PDA

View Full Version : Open source soundboard/LED-driver project...?



Matt Thorn
12-15-2009, 09:30 AM
Just thinking out loud here, and this seems the appropriate forum for it.

J-Lo has mentioned (cryptically) that Nova Conceptions will no longer be dealing with saber stuff. SaberSound turned out to be a sad farce, and Ultrasabers has removed UltraSound from its catalog. And, as we know, our friend Erv only makes a handful of Crystal Focus boards when he has the time and inspiration, and they disappear within seconds of going on sale (and somehow seem to end up in the hands of a handful of veteran sabersmiths who are either really lucky or have an inside connnection).

There are only so many Force FX boards out there, and every board that goes into a custom saber means one less Force FX saber.

The toy boards are all right for economy sabers, but... :rolleyes:

It seems to me that the current efforts--by individuals working alone, from scratch--may not be realistic as a business model, considering the small size of the market.

Has anyone ever thought about starting an open-source project, similar to Arduino (http://www.arduino.cc/), in which people pool their resources and skills to produce a "saber sound/light platform" that can then be customized, modified, elaborated, or simplified by various ambitious folks for fun and profit?

With Arduino, the wiring diagrams and plans for the basic Arduino board are available to anyone to make from scratch, but of course most users by from one of the companies making variations, such as SmartProjects, SparkFun, or Gravitech. And there are huge numbers of "sketches" (programs) that you can get for free to make Arduino do all sorts of things.

An "OpenSound" platform could provide the basic building blocks for a sound and LED-driving system, and people could do what they like with it, making a bare-bones board along the lines of SaberSound, or something even more elaborate than Crystal Focus (e.g., something that lets you program a large number of accent LEDs in any way, or even drive two high-power LEDs simultaneously). And a standardized protocol for sound fonts would allow anyone to make fonts that will work on any OpenSound board.

Again, just thinking out loud...:cool:

Clockwork
12-15-2009, 10:27 AM
Click on Sound section, 1/2 way down

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/showthread.php?t=5590

Strydur
12-15-2009, 10:32 AM
We are working on a sound card and we have drivers so no need.