Please help. Sound Board recommendation.

Pepperpete1

New Member
I didn't think this would be so difficult but hopefully someone can help me out. I am looking for a sound board for a blaster project. All I need it to do is play a single audio file but in a specific way. When I pull the trigger it starts the file. When I release it stops. When I pull the trigger again it starts at the same place it left off. And when it reaches the end of the file, it simply stops playing and doesn't repeat until I cycle power. Would anyone on here have ANY suggestions as I've been searching all night for something like this. Thanks very much. What are people using for Soundboards these days as I've been out of the game for years and just getting back to it now.
 
There are mp3 player boards where the "play" button, when pressed a second time, acts as a "pause" button.

The board I'm familiar with, has play on power-up. So, when powering up, it would need a latching button, and then you would have to have a momentary button also press during power up. The latching power button would continue to provide power, and the momentary button would be connected to the "play"/"pause" button on the board. The device would power up, then pause, and only un-pause when the momentary button is pressed on trigger pull. I believe you would also have to have a momentary button on the trigger release, to pause it again, after un-pausing on trigger pull. This is all a physical trigger mechanism. I'm not familiar with anything that does this function automatically.

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For all my "simple sound needs", I am using the DFPlayerMini mp3 module, connected to an Arduino.
At aliexpress.com, you get the DFPlayerMini module for about $2, an Arduino ProMini (or Nano) for $3, and the smallest microSD card you can find (for $1-$2). The DFPLayer module has a little amp on board, which is sufficient for a small speaker. Or itsoutput can be connected to a larger amp. It depends on how comfortable you are with Arduino and soldering. But it's a very cheap and flexible setup which can easily be extended and/or modified.
A simple Arduino program would check the push button (your trigger). Once it is closed, it starts playing the sound file. When it's released, it pauses the sound - and continues once the button is closed again (and then the two latter steps are repeated). If you had slightly different versions of your sound file, the Arduino could play those randomly. This would make your prop less predictable, which I always like.
 
Yep, using an Arduino could potentially work and would require minimal programming. It's an alternative to my purely physical switching system. It depends on your skillset Pepperpete1. Neither option is necessarily easy for a beginner. What is your skill level?
 
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