Hello all,
I am somewhat of a novice, but not a total newbie as far as electronics goes.I am working on a project in which an audio signal such as a drum beat is fed into a peak detector. The output of the peak detector goes into an optoisolator, which is connected to two points in an electronic toy that triggers a sound. This part works perfectly; the sound is triggered perfectly in rhythm with the drum beat.
A more complicated implementation of this involves a 49 key Casio keyboard with 10 voice polyphony. I will use 49 optoisolators, one per key. I want to be able to send the output of the peak detector (follower?) to as many as 10 optoisolators at a time, thereby triggering as many as 10 keys on the keyboard simultaneously from this one signal from the peak detector. On the breadboard, however, whether I wire the optoisolators in series or parallel, the triggering diminishes a little as I add each one, and before I can get to 10 optoisolators connected, it doesn't trigger at all. What I need to happen is have the signal from the peak detector remain the same (voltage AND current?) no matter what the change in the load is (1 optoisolator being triggered or 10). I don't know if this problem is a function of a drop in voltage or current. The optoisolators must be in parallel because I need to trigger any of the 49 keys at a given moment: Imagine a string of 49 LEDs - I want to send this pulsing signal to any 1 to 10 of them at a time. I have read it's not a good idea to wire LEDs in parallel (essentially this is what I'm doing because the optos have an LED and phototransistor). I hope I'm not pipe dreaming and that there is a way to accomplish this.
I thank you in advance for any advice you might have for me!
I am somewhat of a novice, but not a total newbie as far as electronics goes.I am working on a project in which an audio signal such as a drum beat is fed into a peak detector. The output of the peak detector goes into an optoisolator, which is connected to two points in an electronic toy that triggers a sound. This part works perfectly; the sound is triggered perfectly in rhythm with the drum beat.
A more complicated implementation of this involves a 49 key Casio keyboard with 10 voice polyphony. I will use 49 optoisolators, one per key. I want to be able to send the output of the peak detector (follower?) to as many as 10 optoisolators at a time, thereby triggering as many as 10 keys on the keyboard simultaneously from this one signal from the peak detector. On the breadboard, however, whether I wire the optoisolators in series or parallel, the triggering diminishes a little as I add each one, and before I can get to 10 optoisolators connected, it doesn't trigger at all. What I need to happen is have the signal from the peak detector remain the same (voltage AND current?) no matter what the change in the load is (1 optoisolator being triggered or 10). I don't know if this problem is a function of a drop in voltage or current. The optoisolators must be in parallel because I need to trigger any of the 49 keys at a given moment: Imagine a string of 49 LEDs - I want to send this pulsing signal to any 1 to 10 of them at a time. I have read it's not a good idea to wire LEDs in parallel (essentially this is what I'm doing because the optos have an LED and phototransistor). I hope I'm not pipe dreaming and that there is a way to accomplish this.
I thank you in advance for any advice you might have for me!