Arduino. Anyone ever made a mind machine type thing?

I've been bored out of my mind lately, and been using an android app called Mindroid, which is quite good, combines binaural beats with a synchronised left eye/right eye flashing strobe, but you need to have the phone gaffa taped to your head and it makes it painful and rather difficult to take off in the morning. Not to mention I am going through android phones at a rate of knots !!

I've seen some simple designs for creating a flashing led setup using arduino as the programmable device, but am wondering if there have been any people here who have had experience sending tones in sync with the led flashing? I have not ever used an arduino, and not sure of the audio aspect of it.

Many years ago I had made something simple using the LPT1 port on my old PC (back when they had LPT ports) and it would mimic the steady frequency changes of a preset (recorded even) binaural beat audio file, had 8 leds popped into an old pair of safety glasses, blacked out, left eye/right eye controlled separately. I had to make it so that it was timed right as it didn't know anything about the audio, so each different audio needed a different set of parameters in the code. But I'm sure there are ways to write something that can flash in sync with specific tones by detecting the pulses??

I've looked up programming the arduino, seems simple enough if you've got a cursory understanding of c, but am interested in anyone who has ventured into this, knowing there are a number of people on ATS who have an interest in binaural beats.

Anyhoo, just wondering. I did a quick google search and will keep looking, but on the off chance someone here has done this, would be good to get some advice, or tips..



Oh, I did just order a cheap google cardboard head strapped enclosure so it all else fails, I will use that with mindroid. just that the sync with the audio and visual in mindroid is not as accurate as it could be, even they want you to buy a $150 paid of external glasses just to have a better synced set up, and I'm not paying that... cheap ass I am. lol

a reply to: badw0lf

Finally able to post.

The arduino itself is not sufficient fast enough to do the realtime audio analysis. What I did was write a firmware on the arduino side that connects via the serial interface to a linux/windows machine. I think by now something similar is being developed (it´s called firmater or so).

Anyways I wrote the counterpart in C to connect via RS232, bridged over SPP via bluetooth connection. Gives me IO write/read times on the IC at about 5-10 ms delay. It´s lightning fast.

I haven't done that exactly, but I have worked pretty extensively with micro computers.

The platforms like the new raspberry pi's, or even beaglebones, may be a bit better choice overall.

The trick is going to be in coming up with the right interface. If you want it to respond in real time, you are looking at a pretty good amount of hardware design.

If you are looking more for combining tones with light, that can be controlled through software or hardware relatively easily.

Syncing the pulses of light with tones isn't particularly difficult. Essentially, you are looking at doing two different things with the same signal. Its more complex than that in reality, but platforms like rPi really, really lower the entry bar as well as opening up more possibilities. Really neat devices.

a reply to: Serdgiam

Syncing the pulses of the light with tones is not difficult no.

Analyzing an audiostream with a high enough resolution so you can do fourier analysis (or similar) to get your trigger timing right (and not some fixed table like OP had), is. Aside from lacking the cycle, memory and all that, either the audio or the internal clock will shift away and then you run into offset problems.

I´m afraid a 2560 or 328p will not deliver the punch you need. RaspPi, looks better but even there...

That´s why I did it the way I did..hehe This way, I can do other funny stuff, too and like I said, my timing is between 5-10ms. If someone beats that on 40€ worth of hardware (including USB/RS232 + HC-05 modules and the arduino, some small parts like an IRL540), let me know .

badw0lf, how good is your C?

a reply to: verschickter

Clearly, we agree overall..

A given project can run the gamut from simple to complex to impossible. Running a server farm from a single, new rPi would be ill advised no matter how incredible they have become.

Thus is the nature of building things, knowing your tools, and being malleable. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

However, I would argue that current knowledge/experience level in any language, much less a specific one, is largely irrelevant. If someone wants to learn, they can do so shockingly easily nowadays. I love that easy accessibility.

When it comes to reaching the limits of existing tools.. the only real options are going to be to wait, build it yourself, or scale the project back.

originally posted by: verschickter
a reply to: badw0lf

Finally able to post.

The arduino itself is not sufficient fast enough to do the realtime audio analysis. What I did was write a firmware on the arduino side that connects via the serial interface to a linux/windows machine. I think by now something similar is being developed (it´s called firmater or so).

Anyways I wrote the counterpart in C to connect via RS232, bridged over SPP via bluetooth connection. Gives me IO write/read times on the IC at about 5-10 ms delay. It´s lightning fast.

Interesting. Thought I was looking at something that didn't need to connect to a PC, something more portable, but the Raspberry PI might be something to look into also. I had a bought box years ago that had glasses and headphones, and it was a small box, but worked a treat. Long since gone, and I'm not much of an electrical person, being red/green colourblind.. :/

I'll look into that though, some ideas !! Cheers!

originally posted by: Serdgiam
I haven't done that exactly, but I have worked pretty extensively with micro computers.

The platforms like the new raspberry pi's, or even beaglebones, may be a bit better choice overall.

The trick is going to be in coming up with the right interface. If you want it to respond in real time, you are looking at a pretty good amount of hardware design.

If you are looking more for combining tones with light, that can be controlled through software or hardware relatively easily.

Syncing the pulses of light with tones isn't particularly difficult. Essentially, you are looking at doing two different things with the same signal. Its more complex than that in reality, but platforms like rPi really, really lower the entry bar as well as opening up more possibilities. Really neat devices.

That was my thinking also. I wasn't sure of the arduino setup, as I've never toyed with one, but I've seen some pretty good LED displays controlled by them. And they have the analogue pinouts that I was pondering.

Might be beyond my scope when it comes to timing, I guess. It would definitely be software controlled, or a longer project learning along the way..

originally posted by: verschickter
a reply to: Serdgiam

Syncing the pulses of the light with tones is not difficult no.

Analyzing an audiostream with a high enough resolution so you can do fourier analysis (or similar) to get your trigger timing right (and not some fixed table like OP had), is. Aside from lacking the cycle, memory and all that, either the audio or the internal clock will shift away and then you run into offset problems.

I´m afraid a 2560 or 328p will not deliver the punch you need. RaspPi, looks better but even there...

That´s why I did it the way I did..hehe This way, I can do other funny stuff, too and like I said, my timing is between 5-10ms. If someone beats that on 40€ worth of hardware (including USB/RS232 + HC-05 modules and the arduino, some small parts like an IRL540), let me know

.

badw0lf, how good is your C?

As long as I have google I can get by haha... no, it's not too spectacular. Only ever used it sparsely over the years, starting when visual basic would not implement OOB code natively, and I had to include a C++ module... nefarious times back then with IRC.. google old google university !

Looking more like that is the way to go though. I'll source myself some and get used to the hardware I think, but you both seem to know exactly what the idea is, and that's why I knew someone here would point me in the right direction !!

Cheers ! Appreciate it guys !!

originally posted by: Serdgiam
a reply to: verschickter
When it comes to reaching the limits of existing tools.. the only real options are going to be to wait, build it yourself, or scale the project back.

Or hack an appliance that does similar things . A bunch of trans- and resistors, HC-05, an IC for emulating hardware inputs, and you can pretty much take over any device wirelessly, on the user-input-level. Did that with a massage chair that is now reactive to music (classical music, either hard pulses or waveform "riding"), a tens stim device, my old kennwood analog amp is now controlleable via BT everywhere in the house and premise (class A chipsets).

Among countless other gadgets (for example, a small fleet of swarm enabled drones), I built myself a small transmitter with 4 buttons, 4 LED, 16 MOSFET (very low base saturation times) and the needed cable tree, 8 analog in...several axial potentiometers. You can take over almost any machine or appliance with this as long as you get to the guts. Wirelessly & reliable. Even secure because I built in a handshake mechanism into the initiation sequence.

I´m very proud of this project because I 3D packed the whole case manually without any help of software and did most planing on the fly, by hand with a calculator, trying different combinations with the parts orientation. It fit´s in the palm of a small hand, easy. If you looked at it, case closed, you´d think this was manufactured on a precision machine. The lithium-Ion flatpack I slaughtered from a cheap small powerbank blew up on me one day. Was getting too hot in there and it was hanging in the sun all day (black case)

You could do so much things with it, from a more nerdy perspective, I´m inclined to build another one, this time I have a 3D printer and a small mill at my disposal. Well, I had it already when I did this but it was a sort of "can´t sleep, let´s built that "jack of all trades" you always wanted. Went to bed at 9 a.m. the next morning, all done. Crazy times!

How is it called, this "work rush" where you accomplish seemingly impossible tasks, forget the time and can´t fathom it afterwards?? Is there a word for it in english?

a reply to: verschickter

I would think that'd all fall under "building it ourselves!" Hacking existing systems should probably be considered Standard Operating Procedure for all aspiring builders, inventors, and creators. I mean, why spend all the time and effort building, say, a battery charging circuit when there are ready made solutions readily available? Same goes for the ubiquitous power supplies, etc. Unless you have specifications that aren't met by current offerings, or just want the learning experience, I see no need to "waste" blood, sweat, and tears on something that could have just been found in a junkpile (or even just bought online).

How long have you had the printer? If you haven't already, I'd suggest trying to build an entirely new way of thinking based on the printer. I found that the biggest limit was me operating under "the old ways," when the tool demanded new ones.

There are a couple English concepts that might work there. "Getting in the zone," "Losing myself in the work." I'm not sure there is a single word.. but it "feels" like I'm wrong on that for some reason. Is there a single word for it in German?

Badwolf:

I'd suggest just getting one of the neat lil micro computers. Arduino, raspberryPi, beaglebone, whatever.. Then learning on it. They are pretty cheap, especially for what they are, and shockingly capable and open ended.

Alongside that, learn about basic electronics. Once you have basic circuits down with things like resistors, capacitors, inductors, and transistors, it is amazing what can be accomplished. Switches and servos are also important. You can harvest general parts for free from broken electronics. A heat gun, a soldering iron, and a multimeter can save you a ton of money in the long run.

Once the basics are down, try building a very simple, scaled back version of your project. Fill in holes of knowledge as you go and try to use existing systems where possible.

Once you have the basic prototype, you can use that as a foundation for immensely complicated and advanced creations. But, if you try to jump in the deep end right off the bat.. well.. drowning can be a bit discouraging

originally posted by: Serdgiam
a reply to: verschickter
How long have you had the printer? If you haven't already, I'd suggest trying to build an entirely new way of thinking based on the printer. I found that the biggest limit was me operating under "the old ways," when the tool demanded new ones.

It would have been to loud to fire up the printer or mill at night (was a hot night, open windows) so I grabbed a used case and did what I did

The printer, I´ve got it since 2015, assembled it in around 5 hours, it´s a Prusa i3 Hephestos, I use Fusion360 now mostly, before that Autocad before that, 123D and Sketchup.

Can agree on what you say with the "old ways". I also like it to be able to snip a small part of the whole, print it, tweak it and then, when I do the final print, I know everything will go together and work like I intended. Not talking about solid objects but moveable parts, altered material behavior (integrated springs, bendable, squeezable parts and so on).

I nearly/almost mastered FilaFlex there is still a little tweaking here and there to do when choosing the printer settings.. for example one-way membranes or light blocking walls that still let air through and are flexible.

It´s really great for rapid prototyping, that´s what I use it for, most of the times. Need to get my hands on a second extruder and maybe an inductive sensor for autobed leveling. I thought about building a bigger one based on RAMPS but currently I seldom print something lager 18x18x18. Before I get larger, I go modular, makes it more rigid, too.

Thought about building an endless printer on a conveyor belt....

There are a couple English concepts that might work there. "Getting in the zone," "Losing myself in the work." I'm not sure there is a single word.. but it "feels" like I'm wrong on that for some reason. Is there a single word for it in German?

It sounds similar to what I mean. "Work rush" does not feel correct either. It´s a situation where:

-time is non linear
-you are over productive
-you get tons of "aha!" moments, learn and come up with own good concepts
-multitasking: the situation where you adapt your flow to the tools, like getting the next tweaks in Fusion360 done so you can test part x in project z, before the print is finished, and doing stuff in visual studio, while you try to find out why the bootloader isn´t responding on that Arduino Nano and where to slaughter a 10nF capacitor to get the damn thing to initiate the upload sequence...

sort of like that Tools everywhere scattered on the workbench, you poke your forearm into cut of metal pins while navigating with the mouse on a free space of 5x5cm, but somehow manage do be extremly productive. Great times! There´s a saying in germany (translated) "Only the small minded need to organize their stuff, the genius masters the chaos". In terms of, does not need to have a set structure to organize tools but keeps track of everything just fine.

There was this guy from the junkyard and if you´d phone him for a 1988 Model Z, Type X exhaust, he´d probably answer yes. When you came to pick it up, he´d walk into one of several huge barns/buildings with at least 6m high piles of car parts, climb a seemingly random spot up there, search and dig around while mumbeling the story about this part, and finally hand it to you. It was like he had a database in his head, it´s similar to space-time synesthesia.

a reply to: verschickter

Have you tried DesignSpark Mechanical? It took a bit getting used to, but now that I have ill never, ever go back to my previous systems (Fusion360 and FreeCAD).

I've personally been looking at SLA machines, but overall have been waiting for MIT to get their sh#$ together and start offering their multi-material printer to the public. I want it. Bad.

Anyway, I find that when I organize my work space its a total nightmare finding anything. Ill admit there is a balance there though..

Flexible filament really can be tricky to get down! The right head and enclosure really make or break it. Personally, I was moving over to Delrin before my printer bit the dust. Its a finicky material, but AMAZING for everything from moving parts to higher temp applications.

Well, starting to move far away from the OP.. But there is a good amount of info there for anyone looking to get started like badwolf.