vs1053 Breakout Pauses itself randomly during playbacl

[TonyScanga]

I am having a problem with the audio pausing at random points during playback. This happens with different files and at different times
I thought it might be my code, so I tested it with the "player_simple" example, and sure enough the song pauses.
You can enter 'p' on the comm port and the program will print "Paused" and enter 'p' again and it will print
"Resume" and the music will start again.

My question is, have you heard of this problem before, and have any solution? or
Can you lead me toward how to generate a map file so I can see what variables are near the "playingMusic" variable that
might be whacking it. Or some other method to debug it.

FWIW, I'm using a UNO to control it. IDE v1.8.2 vs1053 Library 1.0.4 Playback files .m4a

Thanks in advance for any help.

[adafruit_support_mike]

It sounds like you might have an intermittend connection on the DREQ pin.. the one the VS1053 toggles when it needs more data in its input buffer. Double-check the connections around there and see if that helps.

[TonyScanga]

I checked solder connections, replaced jumper wire on the breadboard from dreq -> pin3.
I still have the problem.

I will try making a solder connection instead of using a jumper on the breadboard and
see if that solves the problem.

Thanks for the quick reply.

[adafruit_support_mike]

If the problem continues, post a photo showing your hardware and connections and we'll take a look. 800x600 images usually work best.

[TonyScanga]

So, I made a permanent proto with all the connections soldered. Since this was more like my final version
I switched to the metro mini.
I'm still having the issue. I don't believe the external wiring is an issue. Not sure if the board could be
bad. The only thing that I guess I could do is try heating the solder joint for the header connection
for the dreq pin. (Pics attached. Not sure they'll help)

I went poking through the library code, and I found something that is a bit concerning:

void Adafruit_VS1053_FilePlayer::feedBuffer(void) {
noInterrupts();
// dont run twice in case interrupts collided
// This isn't a perfect lock as it may lose one feedBuffer request if
// an interrupt occurs before feedBufferLock is reset to false. This
// may cause a glitch in the audio but at least it will not corrupt
// state.
if (feedBufferLock) {
interrupts();
return;
}
feedBufferLock = true;
interrupts();

feedBuffer_noLock();

feedBufferLock = false;
}

As always, thanks for the help.

FullSizeRender(3).jpg (796.29 KiB) Viewed 391 times

FullSizeRender(2).jpg (840.63 KiB) Viewed 391 times

IMG_5835(1).JPG (811.38 KiB) Viewed 391 times

[adafruit_support_mike]

Your soldering looks good, but I see something that might be an unexpected connection above the joint to the Nusic Maker's DREQ pin:

FullSizeRender%283%29.jpg (75.33 KiB) Viewed 377 times

Double check to make sure that isn't bridging to the next row up.

[TonyScanga]

I've checked carefully, and I see no solder bridges.

I've ordered another vs1053 breakout. Hopefully, it will arrive today and
I'll see if I get the same results. A bit of a shotgun approach but with the tools
available to me, I'm not sure how else to proceed.

I'll post the results.

Thanks

[TonyScanga]

So, I've replaced the vs1053 breakout board with the same results.

I've added code which basically calls the "feeder" routine during the idle loop and the player plays the entire
file. So, I think I am losing an interrupt, but I think I'm losing it in software rather than the hardware.

I am playing AAC (m4a) files, which seems to be allowed, Can I assume that you have tested this in your lab?
I know the sample sketch uses mp3 files. I'm just grasping at straws at this point.

Thanks

[adafruit_support_mike]

We've tested the playback system in general, but not exhaustively. Each format has a lot of options, and the set of combinations is huge.

Do you get the same behavior if you convert the files to another format, like MP3?

[TonyScanga]

I found an m4a file that failed pretty consistently. I converted it to an mp3 file and the problem seems to go away.
So, that's good news and bad news. good bcuz it now works, Bad bcuz I now have to convert 100 files.

Thanks for your help.

[adafruit_support_mike]

I'm glad to hear you've found an option that works, at least.