The interesting thing about most of the ISD chips is that there's no "programming" interface required - the audio storage is completely analog, and the input signal is just the audio waveform you want to store. Loading the audio is just a matter of getting a playable signal source (I use Audacity), connecting it to the audio input of the device, then triggering the "record" input. You generally have to play around with the signal level a bit to get the highest recorded signal without clipping, but it only takes a few seconds for each try, so that's easy too.
So the required hardware is a power supply, your audio recording, a speaker (or amplified speaker, depending upon the variant), and a couple of clip leads - that's it. They're extremely tolerant of power supply variations, and the button inputs are de-bounced, so they're super easy to use. I see that they now have a purely digital device (the ISD3900). I haven't used that one; it seem like that provides the flash-based solution I mentioned previously all in one chip, so it can also be a no-software add-on, with much longer (64-minute) recording times. ~~ Mark Moulding On Saturday, September 29, 2018 at 7:30:57 PM UTC-7, Paul Andrews wrote: > > Mark, > > > > How do I load audio onto these and program the macros? i.e. what hardware > do I need? It seems like they are programmed using SPI via the nuvoton USB > dongle, is that correct? > > > > The most likely other alternative I would go for would be some variation > of this > https://circuitdigest.com/microcontroller-projects/arduino-audio-music-player > though I would want avoid using a SD card module and build it directly on > to my circuit board instead. > > > > I will probably try both. > > > > - Paul > > > > *From: *Mark Moulding <javascript:> > *Sent: *Saturday, September 29, 2018 6:58 PM > *To: *neonixie-l <javascript:> > *Subject: *[neonixie-l] Re: Adding audio clips to a clock... > > > > I've used the ISD chips quite a bit, including building them into > products, and I've generally had very good experiences with them. They've > gotten considerably cheaper over the years, and they're available in more > high-volume packages than they used to be, but they're still fundamentally > the same chip. > > > > Sure, if I wanted to have a long recording time, or DC-quality audio, I'd > go for a flash-based digital solution. But for things like clock chimes in > Nixie clocks (short duration, limited frequency response that actually can > make the chime sound better, and very limited production quantities), > they're a really good fit. There's essentially no programming needed to > use them, and although I now have a semi-permanent breadboard jig to load > the audio, for a long time I just used a few clip leads. So far, I've > noticed no sound degradation even in devices that are nearly 20 years old, > which tends to support their claimed 100-year retention time. > > ~~ > > Mark Moulding > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the > Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/neonixie-l/Ju76VE6J3KI/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > [email protected] <javascript:>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <javascript:>. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/ad6480e1-0216-49af-a696-00561fba762c%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/ad6480e1-0216-49af-a696-00561fba762c%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/8761d7ea-bfd6-4552-8f6c-216e962e14eb%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
