Hi All - Just joined this forum, and am looking for some direction I guess.
I am pretty much a newbie with electronics, I am a computer programmer by day, and a below-average musician at night who likes to record.
I have used a soldering iron, primarily to work on wiring in my guitars (simple circuits)
Ok - So, let me describe in a nutshell what I want to do, and then provide detail.
Part 1: Send a digital stream of data for 16 individual "tracks" from a software mixer to a hardware device that will control 16 digital VU meters (LED Bars...probably 10, maybe 20 LED's each). The LED Bars should be logarithmic scaled. This data will stream in realtime during the playback of multi-track audio.
Part 2: Send data to 16 small (no wider than 25MM) character LCD's - Hopefully support at LEAST 8 characters each. This data will be sent on command and "stay put" except on track layout changes in the software.
The software I use is a product called "Reaper" which is simply a digital audio mixing software (similar to what Pro Tools does). It is programmable, and I can send realtime data stream from it.
Whew - ok, here is the research I have done and some questions:
1. I think maybe I could power the whole thing with an Arduino Mega 2560
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMega2560
This seems to have lots of pins for output data and controlling stuff. And, it supports accepting data via USB in serial format. I shouldn't have a problem programming it to receive what I send. (I will likely send a stream of bytes, a few bytes for the control message, and 16 more for the actual values for the LED meters. Same deal on the LCD's)
2. I have found this chip: LM3916 that seems like is what I need to control a 10 or 20 bar LED array. (It seems you can chain 2 of these together to drive more than 10)
3. I am a bit lost on how to take my digital data I am receving on the Arduino, and convert it into what seems to be an analog voltage level for the LM3916. Unless I don't understand it correctly.
4. I cannot find anywhere an LCD that meets my needs for part 2 (at least 8 characters, no more than 25mm wide....Does anything like this exist? - Also - Bonus would be if it would have configurable background color in RGB values
All of this is going into a custom enclosure I am building to house stripped down 2 "BCF2000" Midi Controllers (Here is what one looks like: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/BCF2000.aspx)
So - imaging that BCF2000 (2 of them side by side) - each with an LCD displaying a "track name" and a LED Bar for the Level Meter. Each track fader occupies an area about an inch wide.
Anyway - If you have any ideas for me...Let me know. I was hoping I could find a different IC instead of the LM3916 to drive all 16 LED Bar's, because, this seems like a lot of breadboarding and wiring to me eh?
Thanks again, and ask any questions at all! I am a newbie, but am good at research and willing to learn on my own if pointed in the right direction.
Eric
I am pretty much a newbie with electronics, I am a computer programmer by day, and a below-average musician at night who likes to record.
I have used a soldering iron, primarily to work on wiring in my guitars (simple circuits)
Ok - So, let me describe in a nutshell what I want to do, and then provide detail.
Part 1: Send a digital stream of data for 16 individual "tracks" from a software mixer to a hardware device that will control 16 digital VU meters (LED Bars...probably 10, maybe 20 LED's each). The LED Bars should be logarithmic scaled. This data will stream in realtime during the playback of multi-track audio.
Part 2: Send data to 16 small (no wider than 25MM) character LCD's - Hopefully support at LEAST 8 characters each. This data will be sent on command and "stay put" except on track layout changes in the software.
The software I use is a product called "Reaper" which is simply a digital audio mixing software (similar to what Pro Tools does). It is programmable, and I can send realtime data stream from it.
Whew - ok, here is the research I have done and some questions:
1. I think maybe I could power the whole thing with an Arduino Mega 2560
http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardMega2560
This seems to have lots of pins for output data and controlling stuff. And, it supports accepting data via USB in serial format. I shouldn't have a problem programming it to receive what I send. (I will likely send a stream of bytes, a few bytes for the control message, and 16 more for the actual values for the LED meters. Same deal on the LCD's)
2. I have found this chip: LM3916 that seems like is what I need to control a 10 or 20 bar LED array. (It seems you can chain 2 of these together to drive more than 10)
3. I am a bit lost on how to take my digital data I am receving on the Arduino, and convert it into what seems to be an analog voltage level for the LM3916. Unless I don't understand it correctly.
4. I cannot find anywhere an LCD that meets my needs for part 2 (at least 8 characters, no more than 25mm wide....Does anything like this exist? - Also - Bonus would be if it would have configurable background color in RGB values
All of this is going into a custom enclosure I am building to house stripped down 2 "BCF2000" Midi Controllers (Here is what one looks like: http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/BCF2000.aspx)
So - imaging that BCF2000 (2 of them side by side) - each with an LCD displaying a "track name" and a LED Bar for the Level Meter. Each track fader occupies an area about an inch wide.
Anyway - If you have any ideas for me...Let me know. I was hoping I could find a different IC instead of the LM3916 to drive all 16 LED Bar's, because, this seems like a lot of breadboarding and wiring to me eh?
Thanks again, and ask any questions at all! I am a newbie, but am good at research and willing to learn on my own if pointed in the right direction.
Eric