Work on the separate parts of code before you glue them together, then you’ll understand how each one works.
Putting them together isn’t hard, but you need to understand the bits.
Easily achieved with an Arduino as a learning project.
A great idea and not a difficult project but do plan for more inputs from your son - make the control panel in a way that you can add to it. One button soon gets samey.
I remember making something like this in Snap CIrcuits when I was around 9.
What I would do for this project is find a shield with a speaker on top. Program the Arduino so that it reads a pushbutton, does stuff with lights, read an audio file from an SD card, rinse and repeat.
Very cool project. To simulate the stars, I did a project with WS2812 controllable LEDs that were mounted behind canvas with small pinholes. You can make them all twinkle, change colors, etc. Check out the FASTLed library for lots of examples/effects.
Like others have said, start simple and build it up. Don't be surprised if you create many sketches along the way, each one doing a single thing or testing/debugging one component. Get it working and then incorporate it into your main sketch.
Those DFMiniPlayers are very easy to use. Note that you don't get much volume out of them unless you connect them to external speakers that need their own power supply to deliver the necessary current. Same is true if you decide on a string of programmable LEDs
