Music Maker Shield trouble

[pqtech01]

Hello. I'm working on a project with the Adafruit Music Maker (https://www.adafruit.com/product/1788) and an Arduino Uno. The intended goal is to utilize 11 sensors (These sensors specifically: https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/sh ... /fb6-ln-0e). I want 6 sensors play a particular audio file, 4 sensors play a different audio file, and the last 1 plays a separate audio file as well when one of those sensors are triggered.
The Music Maker shield was working well when I was first using it, however, now it only partially works. I have 3 audio files on the micro SD card and 2 of them work as intended, though for whatever reason the Music Maker shield does not like the other audio file. I've been troubleshooting for a couple days now and have yet to understand why it doesn't like to play that one file properly.
I tried to retrace my steps with the project, and loaded up the player_simple example sketch, but that specific audio file doesn't sound good at all. The audio file is MUCH quieter than the other (working) files. It also has some popping and clipping. I've tried to understand why this is happening, but I am at a complete loss. I have a feeling it has something to do with the hardware rather than the software, but I'm still learning the ins and outs of electronics, so my knowledge and understanding is limited.
If someone would be able to assist me soon, I'd be very grateful. Thank you!

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[mikeysklar]

The soldering on this could be better. You have cold joints with solder blobs and some PCB scaring.

What file format are you playing and encoding (sample rate and bit depth)?

Have you adjusted the software volume?

Code: Select all

musicPlayer.setVolume(.001,.001);

[pqtech01]

The soldering on this could be better. You have cold joints with solder blobs and some PCB scaring.

What file format are you playing and encoding (sample rate and bit depth)?

Have you adjusted the software volume?

Code: Select all

musicPlayer.setVolume(.001,.001);

I'm using mp3 files. I unfortunately don't know what sample rate or bit depth my audio files have or where to find that info. Any suggestions?

[marshaj847]

I would suggest getting a free audio editing file such as Audacity https://www.audacityteam.org/
This program will display info of your files such as bitrate and depth... it will also let you save it at a different setting.

[mikeysklar]

MP3 files have id3 tags which many MP3 players and OS level utilities can read to give you the details of the file format.

If you are on a Mac you can just right click on the file name. Otherwise you will need to download an MP3 player, id3 tag reader, or audio editor as suggested by @marshaj847.

[pqtech01]

When I load the file into Audacity, it shows me that it is Stereo, 44100Hz, 32-bit float. Though I don't know if any of those values are relevant to my issue.

[mikeysklar]

Looking at the VS1053 datasheet it appears MP3 is well supported at all sample and bitrates.

https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/datasheets/vs1053.pdf

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Since you have been getting low volume you can try the volume change I suggested earlier in this thread or increasing the volume from within Audacity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T-FSS1RR-M