Si buscas un Analizador Lógico de bajo coste, te recomiendo el USBee AX Pro (clónico), lo puedes comprar en DealExtreme y por algo más de 8 € te valdrá para la mayoría de tus proyectos.
Para que no te rompas la cabeza buscando los drivers y los programas como hice yo, te describo a continuación como configurarlo y como usarlo.
Lo utilizo en mis proyectos con Arduino para analizar el estado de las salidas o entradas sin tener que andar colocando ristras de leds, con este Analizador de una manera muy sencilla podrás comprobar el estado (0 ó 1) de sus 8 entradas digitales.
Contenido
Una vez que nos llegue el paquete (por correo postal tarda normalmente 15 días) vemos que dentro trae el:
Analizador
Cable usb
Tira de conectores Macho-Hembra de unos 18 centímetros de longitud.
Instalación
La instalación es supercencilla, te dejo en el área de descarga el fichero «Usbee Ax Pro.zip«, lo que tienes que hacer es descomprimirlo en alguna carpeta y ejecutar el setup.exe, con el cable usb desconectado.
Una vez que instalado el software ya puedes enchufar el cable USB en un puerto (USB2.0 ó USB3.0) y el driver se te reconoce automáticamente.
El software solo vale para Windows, si usas un Mac como en mi caso, lo que hice fue montar una máquina virtual (Virtual Box), pero el driver no me lo reconocía, !!! no hay problema !!!, te dejo para descarga un driver que vale perfectamente para las máquinas virtuales, para instalar ese driver solo debes ejecutar el programa (USB-Universal-Serial-Bus-CWAV-USBee-AX-Pro.exe) y seguir las instrucciones, el USBee AX Pro se reconocerá sin problemas.
Uso
Una vez instalado verás que hay un montón de aplicaciones:
Yo uso el USBee Data Logger, que te permite un montón de opciones, por ejemplo volcar a disco a intervalos regulares de los datos recogidos por la entrada, o la más sencilla que es ver el estado de las puertas.
Te dejo a continuación los enlaces para la descarga del Software.
Aplicaciones para el Usbee Ax Pro y Driver descarga
Driver alternativo para Windows (por ejemplo máquinas virtuales) descarga
Durante unos cuantos días he estado buscando una pantalla barata para los proyectos con la Raspberry Pi. Al final me he decantado por la «famosa pantalla china TFT de 3.5 pulgadas», más concretamente la Afunta T07 de amazon.es. Es una pantalla de 320×240 pixels, alimentada con 12V y que se conecta a la Raspberry Pi a través del conector de video compuesto.
Siguiendo el ejemplo de este foro de Raspberry Pi hemos realizado la conversión de la alimentación de 12V a 5V, de manera que se pudiese alimentar desde la propia Raspberry Pi.
El proceso a realizar es, básicamente, el mismo:
abrir la pantalla (esta no trae tornillos si no unas pequeñas lengüetas)
localizar el convertidor 12V -> 5V y retirarlo de la placa
Desoldar el cable de alimentación de su ubicación original
Soldar el cable de alimentación en la patilla de salida del convertidor
El convertidor utilizado (marcado como IF8AJ, U8 en la placa) aparece documentado en este enlace. La patilla de salida es la 6, que en la fotografía corresponde a la esquina inferior izquierda.
Tras retirarlo con la ayuda del soldador y de unos pequeños alicates de pinzas, se ha realizado la soldadura del cable de alimentación (rojo) sobre el terminal de salida. Como en este caso aparece conectado con la patilla más próxima del diodo D4, se ha optado por realizar la soldadura en la misma, como muestra la imagen.
Problemas
Para alimentar la pantalla es necesario contar con una fuente de alimentación de 5V estabilizada.
Cuando conecté por primera vez la pantalla con la fuente variable del laboratorio, no terminaba de arrancar. Daba «pantallazos» y volvía a apagarse. Esto se debe a que el proceso de encendido de la pantalla provoca una carga repentina sobre el voltaje de entrada, que la fuente no era capaz de compensar lo suficientemente rápido, provocando un reseteo de la controladora.
Al cambiar a la fuente de alimentación de la Raspberry Pi, sin embargo, funciona perfectamente. Actualmente la pantalla se alimenta desde la propia placa, entre las patillas 2 (+5V) y 6 (GND) del conector GPIO, y es posible alimentar tanto la Raspberry como la pantalla desde un puerto USB.
This is the home of the Pianalogic DLV analog synthesizer, a minimalistic, extensible, easy to use modular synthesizer based on the
popular 555 timer IC, which aims to take the artistic and minimalistic prizes at the 555 Timer Design Contest.
NOTE: There is a hot spare 555 at the top center of the board. It is properly energized but doesn’t have any inputs nor outputs,
but makes the board feel more balanced, which has an appeal.
Design
Carrying on the legacy of the 555 tuner-inspired designs, the Pianalogic DLV analog synthesizer is built on the KISS principle.
There are only two active components on the fully-assembled test unit (apart from the optional optocoupler), and both of them are
555 timers (of the finest quality, I may add).
Both 555 timers work in astable (oscillator mode). The frequency is given by the RC network in each of the oscillators:
OSC1 has a chain of adjustable 1K resistors and switches (the 12 key keyboard) as R
OSC2 has just an adjustable 1K resistor and switches (the 12 key keyboard) as R
Both oscillators share a pool of (3) available capacitors banks as C:
CAPBANK1: 4 matched 1uF low ESR capacitors, switchable between 1uF-4uF total
CAPBANK2: 1 matched 1uF low ESR capacitor
CAPBANK3: 1 DeepBass 22uF capacitor
You can select which of the available capacitor banks you want via the 16 DIL patch panel on the console.
Das keyboard
At the bottom left of the console, you can find a 1 octave 12 key keyboard, with round red switches (round red switches are the new craze on keyboards). This keyboard controls OSC1 pitch.
The layout is similar to that of a piano keyboard: seven keys at the bottom (notes C to B) and 5 accidentals on top (from C# to Bb). They are pressure sensitive in that if you don’t press them, they do nothing (I call it «straightforward design»). Also, as the voltage difference going through the contacts is so low, you have to press firmly to get a good contact, or the pitch will fluctuate (and that IS a feature ;)).
One particular feature of the keyboard is that each key pitch is independently adjustable. Needed for getting a good tuning, but also reconfigurable for particular reasons (for example, you can tune it backwards for left-handed people or replicate some notes for getting through difficult passages).
The Slider
OSC2 pitch is controlled by a sliding disc at the top right corner of the console. The slider has a range of about one and a half octaves, when using just one capacitor. When using CAPBANK1, the range gets extended to about three and a half octaves.
The slider makes you able to do true glissandi, vibrato and tremolo. But this freedom comes at a price: mastering the slider technique is quite difficult. It helps that I’m a slide trombone player, but just.
The slider disc base comes from an Ubuntu CD (http://www.ubuntu.org), which is a really nice GNU/Linux Operating System. I think it’s quite appropriate, as they’re some of the easiest CD to «scratch» 🙂
CAPBANK1: 3 octave range
CAPBANK1 capacity can be configured while playing with two switches at the rear left of the console:
1uF is available with both switches OFF (default pitch)
2uF are available with SW1 (the top one) ON (1 octave lower)
3uF are available with SW1 (the top one) OFF and SW2 ON (1 octave and a fifth lower)
4uF are available with SW1 (the top one) ON and SW2 ON (2 octaves lower)
This way, you can select which of the 3 octaves available you want with your index and middle fingers on your left hand, while using your left thumb to move the volume slider and have your right hand free to play.
The octave/fifth notation may seem quite confusing for some people. Let’s say an octave is a difference between the same note on adjacent «registers». Take for example A4 = 440Hz. The A on the upper octave (higher pitch) A5 will have double the frequency
(880Hz). A3, on the lower octave, will have half the frequency (220Hz).
RIMIAC or How I Learned to Stop Worring and Love the Beat
RIMIAC, the RIng Modulator In A Chip is an optional add-on to the basic Pianalogic DLV consisting of a single K3020P Phototriac which can be installed in the expansion socket in the board. With the RIMIAC module installed, you can mix OSC1 and OSC2 together to form complex waveforms.
RIMIAC is a revisited implementation of a ring modulator using optocoupler(s) instead of transformers and doing away with the diode ring, given the nature of the inputs (equal-amplitude square waves). Nonetheless, it performs beautifully.
Other kind of optocouplers may work, but I found that using an optotriac gives a warmer sound, damper sound. A bit moist at times. Also, it was the first optocoupler I found lying around.
The patch panel
The patch panel (a 16DIL socket) is my solution to the configurability problem. It lays at the top center of the console. As a quick way to reconfigure the synthesizer, you can place «patch cables» across the 16DIL pins to reconfigure (at the present time):
The capacitor bank for OSC1
The capacitor bank for OSC2
It also offers a quick way to insert processing elements in the chain, like extra capacitors, coils, screws, various body parts, etc…
Schematics
You can download the Pianalogic DLV schematics clicking on the image at the right. I tried to stay accurate to the prototype. If you don’t seem able to replicate the design, don’t hesitate to contact me at my email address.
Lessons learned
Put a big fat capacitor between the power source terminals. Will make your life much less miserable when dealing with the mighty 555.
I lost almost two days fighting signal coupling between the two oscillators before realizing the problem lied somewhere else.
You can pick really good matches for the capacitor banks (giving really good tuning for the different octaves) from a small set of capacitors.
I tried 12, calculated the capacity of each one using a KORG tuner (working backwards from the astable formula), and settled on the closest 5 of them. Yes, the system also qualifies for the utility category as a «capacitance meter», but that is bending the rules too much.
