Project Logs

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• What's implemented

  CrazyChip • 08/20/2014 at 11:40 • 0 comments

  You can see the progress in the quarterfinal video:

  Works:

  • 1st button - backlight control
  • 2nd button - 16 modes of spectrum and VU meter: https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/8052571408534158067.png
  • 3rd button - 8 different symbols to draw spectrum bars
  • 4th button - 3 different algorithms to draw spectrum: linear, linear with small values boosted, non-linear
  • option jumper - vertical VU mode:
    

  Missing:

  • serial interface
  • vertical VU not finished

• The stress of quarterfinals

  CrazyChip • 08/20/2014 at 11:25 • 0 comments

  A check-list of quarterfinal:

  • The video (and a link to the video) no more than 2 minutes long on YouTube -
  • 5 Project Logs
  • The system design documents: schematic - https://github.com/CrazyChip/spectrum/blob/master/schematic/sa.pdf and the block diagram of the system - https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/3729271408312529258.png
  • Licenses - everything under GPLv3

• The hardware on my table

  CrazyChip • 08/10/2014 at 13:27 • 0 comments

  I soldered all the parts. The layout of the board is terrible but it works.

  Some notes: 

  • LCD connector is soldered upside down due one-sided PCB. The final version will be soldered on another side of the PCB.

  • Trimmers are placed randomly. Not easy to find which does what. Too many trimmers and jumpers. I plan to simplify the input filters and reduce the number of these jump&trim.

  • Optional (and different) connectors for audio input (e.g. 3.5mm socket) and power (e.g. small screw terminal block) would be convenient.

  • Bad footprint of power connector.

  • USB->serial chip on board (e.g. PL2303) would help with the external connection

  So, looks like a list of several small improvements for the next version of the PCB :)

• Block diagram

  CrazyChip • 07/29/2014 at 09:16 • 0 comments

  Block diagram added to show possible connections of the external devices

• Kicad project

  CrazyChip • 07/22/2014 at 20:05 • 0 comments

  Kicad files committed to GitHub

  https://github.com/CrazyChip/spectrum

  Schematic in PDF also included:

  https://github.com/CrazyChip/spectrum/blob/master/schematic/sa.pdf

   One-sided PCB is traced with Toporouter for prototype only.

  A smaller two-sided PCB is planned after testing the prototype.

  Youtube video shows a very early prototype implemented on Arduino using 20x4 character LCD.

  Test signal is generated with Matlab (background music is not used as a signal).

• Input filters

  CrazyChip • 07/22/2014 at 13:54 • 0 comments

  Design stage: two low-pass filters - 1kHz and 16kHz - simulated on Multisim.

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