boominator season?
Thanks for your hard work, cant wait, I shall be buying 2 of these for my next boominator special... However, I'd like to point out that it depends on what part of the world you live in when the "boominator season" starts...... I want to build a couple more right now.........
*BJ*
Thanks for your hard work, cant wait, I shall be buying 2 of these for my next boominator special... However, I'd like to point out that it depends on what part of the world you live in when the "boominator season" starts...... I want to build a couple more right now.........
*BJ*
Card update: mostly done, gonna finish the last couple design decisions and get 'er done over christmas break.
Here's the current design target:
- Essentially the same as the card in the video (same 2 channel TPA amplifier, DC/DC, etc)
Solar charger from the 1st design brought back, but using a digital pot to set the panel MPPT instead of a variable one.
- 8x10cm PCB, larger than the original 6cm wide form factor. I'm targeting the Hammond 1590BBSFL and 1590CFL box instead of the 1590N1FL originally recommended for the Boominator.
- A solar charger circuit. I'm using the same LT3652HV circuit from the original card, but using a digital pot to set the peak voltage instead of a mechanical one.
- DSP is going back on there. Sensing with the AVR microcontroller didn't work out as hoped, and the DSP allows nice things like compression that can be varied proportionally to the programmed amplifier voltage.
- I'm keeping the same serial port header to control the thing, but making the pinout compatible with a cheap 3.3V FTDI breakout board like this one - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9873
- A text menu will be provided allowing DSP parameters to be programmed in real Hz/dB/Q/etc numbers, and allowing other configuration (solar panel MPPT, dynamic voltage control aggressiveness, battery cutoff, etc) to be tweaked. I'll provide a binary mode if anyone wants to write a GUI (I'm useless at GUI programming)
- DIP switches on the card are gone, I'm suggesting everything gets configured via the serial interface.
Here's the current design target:
- Essentially the same as the card in the video (same 2 channel TPA amplifier, DC/DC, etc)
Solar charger from the 1st design brought back, but using a digital pot to set the panel MPPT instead of a variable one.
- 8x10cm PCB, larger than the original 6cm wide form factor. I'm targeting the Hammond 1590BBSFL and 1590CFL box instead of the 1590N1FL originally recommended for the Boominator.
- A solar charger circuit. I'm using the same LT3652HV circuit from the original card, but using a digital pot to set the peak voltage instead of a mechanical one.
- DSP is going back on there. Sensing with the AVR microcontroller didn't work out as hoped, and the DSP allows nice things like compression that can be varied proportionally to the programmed amplifier voltage.
- I'm keeping the same serial port header to control the thing, but making the pinout compatible with a cheap 3.3V FTDI breakout board like this one - https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9873
- A text menu will be provided allowing DSP parameters to be programmed in real Hz/dB/Q/etc numbers, and allowing other configuration (solar panel MPPT, dynamic voltage control aggressiveness, battery cutoff, etc) to be tweaked. I'll provide a binary mode if anyone wants to write a GUI (I'm useless at GUI programming)
- DIP switches on the card are gone, I'm suggesting everything gets configured via the serial interface.
How is the board going to be available? As a kit that you'll need to solder yourself? Or are you going to produce a batch of them?
Great work by the way!
Edit: Already found the answer, interesting!
Great work by the way!
Edit: Already found the answer, interesting!
Last edited:
Currently doing a bit of experimenting - I think I can use the SigmaDSP to manage the dynamic voltage adjustment, by using one if its ADCs to measure the SMPS voltage and do AGC/compression/etc, and and an audio output DAC to tweak the SMPS feedback.
The current design has the board controller reading/writing the SigmaDSP - this is all done over I2C so I can only really update everything at a couple hundred Hz. I think the SigmaDSP method would work much better, If I can make it work.
Got a breakout board ordered to try this, but I'm fairly confident I can pull it off so I might just skip that and bang out another full board prototype.
The current design has the board controller reading/writing the SigmaDSP - this is all done over I2C so I can only really update everything at a couple hundred Hz. I think the SigmaDSP method would work much better, If I can make it work.
Got a breakout board ordered to try this, but I'm fairly confident I can pull it off so I might just skip that and bang out another full board prototype.
This is truly awesome work. I cant wait until i can get my hands on one. Keep up the good work!!
Sounds fantastic! do you have an estimate on when it'll be available? its about time to do the spring upgrades 🙂
GMarsh - has this project been put to the long term back burner? It looks like you already have a very compelling design. I'm sure folks (including me) would be interested in seeing this move forward even if there is a V2 down the road.
Apologies for the lack of updates, the card requires a fairly significant development effort, and I've been doing it in my spare time which I don't have much of.
I'm working with Canopy Sound (Udstyr til festival anlæg - Canopy Sound) who are supporting the project - the card will be available exclusively from them in the coming months, they also sell HP-10W's and various other bits required to build a Boominator system.
"Shiznit" is a registered trademark in the US for audio recording/playback equipment, so we have a new name for it - the card is now called the cAMP.
I'm about to order this PCB, which should hopefully be my final prototype before production:
Still lots of stuff left to do - order parts, build this prototype, write lots of code, set things up with the local board assembly house...
I'm working with Canopy Sound (Udstyr til festival anlæg - Canopy Sound) who are supporting the project - the card will be available exclusively from them in the coming months, they also sell HP-10W's and various other bits required to build a Boominator system.
"Shiznit" is a registered trademark in the US for audio recording/playback equipment, so we have a new name for it - the card is now called the cAMP.
I'm about to order this PCB, which should hopefully be my final prototype before production:
Still lots of stuff left to do - order parts, build this prototype, write lots of code, set things up with the local board assembly house...
That is great news and I think a good number of us do appreciate that this is a very significant undertaking. I look forward to seeing the successful launch.
One question, is there an on-board volume control or does the audio in need to change to adjust the volume?
One question, is there an on-board volume control or does the audio in need to change to adjust the volume?
Right now it's determined by the source audio level. The original 4ch DSP card had a volume control input, but it's easier to just manipulate 1 control instead of 2.
If you turn the volume up too high, the DSP will tweak the volume down a bit to prevent clipping. If your source is too quiet, I'll provide a gain control accessible through the configuration menu that you can use to turn up the input gain.
If you turn the volume up too high, the DSP will tweak the volume down a bit to prevent clipping. If your source is too quiet, I'll provide a gain control accessible through the configuration menu that you can use to turn up the input gain.
Good to know there's progress, I've kept interest as it's obviously perfect for small portable systems... looking forward to trying one sooner or later
Ordered the PCB's today, trying out dirtypcbs.com this time around. Seems to be the same PCB shop that supplies Seeed Studio.
Now to sample some parts..
Now to sample some parts..
Fraid not. I'm hoping to have a couple of "mostly functional" boards in Canopy's hands for demo purposes, but consumer ready boards are gonna take another while.