I'd like to build my own sound card, any schematics?

[Banaticus]

I have to build a project at the end of the semester for an electronic circuits class and I thought I'd build my own sound card. Any schematics floating around out there? I did find http://diy4fun.blogspot.com/2010/01/...h-pcm2704.html this nifty little guy, but I'd want to wire it to run off batteries instead of USB and then how do I "save" the sound? I guess I want something like http://soundexpressiongreetings.com/...d-modules.html but I don't know how to build that -- any schematics for something like that floating around? I guess what I really want is something like a battery recharge port? I want to be able to connect it to my computer, save sound to the card, then unplug it from my computer and have it keep playing the sound. I have a USB headset and I was thinking that something like this: http://www.techradar.com/us/news/com...undcard-679211 would plug into my computer, then I could run a headphone jack cord from that and plug that into the hilt-based sound card. Again, though, I have no idea how to even start building something like that, but I do have to build some sort of final project for the class. Any suggestions?

[Silver Serpent]

What you're proposing is not something you're likely to accomplish in your limited timeframe. The last person to build a sound board from scratch in our hobby took over 5 months from his initial announcement until he had working prototypes. I don't know how long he'd been working on his board before he made the announcement.

I'm not saying you couldn't try, but it'd be very difficult to complete your project before your class ends.

[Banaticus]

I could see it taking a very long time if I was indeed working from scratch. With a working schematic on the other hand... I'd love to give it a try.

[Silver Serpent]

Well, seeing as how the few people who have succeeded in building their own sound boards are now selling them to the community, I don't imagine they are likely to just give away their schematics. Bad for their business and all that.

You could probably whip up something using an Arduino or similar hobbyist electronics kit. I doubt your prototype would fit inside a saber, but you should be able to make something functional.

I don't know how complex of a project you need to build. Assembling a lightsaber's internals is pretty basic stuff. Switches, LEDs, resistors, and not much else until you add in sound. Building an LED string blade is time consuming and tedious, but not particularly complicated. Then again, if you go all out, you can have accent LEDs, sound boards, rumble motors, capacitance touch switches, etc. all in a single saber.

The hardest part about the electronics in a saber is not putting them together. It's about putting them together in a REALLY TINY SPACE. Seriously, you run out of room stupidly fast inside a hilt.

[Forgetful Jedi Knight]

Ummm, yeah.. as SS said, the people who developed their product(s) now SELL them within the community. Also there is programming involved with all of this. So, not to burst your bubble, but there are no readily available schematics to "do it yourself", so unless you are prepared to start from scratch... there you are. And if you do start from scratch, I wish you lots of luck.

[Banaticus]

Well, there are also people selling lightsabers, but that hasn't stopped people from posting wiring schematics for LED's, etc. I don't see why the sound board DIY'ers would be more secretive, but I guess they're just not really in tune (pun intended) with the idea of open source.

[Silver Serpent]

If you're unhappy with the sound board designers keeping their product designs secret, then just start from scratch, design your own board, spend all the money necessary on R&D, and then give away your schematics to the community. I'll wait.

Open Source is nice for some things, but remember that work has value. Designing and building these sound boards is not an easy task, and it is one I'm glad to pay someone else to accomplish.

Wiring schematics for lightsabers are simple. Our diagrams for lightsabers amount to slightly complicated flashlights. I can fix someone's wiring diagram in a couple minutes, and they'll be happily on their way to building a working saber. Ten minutes working out a saber schematic on paper is not the same as 5+ months of R&D using real components. It's not that the designers are secretive. It's that they have invested a great deal of time and money into their project, and feel that they deserve some kind of monetary compensation for it. It's their product, and they're entitled to do with it as they please.

[Banaticus]

Of course they're entitled to do with it as they please, I never said otherwise. I do wish that they'd do otherwise, but I guess I'll just have to put my money where my mouth is. In the meantime, I still think they're more like Gates than Torvalds.

[Silver Serpent]

Given the option, I'd much rather be Gates than Torvalds.

[slothfurnace]

Given the option, I'd much rather be Gates than Torvalds.

Amen.

I spent months designing circuitboards, and I don't give out the diagrams. Know why? I put the work into it so I could sell the circuitboards, not give away the hard work. It's also why I don't explain every step of a build (though I do show many steps). Hard work is worth something.