New Sampling/Audio library for Arduino : AutoAnalogAudio

Easy access to the internal DAC(or PWM), ADC, Timers & DMA for sound generation

I've been playing around with the Arduino Due for a while now, and finally got to looking over the datasheet and playing around with some of the internals because of ongoing requests regarding audio functionality and advanced timer usage etc.

As a result of my dabbling, I've created a sampling library to simplify access to the onboard Analog-to-Digital (ADC), Digital-to-Analog (DAC), Timer and DMA peripherals.

It is a simplified API that allows users to create a wide range of audio or related applications in short order.

Auto Analog Audio (Automatic DAC, ADC & Timer) library

Goals:

Extremely low-latency digital audio recording, playback, communication and relaying using a simple API

Features:

• New: Now supports AVR devices (Uno,Nano,Mega,etc)
• Designed with low-latency radio/wireless communication in mind
• Very simple user interface/API to Arduino DUE DAC, ADC, Timer and DMA
• PCM/WAV Audio/Analog Data playback using Arduino Due DAC
• PCM/WAV Audio/Analog Data recording using Arduino Due ADC
• Onboard timers drive the DAC & ADC automatically
• Automatic sample rate/timer adjustment based on rate of user-driven data requests/input
• Uses DMA (Direct Memory Access) to buffer DAC & ADC data
• ADC & DAC: 8, 10 or 12-bit sampling
• Single channel or stereo output
• Multi-channel ADC sampling
• AVR devices with no DAC or DMA use pseudo DAC(PWM) & DMA(Timer + Memory Buffer)

Testing:

The results so far have been very good. Using the nrf24l01+ radio modules, I was able to stream a standard format *.wav file of high quality (48khz, 16-bit, Stereo) from a Raspberry Pi to the Arduino Due using a slightly modified version of the included Wireless Speaker example.

To put that in perspective: Data Rate = Sample Rate * Channels * BytesPerSample

Streaming over Radio (RF24):
Data Rate = 48,000 * 2 * 2 = 192.0KB/s 

Streaming from SD Card:
Data Rate = 44,100 * 2 * 1 = 88.2KB/s (maximum rate with noticeable slowdown)

Using an SD card is a bit less exciting, as the audio starts to slow down noticeably with audio of 44.1khz, 8-bit, Stereo. Unfortunately, the SD speed is currently a bit limited, since the HSMCI is not available on stock Arduino Due, and I haven't found a faster working library like sdFat for Due.

SdFat Lib:
The sdFat library works with the due, I just had to initialize it at SPI_DIV6_SPEED (10.25Mhz SPI), and it worked using a value of 5 (17mhz SPI) as well. Initial tests show the max read speeds with the stock SD library at about 113KB/s, and 182KB/s with sdFat lib. Adjusting the SdFatConfig.h file to set ARDUINO_FILE_USES_STREAM = 0 results in speeds of 204KB/s with my current card & module.

These numbers indicate that the Due can handle quite a bit of punishment, and is easily up to the task at hand. The main limitation seems to be the throughput of whatever device is providing the audio or recording it etc.

Initial testing on AVR devices seems to indicate functionality similar to my RF24Audio and TMRpcm libraries.

If using a faster device, or generating audio from tables stored in memory, it seems that the Due with the AAAudio library will most likely handle it.

Notes:

If using the RF24 library in combination with an SD card, I highly recommend using a separate SPI BUS for the radio and SD card. I experienced a number of problems with high speed transfers etc when attempting to extend the length of wires used or connect an SD card module as well.

See the SPI_UART library section of the RF24 docs to enable a secondary SPI BUS for the radio.
Due Pins - TX1: MOSI, RX1: MISO, SDA1: SCK, CS&CE: User selected



Installation: AutoAnalogAudio is available via the Arduino Library Manager


I've also included a number of examples that demonstrate usage:
Click: File -> Examples -> AutoAnalogAudio in the Arduino IDE

SDAudio Examples: Demonstrate how to play back and record WAV/PCM format audio from SD card using the AAAudio library

Wireless Examples: Demonstrate receiving and sending streams of audio data via nrf24l01+ radio modules and are easily modified to work with other radios or devices. Some matching examples and audio samples are included for Raspberry Pi.

Audio Generation Examples: Demonstrate playback of simple audio tones or synthesized audio.

ADC/Audio Capture Examples: Demonstrate how to capture data/audio streams from the ADC on one or more pins/channels.

Documentation: http://tmrh20.github.io/AutoAnalogAudio
Source Code: https://github.com/TMRh20/AutoAnalogAudio

RF24Audio Library Released:

 Wireless Digital Audio Streaming and more with Arduino and NRF24L01 modules

  Its been a little while in the making, but I am finally releasing my RF24Audio library. The library offers a number of features, mainly the ability to wirelessly stream realtime data or audio captured from an analog input to one or more other devices. 'Other devices' can include Arduinos, PCs, or any other device capable of reading the data stream.
  Since the library utilizes the core RF24 radio library, advanced usage and customization can be configured, and allows interaction with audio devices in a number of different ways. The TMRpcm audio library (WAV audio from SD card) has been updated to support the RF24Audio library as well, being capable of multicasting audio to a number of devices. A demonstration of this interaction is shown in the following video:

  The library is designed to be very easy to setup and configure, just connect a radio module, microphone and speaker. External buttons are optional, and are managed internally by the library. This can be disabled to allow further customization via keypads, etc. Users can also utilize the core RF24 library to interact with the audio devices in a number of ways, including capturing audio streams and feeding the data to a PC.

Features:

• User friendly setup and configuration: For beginners too: Just connect a radio module, microphone, and speaker. The library handles the rest.
• Recording and broadcasting of audio to multiple devices using only Arduino, RF24 modules and input/output devices (speaker,microphone)
• Multicast: Enables broadcasting to all nodes, single nodes, or partial groups of nodes
• External controls: Use external buttons or code to control audio streaming
• Volume control: Use external buttons or code to control audio volume on receiving devices.
• Remote control: Start recording remotely via radio commands (Currently cannot stop remote recording)
• LED Indicator/Visualization: Indicates audio playback and amplitude.
• Customization: Using the underlying RF24 core library allows custom interaction with audio devices running this library. Receive audio data and stream it to a PC over USB, create and broadcast computer generated audio in realtime, and more! See the USB_Audio example for more info.
• Create additional node groups: Allows nodes to join private broadcast groups, and multicast only within their group as desired

Pin Assignments:

• Speakers: Arduino Uno,Nano,etc: pins 9,10 Arduino Mega: 11,12 (Timer pins cannot be changed, but can use 1 pin and ground)
• pin A0: Microphone/Input pin
• pin A1: Transmission/Recording Start pin
• pin A2: Volume Up
• pin A3: Volume Down
• pin A4: Trigger remote recording (Only working with dual devices)
• Cannot be changed: LED Pin: Uno,Nano,etc: pin 6 Mega 2560: pin 13 (main LED pin)

Links:
Library Documentation
Download

Source Code:
RF24Audio Library
RF24 Radio Library
TMRpcm Audio Library

Testing New RF24 Arduino Library Fork for NRF24L01 Radio Modules: Comparative Testing - Transfer Rates

Overview:

Per my previous blog posts, I have been working on some improvements to the RF24 radio library, and the main benefits of the changes have been realized. The following video compares the difference against the fork found at https://github.com/gcopeland/rf24. I did not compare against the main library since the gcopeland fork outperforms it quite a bit already.

The new library, source code and documentation can be found at https://github.com/TMRh20/RF24. Info in previous blog posts.

More to come...

Arduino Audio: WAV Playback from SD Card  
*TMRpcm Library update*

Due to popular demand, the PCM audio library now supports 32khz sample rate audio for improved sound quality, and better performance at lower rates. Some of the notable improvements in this round of updates are documented below. See the Wiki on GitHub for usage information.

Multi Track Playback
Dual tracks can be played at once on separate pins. Limited to about 16-20kHz sample rate, see wiki page for updated usage and info.

SdFat Library Support
The library now optionally supports direct use of the SdFat library for lower program and memory usage and increased performance.

Metadata (ID3v2.3 and Info/List) Tag Support
The library now has a configurable option ( pcmConfig.h ) to handle and bypass metadata when reading audio files. It also provides limited support for retrieving song, artist and album information from audio files. Standard info (LIST) tags are supported as well as ID3 tags.

Easy WAV file generation and playback
One command to generate a standard WAV file and header, another to finalize it once data is written. Raw data from analog inputs or other sensors or information sources can be written to the file to generate digital audio that can be played on any device that supports WAV files, or easily converted to other standard formats.

Recording
Commands have been added to enable recording of WAV files to SD card. Performance is very much dependant on the write speed of SD card as well as the amount of SRAM used. Results seem to be ok with a class4 SD card.

Audio Formats and Options
The library is now capable of Stereo or pseudo 16-bit playback with a resistor ladder to a limited degree.
An option to operate using TIMER2 for compatility was added.
A function to start playback at a given number of seconds was added

Buffered SD Reads
After a bit of messing around with the standard SD library, I realized there was a buffered read that would improve the response quite a bit. It doesn't seem to be documented in the library reference, but the usage is as follows:

Normal Read:
byte buffer[32];
for(int i=0; i<32; i++){
   buffer[i] = File.read();
}

Buffered Read:
byte buffer[32];
int bytesRead = File.read((byte*)buffer,32);

*Update*PWM 'Pop' sounds on timer start/stop
*Edit* - There seems to be differences in how the timers are engaged on different boards. The library now autoselects between the ramping methods. See pcmConfig.h to manually select.
I suspected that the typical pwm 'popping' sound could be removed by creating an appropriate ramp, and was able to remove it via the following process on the Arduino Mega.

On Startup:
1. OCR1A and OCR1B are set for opposing PWM. If both are set at 0, one will be high and one will be low.
2. Before enabling the timer, OCR1A is set to 0, OCR1B set to maximum (Timer TOP value) so that there is no power flow on startup.
3. OCR1B is then ramped down to 0, and power is applied gradually
4. OCR1A and OCR1B can now be fed with the same value, without a popping noise

Between Tracks:
1. The OCR1A register always contains the value of the last sample from the previous track, unless disabled.
2. Read OCR1A, and read the first value of the next track.
3. Ramp the value of OCR1A from its current value, to the value of the next track 

On Disable:
1. Get the current value of OCR1A/OCR1B
2. Ramp OCR1B up to maximum (Timer TOP value) from the current value
3. Ramp OCR1A down to minimum (0) from the current value

On a Nano or Duemilanove board, the process is a bit different:

On Startup:
No ramp needed, handled by track transition ramp. There will be a pop the first time PWM is enabled, and no popping thereafter if disabled or enabled.

Between Tracks: 
Same as with Mega 

On Disable:
1. Get the current value of OCR1A/OCR1B
2. Ramp both OCR1A/OCR1B down to 0 from the current value

I applied a few more tweaks to bring the performance up a bit more, mainly converting 16bit variables to 8bit where possible, and improving on details of the playback process. The quality/oversampling option now defaults to 0. The update is available on GitHub:
Download

TMRpcm Arduino WAV/PCM Audio Playback Library Update

This is an update to my Arduino PCM/WAV audio llibrary detailed here and in previous posts. I now have the files hosted at GitHub, and I added an optional proof-of-concept library that enables RF (wireless) audio streaming capabilities to Arduino. Currently it will support two remote devices, but can be easily modified to stream to more. Arduino Mega likely needed for RF (wireless) audio host due to compiled size.

Source: here

Library Package: here

Over-the Air (RF) PCM Playback with NRF24L01+ and Arduino

Previous posts regarding the playback of wav files from an SD card were related to another project I am working on involving NRF24L01 radio modules. Since these are capable of around 20KB/s in a real-life scenario, I thought it would be worth a shot to try sending the audio over the air. Basically, I wanted to get feedback from an Arduino operating remotely in the form of sounds, but I don't have room for an SD card locally on the controller, and I also wanted the remote Arduino itself to be able to give feedback in the form of sounds when events are triggered or commands are received, etc.

This is the sketch I have been using to work out some of the details and the bugs. Right now it is geared up to work with two 'controllers' in that if you send the letter 'g' over the serial port to the 'transmitter', it will randomly play a beep on one of the three devices and continue randomly on as fast as it will go. (audio files not included) There is also a data transfer rate test that can be enabled, so one can see exactly how fast data is flowing. It will also play a sound file over the RF link, but thats kind of boring. The sketch is being posted mainly for my own reference, because in its current form I can't do much with it, and its not really useful for anything, but it does demonstrate the capabilities and how to use them.

This RF side of this also uses improved code for PCM playback, which I will likely include in the library previously posted. The timer is run at a minimum of double the actual sample rate, so as to maximize audio quality. Low quality 8khz sample rate sounds sound much, much better this way. This is very similar to the PCM libary, so sounds can be anywhere from 8-20khz sample rate, 8-bit, Mono, but it won't handle 20khz very well, since that is basically the max transfer rate. Speaker is pin 9 on Arduino Uno,Nano, etc, and 11 on Mega.

The system works using ack-payloads and interrupts to coordinate the data transfer and simultaneous playback. What is referred to as the 'transmitter' is actually set to PRX(primary reciever) and sends sound data in the form of ACK(acknowledgement) packets, with 32bytes payload. The 'receivers' just send out commands till one is answered, and then request the data as they need it. The 'transmitter' only sends out data in response to an incoming command.

 This could theoretically work on a larger number of devices, since it only uses a single data pipe at a time with different addresses for each device, but I don't really have any use for that.Change the data pipe to [1] before uploading to a second receiver.

The SD 'Transmitter' is a big sketch, and at the moment is just a bit big for the ATMega328, and I have been testing using a Mega 2560. The receivers are tested with a Nano328. Again, these are just rough sketches, but they work fairly well at this point: 

Controller/Receiver: here

SD Transmitter: here

This is the library for the NRF24L01+ I have been using: nrf24l01  Disclaimer: I did not author this library, it was found here . I just hacked in some extra code for testing which is required for this version of the sketch, and wanted to archive it for future reference.