Charlotte_R Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Hi, As previously posted about, we're doing an X-factor style show. The director wants the judges to have buzzers, but I have no idea how to go about setting these up - can anyone offer any help? The judges will have buttons linked into an arduino. I was thinking of sending some kind of feed to the sound desk, but I have no idea how to interface these together? Is there an off-the-shelf tone generator? Am I taking the wrong approach and just need to go out and buy a buzzer (or several?) Thanks, Charlotte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Maplin sell a "Music Shield for Arduino". It has an SD card socket on it and an MP3 decoder which outputs audio to a couple of 3.5mm jacks. Stick your chosen buzzer on an SD card as an MP3 file; add a dash of code and you're away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave m Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 it was a lash up, but I did a simple equivalent by using a tone generator and the audio actually ran through the switch. so pressing the button completed the audio circuit. That was for a single blip to cue something. several door bells that sound different is easy. what do you want to do?how many Judges?How many buzzers? any budget? I did a quick google and found a quiz kit that was £70. it provided everything and locked out everybody else once a button was pressed. http://www.buzzgold.com/quizkit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 I used to have a circuit that did a whoop-whoop-whoop sort of sound based on two unijunctions, 5 resistors and two capacitors, but if you already have the arduino you can take an output pin and drive that to generate tones or, as Brian says, actually play back audio clips from a shield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Door buzzer and microphone?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave m Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Having read the lighting post, this is a rehearsed drama (panto)So everything can be fake. Make some yogurt pot big buttons then just use the normal Sfx sytem (Qlab?) to fire spot effectsThere is no need to make the buttons functional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.spoons Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Having read the lighting post, this is a rehearsed drama (panto)So everything can be fake. Make some yogurt pot big buttons then just use the normal Sfx sytem (Qlab?) to fire spot effectsThere is no need to make the buttons functional. And that gives you the opportunity for some comedy sounds for extra hilarity http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 I regularly use these cards for this type of job; http://www.mdfly.com/products/sd-sdhc-card-mp3-wav-module.html They're currently out of stock, but they have 8 contacts which, when shorted (to ground I think) play a specific mp3 file on the card (you simply name the track 001, 002 etc, to assign it to a pin). Cool Components in the UK do sell some similar units but I've had some issues with reliability of them. MDFLY are in the US but shipping is pretty quick. They do have some similar boards which may work just as well for you. For your big buttons, I've successfully used cheap fake dome CCTV cameras. The ones I found has a function where if you pushed the dome, it switched on an LED. I guess this switch could be wired out to your circuit for the buzzers. Just buy some red spraypaint designed for painting remote control car body shells. The trick is to spray the Perspex from the inside, not the outside. Then the paint is protected but still looks good. Normal spray paint doesn't behave well though, so spend a fiver or so on the proper stuff. Mine look really good and were dead easy to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte_R Posted December 3, 2015 Author Share Posted December 3, 2015 Having read the lighting post, this is a rehearsed drama (panto)So everything can be fake. Make some yogurt pot big buttons then just use the normal Sfx sytem (Qlab?) to fire spot effectsThere is no need to make the buttons functional. No, the director doesn't think that that will work, because it's am-dram so there won't be enough people with good timing to do it and there's no comms, etc. We have already sourced functional buttons and an arduino, which we would probably need anyway to simplify the wiring for the displays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 We have already sourced functional buttons and an arduino... In which case, I refer you to post #2 above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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