fiduciary

Author Topic: Sound board reviews?  (Read 3263 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline profezzorn

  • Mining Colony Members
  • Master Force User
  • *
  • Posts: 901
  • May the source be with you.
    • Hubbe's Corner
Sound board reviews?
« on: July 26, 2017, 09:58:36 AM »
I know most people have a favorite brand of sound boards and they tend to stick with them, but if there is anybody out there who is curious enough sabers with several different sound boards, preferably including DIYduino, TeensySaber, Igniter and Plecter. Would you please consider posting some comparisons? I know what all the *features* are of all the different boards, but I really have no idea how they compare in terms of handling and day-to-day use.

Oh, and if such comparisons are already available somewhere, please post URLs in this thread.

Offline sithslayer1

  • Master Force User
  • *****
  • Posts: 1903
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2017, 11:56:03 AM »
Madcow (Rob) of Genesis Custom Sabers has a video comparing Plecter boards- CF, PC, CS and NB.

Offline jbkuma

  • Mining Colony Members
  • Master Force User
  • *
  • Posts: 980
  • Pixels, everywhere.
    • Mad Science Workshoppe
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2017, 12:18:19 PM »
I think this is something that would require multiple users to contribute to, hopefully at least some with crossover experience.

I've used the NanoBiscotte v3, Pico Crumble, DIYino (a few different versions) and a few various homebrew arduino setups.  I know there are a few who have used both the Teensy and DIYino, and I suspect some of them may have used a PL board before.

Since the PL boards just had a complete line refresh and software for DIYino is an on-going development I think it'd be hard to get anything definitive. With The Teensy and DIYino being wide open, it's hard to say they have any limitations other than what is available in the current most popular software.

Offline JakeSoft

  • Experienced Force User
  • ****
  • Posts: 393
  • The Arduino Jedi
    • Universal Saber Library
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2017, 04:51:43 PM »
This would be interesting, indeed.

Comparing the programmable options vs. traditional sound boards is kind of apples and oranges in my mind unless you ignore the software and focus just on the hardware such as how much current it can handle, how strong is the audio amp, what's the sound quality like... you know, things like that. In theory, you could program the TeensSaber or DIYino to implement just about any feature you'd like.

There are a few YouTube videos out there of guys comparing PL boards to the NEC equivalents (I.e NB vs. Spark etc.). I got the impression that the reviewers were not really technical people, though. So, I didn't learn much that I couldn't have by comparing the product documentation. I also came away feeling like what option you choose between those two comes down to personal preference as both seemed pretty well done. I have not tried an NEC board, but the layout seems a lot easier to wire than the PL boards since Niagon made a point of putting the most commonly used vias at the edge of the card.

Offline IceSaber

  • Experienced Force User
  • ****
  • Posts: 419
  • Midi-chlorians..
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2017, 06:30:52 PM »
I've covered this alot on Facebook. Firstly I've not used the latest nb4, cs4, or prizm 5. Some of my biggest gripes have apparently been addressed somehow but I hear some complaining about speakers acting up at low charge so it's not all hunky dory.

I wouldnt own a Nano Biscotte v3. I dislike how it starts making crazy swinging sounds when it's on low charge and the motion sensitivity wasnt great. I wouldnt like a Prizm 4 for the same reasons. This one also had a weird squeaky static sound kick in between every font change and every boot sound. Many people experienced it, even professional installers. I contacted Erv and after a lot of back and forth eventually he asked for me to send it back for a firmware upgrade. He also mentioned that some of his memory cards in the past haven't been fast enough for the board to work as well as it was designed to. In the end the firmware update reduced the issue for the most part although my ocd still noticed it somewhat. There's a thread on here by me about this in the Plecter section. Again apparently the new v5 hasn't got this issue.  I own a CS3 and I once thought it was the best board for me before I owned it. It also has the random swing issues at low charge. The mute feature was weird in that it still made noise powering down. This has been fixed in the cs4 apparently. My speaker crackles when the sound is muted depending on how bright the leds are driven so that was slightly irksome.

I like the feature set the Plecter boards come with but in my opinion and in my experiences they went out of the door with issues that shouldn't be there. As I said, apparently the major issues I had have been fixed now but I don't have hands on experience with them yet. Ive only had 1 of each of the above boards. Configuring them is a bit of a learning curve as is wiring them up to begin with (except the nb3 which was easy).

On the other side of the fence I've wired an NEC Spark 2 and im currently doing an igniter 2 and im waiting on a spark 2 colour. Some people say the nec boards sometimes lock up and stay on clash mode but some claim the fix is to properly format the sd card each time you copy and paste. Other than that I've had 0 issues or annoyances that weren't down to my own doing. Easy to wire and  most wires have dedicated pads on the outside edges of the board. The config utility app makes many of then config settings easy. When the battery is low it just cuts out and reboots. No silly swing noises or loud speaker crackling. Mute works. Features like neopixel have been supported on the igniter for a while and in these areas the nec wins it for me. The only other downside is it's feature set isn't really what I'd usually think of if I ever had to come up with a feature set myself. Some are cool but more gimmicky. All the nec boards use one battery. The only plecter board that takes 2 is the crystal focus and that's the only board I think I might really like from plecter. Providing it has both batteries and hasn't been hacked, I think this one might be a winner in the future but the chassis must allow 2 batteries. Otherwise the nec wins imo.

I've been told the sound is better on plecter boards but I've not really noticed it myself. Another thing is there seem to be more fonts for plecter boards with some nice exclusives. It's a shame but the makers seem to have an exclusivity deal behind the scenes or at least thas my thinking. Some might just prefer making them for plecter alone because it's truely their favourite board.

This post may come alone cross negative to one side but these are my personal experiences with 5 different boards so far. I definitely want to try a cf with 2 batteries in the future.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2017, 06:36:14 PM by IceSaber »

Offline Whosle

  • No Force
  • *
  • Posts: 31
  • Um...Hello?
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2017, 08:49:18 AM »
I like this idea of reviewing soundboards to compare them.

 I think a spreadsheet style, with features on one axis, board names on the other, would be nice.

An open-source board and code will always be evolving, so it may be unfair to compare against private /propietary code. Maybe one day the PL boards will join in the orgy and allow interaction across platforms.

I have used a NBv4 and Teensysaber. 

The biggest advantage in my mind for PL boards and NBv4 is the tiny size and dead simple wiring.

In my mind, those choosing to use the open-source boards are doing so to learn new skills. Once you wire an arduino or teensy up, all the other boards seem easy.


There are smaller players not mentioned, that are developing their own boards , which should be reviewed.

I doubt I will ever purchase a single font soundboard. Honestly, the Toy hasbro Obi-wan clonewars board is comparable to the "professional" single font boards. Throw a 2 watt pre-amp in there and you have a loud board capable of powering 2 dies at full power and 1 with speaker flicker.

Both Teensysaber and NBv4 are loud and the sound quality is similiar(same bass speaker).

The NBv4 is cool, it fits in tiny hilts.

The teensysaber is epic. The options and sound and the learning I experienced is amazing. The support  and patience from Profezzorn is awesome, not even a little salty (which would be tough to resist in some instances!) I'm glad I challenged myself to do it.
The play time is decent if you don't use a white blade on steady.

Next is to figure out the arudino saber!
« Last Edit: July 27, 2017, 08:57:53 AM by Whosle »

Offline profezzorn

  • Mining Colony Members
  • Master Force User
  • *
  • Posts: 901
  • May the source be with you.
    • Hubbe's Corner
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2017, 10:11:50 AM »
I think a spreadsheet style, with features on one axis, board names on the other, would be nice.

Personally I'm more interested in peoples opinions than features.
Features are great, but if the board sounds bad, handles bad, breaks easy or is just a bugger to fit in the handle, none of the other features matter.


Quote
In my mind, those choosing to use the open-source boards are doing so to learn new skills. Once you wire an arduino or teensy up, all the other boards seem easy.

While the opportunity to learn is an important feature of open-source boards, making other boards seem easy is not...
Is there anything in particular that sticks out that I can do to make wiring things up easier?

Quote
The teensysaber is epic. The options and sound and the learning I experienced is amazing. The support  and patience from Profezzorn is awesome, not even a little salty (which would be tough to resist in some instances!) I'm glad I challenged myself to do it.
The play time is decent if you don't use a white blade on steady.

Glad you like it! :)

Offline Meatsweats

  • Padawan Learner
  • **
  • Posts: 73
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #7 on: July 28, 2017, 08:46:30 AM »
I have a handful of installs with plecter and just one with Spark 2. Maybe it's just small sample size, but I personally prefer the sound and motion sensing on the plecter boards. I find my Spark 2 build to be pretty quiet and the motion/clash sensing is poor, I have the settings all the way up and it still is tough to register a clash with that thing. Again, maybe I need to tweak the wiring but all my plecter sabers require next to zero settings tweaking out of the box. Going forward I plan to really only use plecter.

Offline IceSaber

  • Experienced Force User
  • ****
  • Posts: 419
  • Midi-chlorians..
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2017, 02:06:12 AM »
You may want to check the manual. I had a look a few weeks ago and I think you need to turn the setting down, not up. Out of the box the Spark is more sensitive than the NB3. I did find the NB3 can be configured to be as sensitive as the spark with some tweaking. I have both config files. If you want me to send them over, shoot me a PM.

EDIT: I've installed an Igniter 2 and motion detection was great as expected (same as Spark 2), but I went on to install a second Igniter 2 and motion detection was horrible. Long story short: The majority of people who experience this need to re-download fresh Default Files for the board from the NEC website. The firmware version of the board sometimes conflicts with older files you may have on your PC. Don't use the config editor to make any changes when test this as it's not required to verify that the board is working as intended. Only new default files are needed (simple copy and paste). Using a proper SD formatter on the SD card and then copy the default files onto the SD. In rare cases, motion detection will still horrible. After proving it's not a config issue it's most likely the board itself. If motion detection improves then re-download the latest config editor (for the same reason as above) and use that to edit a COPY of the sd card on your PC with tweaked motion settings before copying the files to the SD.

Mine is going back to Naigon for investigation because I installed a 3rd Igniter board and it worked great too. So my 2nd one seems to have been faulty. Naigon is more than helpful in swapping a board after the troubleshooting above has been done.

It's worth pointing out that Plecter boards don't have a user friendly configuration editor unless you have a R.I.C.E port installed on your saber. In my personal experience of using this, it's still not as easy to use as the NEC config editor, although it does update the saber in real time (doesn't need you to remove SD).
« Last Edit: August 17, 2017, 02:55:50 AM by IceSaber »

Offline Meatsweats

  • Padawan Learner
  • **
  • Posts: 73
Re: Sound board reviews?
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2017, 07:28:15 AM »
Thanks Icesaber. Forgot to check this thread in a while. I'll try your suggestion and post what I find.

Update: got around to installing new files, no luck. Motion and sound is still poor. Will probably just yank it out and replace with something else down the road.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2017, 05:18:27 AM by Meatsweats »

 

retrousse