I making a prototype of a project I'm working on at university.
Basically what I am hoping make is a 6 input USB audio interface.
What I would like to do is connect 6 mono audio signals (eg. Microphones) to an Arduino, Connect the Arduino to the PC and have the 6 channels appear as individual inputs for recording in the DAW software (Ableton)
I want to know what modules are needed to achieve this. I'm not sure if it is as simple as connecting microphones to the analogue inputs or if I would need a separate ADC module. Do I need something to convert the audio signals to DC?
Once I work out how to do this I would like to connect the Arduino to the PC through the Bluetooth module rather than USB.
Advice on if this is achievable with a UNO or Nano would be great or any suggestions on what else may be required such as an FPGA.
If you're going to crosspost (perhaps on other part of this forum, and on other forums), the least you can do when a useful answer is posted is to post a link everywhere else, so when other people find your thread by searching they too can find the answer. Please be considerate for other people?
Advice on if this is achievable with a UNO or Nano would be great
Not achievable.
what else may be required such as an FPGA.
Yes it would be possible to do this with an FPGA, but very expensive and programing such a thing is not something I have done. Although I do know about them and have managed specialist FPGA engineers so I do know about the process and the problems. FPGA is another sort of programming and this is a complex thing to want to do.
jamesdebono:
What I would like to do is connect 6 mono audio signals (eg. Microphones) to an Arduino, Connect the Arduino to the PC and have the 6 channels appear as individual inputs for recording in the DAW software (Ableton)
Why use an Arduino? Will it actually do anything with the sound, other than move it from the microphones to the PC?
If it's only transporting the data without actually processing it in some way, why wouldn't you simply use three inexpensive USB audio stereo inputs with a 3-port USB hub?
I making a prototype of a project I'm working on at university.
Basically what I am hoping make is a 6 input USB audio interface.
Of course, you'll need 6 ADCs (or a 6-channel ADC) capable of at least 16-bits and 44.1kHz (or whatever audio resolution you want), and 6 microphone preamps.
...and have the 6 channels appear as individual inputs for recording in the DAW software (Ableton)
The driver is the key... Any audio device with a Windows driver can communicate properly with any Windows audio application. (Same with OS-X or Linux.)
You'll have to study how a soundcard/audio interface driver communicates with audio hardware and design your firmware to work with the standard drivers, or write your own driver. In general, the drivers are developed/supplied by the hardware manufacturer (you) since only the hardware manufacturer knows how the hardware works. But, there are some standardized Windows/OS-X audio drivers. The application-side of the driver interface is defined by Microsoft (or Apple)
If you write your own driver, you have to study how the driver communicates with the operating system. Of course you are free to do whatever you want with the your driver-firmware interface/communication, since you'd be writing the driver and the firmware.
Once I work out how to do this I would like to connect the Arduino to the PC through the Bluetooth module rather than USB.
As far as I know, there are no standard Windows or OS-X Bluetooth soundcard drivers so you'd have to write your own.
Check the Bluetooth data-rate limits to make sure you can transmit 6 channels of uncompressed audio data.
Using USB, all 3 operating systems have very capable built-in USB audio drivers which (mostly) follow the USB audio device class spec, which you can download from www.usb.org. You really don't want to go to all the trouble of writing PC-side drivers when all the operating systems already have very good drivers that follow a well documented and open standard.
I know this, because I recently added USB audio support for Teensy 3.2. I implement only stereo, but it does support simultaneous stereo input & output.
On 8 bit AVR, 6 channel USB audio at 44.1 kHz is impossible. The AVR chip with USB have a maximum isochronous packet size of only 256 bytes. The USB protocol allows up to 1023 bytes, so this is a hardware limit imposed by those chips. Stereo audio requires packet sizes of 176 and 180 bytes. Six channels would require 528 bytes (90% of the packets) and 540 bytes (the other 10%).
Wow I wasn't expecting so many replies so quickly. Forgive me for the delayed response. I'm a bit out of sync being in Australia.
I'm trying to get my head around all this information.
This is a realization I had at work when talking to a friend about it. I probably don't need the Arduino. The problem is I would like the signal to be carried across one bluetooth device. My friend suggested some chips made by texas instruments with go straight from ADC to Bluetooth but once again they are only 2 or 4 channels. As far as I know the only bluetooth profile that supports audio transmission is A2DP which I think is limited to 2 channels.
How would Bluetooth compare to the USB protocol?
Something another friend suggested is to look for devices which could transmit 5.1 surround sound. This makes sense because 5.1 is 6 channels.
Are any of you aware of hardware/Profiles/Protocols/Drivers which support wireless 5.1 surround sound?