Announcing the Teensy Saber open source sound board

[gmcivor]

I have a question,

Would it be possible to add an on hilt menu? Something like this (Diamond Controller - ON SABER MENU - YouTube)

It would allow you to change sound fonts on the fly and what ever else you would program into the menu? I just saw this and thought it was a neat addition to the many amazing things that are already in the teensysaber.

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

Yes, although I personally prefer the simplicity of the current system, where presets are configured in the code. (As many as you like) and you select the next preset by holding aux while pressing power. (You should hear a short beep, then the "font.wav" sound should play.)

Obviously this only works if you have two buttons. :)
I really need to add support for single- and triple-button setups, but I haven't really figured out how I want them to work yet.  (suggestions are welcome!)

Menues would also be a nice addition, but since I probably wouldn't use it myself, it's not high on my list of things to implement. The menu system could become a bit complicated, as you could choose effect, sound font, colors, and potentially other parameters as well. I'd also need to add some code to read and write configurations from sd card or eeprom.

[jbkuma]

Having worked on a few different style menus, I agree, it can easily take on a life of its own.

[gmcivor]

Yes, it can get very complicated, was just a thought. It is very easy to change everything you need in the code. Yes, that is what I would be doing if I had an AUX button. Since I don't have an AUX button or probably wont have one on future builds (depends on hilt) figuring out a true one button saber would be ideal how ever that will look.

I have been thinking of how a one button saber would work as well. But it is a tough one depending on how you would want it to function and be user friendly. One thought was, you have it set for if you press and hold the power button for 2+ seconds it plays a track you have set. What if you do two long presses and then it switches though your presets with a beep or notification between. Or you could do a single long press and have the track set to a certain timed press.

Just a couple basic ideas.

Regards,

GMcIvor

[profezzorn]

Probably the easiest thing to do for a single-button setup is something like:

while OFF:
  short click: turn saber on
  long-click: start soundtrack
  hold+clash: go to next preset

while ON:
  short click: blast
  long click: turn off
  hold+clash: lockup until you let go

What other functions are important?  How does it compare to other one-button setups?

[jbkuma]

We're using double clicks in LSOS and frankly I am not a fan. It's too easy to accidentally double click when trying to increment the setting, or increment instead of going to the next menu (double click).

One method I've seen that I really like is a wrist gesture.  Twist the hilt to increment the setting, tap the button change menues.  Long press to enter and exit.  Really, I guess it could be any threshold based gesture.  If you are already detecting swings and clashes, may as well save code by using one of those.

[gmcivor]

Probably the easiest thing to do for a single-button setup is something like:

while OFF:
  short click: turn saber on
  long-click: start soundtrack
  hold+clash: go to next preset

while ON:
  short click: blast
  long click: turn off
  hold+clash: lockup until you let go

What other functions are important?  How does it compare to other one-button setups?

I think that would work out to begin testing the one button saber. I don't know what other functions would be needed. From what I have seen most one button sabers have what you listed at functions. They are then plugged in to change sound fonts or blade colors that are not already in a present menu.

We're using double clicks in LSOS and frankly I am not a fan. It's too easy to accidentally double click when trying to increment the setting, or increment instead of going to the next menu (double click).

One method I've seen that I really like is a wrist gesture. Twist the hilt to increment the setting, tap the button change menus.  Long press to enter and exit.  Really, I guess it could be any threshold based gesture.  If you are already detecting swings and clashes, may as well save code by using one of those.

I can see how that style of selection would be confusing. With the diamond controller video I posted is a gesture related selection style I was trying to say. That style of menu you are talking about is what they are using, but in their own way. I think a gesture style would be cool and more expandable in some fashion. This is what I have seen on most one button sabers.

But reusing the clash and swing code would be a huge time saver and make things easier on the initial start to a one button saber.

Regards,

GMcIvor

[JakeSoft]

I have a question,

Would it be possible to add an on hilt menu? Something like this (Diamond Controller - ON SABER MENU - YouTube)

It would allow you to change sound fonts on the fly and what ever else you would program into the menu? I just saw this and thought it was a neat addition to the many amazing things that are already in the teensysaber.

Regards,

GMcIvor

It's certainly possible. I've been doing that for years with my Arduino builds (Heck, even my Mk. I from 2013 had a color-change menu). The CPU on the Teensy out-classes the AVR chips I've been using, so no problems there. Somebody just needs the will write the code.

[Obi_1]

While menus can in deed easily start a life of their own I kinda like them. They are a means to make a saber user friendly by allowing the wielder to change settings on the fly. For LSOS I plan to add even more menues in order to have less parameters which are hard-coded. I guess simply because hard coded stuff tends to deters people for using such code. And frankly there are not soooo many things which need to be configured:
- sound font
- volume (OK, since people usually want it very loud or totally silent, even this could be replaced by silence-on-the-go)
- color (here I currently use gestures in the Gravity color change menues) profiles for each sound font
----- this is the list currently available in LSOS ---------- and now to what would make sense to add:
- swing sensitivity (thanks God the MPU6050 clash detection does not need any threshold setting)
- flicker effect selection

Anything else?
 oh yeah, the last menu item is the pre-stage of entering sleep mode

[profezzorn]

Menues for the teensysaber might also be a bit more complicated than your average system.

First of all: It would need to have a completely separate setting-storage for each different blade.
Second: Besides font, volume and color, you'd also need to be select which "effect" you want.
        (strobe, rainbow, normal, charging, etc.)  However, some effects don't make sense for
        some types of blades.
Third: Each "effect" has it's own set of configuration options, some take a color, some do not.
       Also, for those that do take a color, changing the color only makes sense if the blade can
       actually do it.

I personally think that presets is a more user-friendly way to handle this. Each preset encapsulates
*all* the settings, and you just need one button combination to go to the next preset.

Not that I haven't thought about adding menues mind you. However, because of the dynamic nature of the
menues, and the many different settings, I was thinking that I would want to add a speech synthesizer
to the code. That way I wouldn't have to rely on recorded samples for everything. It could also be used
for error handling (like telling you that the sd card cannot be found... )

[JakeSoft]

Menues for the teensysaber might also be a bit more complicated than your average system.

...

I personally think that presets is a more user-friendly way to handle this. Each preset encapsulates
*all* the settings, and you just need one button combination to go to the next preset.

Not that I haven't thought about adding menues mind you. However, because of the dynamic nature of the
menues, and the many different settings, I was thinking that I would want to add a speech synthesizer
to the code. That way I wouldn't have to rely on recorded samples for everything. It could also be used
for error handling (like telling you that the sd card cannot be found... )

It's amusing to me that you characterize branch logic based on selected blade type as complicated but have no problem mentioning adding speech synthesis. 

[profezzorn]

It's been quiet around here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything!
I have been quietly slaving away over a hot keyboard, day and night to bring you updated TeensySaber software. (1.45)

Release highlights:

• MTP support!!!!! (You can now drag-and-drop sound fonts to the sd card over the USB connection from windows) Currently requires some patches to the teensy code base, see here for more information.
• Power button + clash = previous preset (good for single-button setups)
• Support for RAW & USL audio files.
• Lots more comments in the code.
• Doesn't hang anymore without a motion chip. (Means you don't have to commend out ENABLE_MOTION if you want to try the code without a prop shield or TeensySaber V2 anymore.)

As usual, you can find the latest version here: Teensy Saber OS (beta)

[bobi-one]

It's been quiet around here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything!
I have been quietly slaving away over a hot keyboard, day and night to bring you updated TeensySaber software. (1.45)

Release highlights:

• MTP support!!!!! (You can now drag-and-drop sound fonts to the sd card over the USB connection from windows) Currently requires some patches to the teensy code base, see here for more information.
• Power button + clash = previous preset (good for single-button setups)
• Support for RAW & USL audio files.
• Lots more comments in the code.
• Doesn't hang anymore without a motion chip. (Means you don't have to commend out ENABLE_MOTION if you want to try the code without a prop shield or TeensySaber V2 anymore.)

As usual, you can find the latest version here: Teensy Saber OS (beta)

xxx you are a SW guru :D, I've ordered  a lot of variants of the IMUs with the same pinout, and will add sw support for them as soon as they arrive. Meantime Do you use some version tracking, as I try to track your changes and the stuff I change in my github?

[profezzorn]

Do you use some version tracking, as I try to track your changes and the stuff I change in my github?

I use CVS. (On my own server.)

[profezzorn]

Do you use some version tracking, as I try to track your changes and the stuff I change in my github?

I use CVS. (On my own server.)

I'm experimenting with mirroring my CVS repository to github here:

   https://github.com/profezzorn/TeensySaber/commits/master/lightsaber.ino

Not sure how well it will work long-term, but initial tests are good.