I had some procrastinating to do the last two weeks. Being who I am, this usually leads to some kind of new project, in this case I finally started something I wanted to do for a long time. What’s actually new here is that I kind of finished it :) So I present you: Audiopanel 1.0.
Audiopanel is an enhanced version of the [audioweb 0.1] I installed 2 years ago in my room. It’s a panel of 14 small speakers that switch the sound around like my [Diskokugel] will one day do and also is backlit by rgb-LEDs. It also has a “stereo mode” where 6 speakers each work as left and right channel. The lighting can be controlled in hue, saturation and brightness. Right now this is all done by hand, but in the future I hope it will all work via bluetooth.
What makes me proud is I made this mostly out of stuff I had lying around in my workshop somehow. I took electronic from older circuits and some broken boards and made it up as I went on. That’s why the stuff in the back looks so “modular” ;)
The whole rgb part still has some glitches. I used an HSVtoRGB patch I found in the [Arduino forum] based on formulas acquired [here] but it doesn’t seem to check out comletely yet. Also, since there is no separate GND for analog and digital signals in my circuits, the audio signal can have quite an influence on the dimmer when turned on loud. But I decided this to be a feature ;)
Using the stuff that also powers my Diskokugel, I learned quite something about the circuitry again. I know now that I could have saved my time trying to make it [louder] with a different amplifier setup by simply experimenting some with the existing pre-amp. There’s more headroom here :) Also the issue of the separate GNDs leaves me a bit concerned how this whole thing will work out inside the ball itself. We’ll see…