Upload files to musicmaker SD card via BLE or USB?

Please tell us which board you are using.
For CircuitPython issues, ask in the Adafruit CircuitPython forum.

Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.
Locked
User avatar
nugenta
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2022 4:10 pm

Upload files to musicmaker SD card via BLE or USB?

Post by nugenta »

First let me give a BIG thank you to team Adafruit for the Feather line of boards and wings. I have used the M0 Feather with the Music Maker to make an adaptive communication board for a friend of mine with a physically disabled daughter who now uses it as a primary communication device. I have the M0 Bluefruit acting as a wireless keyboard for interface to an iPad, as well as the music maker playing audio and the text for each button displayed on OLED screens, all thanks to Adafruit hardware and software libraries. Audio files, settings, menu config, etc are all stored on the music maker SD card. Configuration occurs by removal of SD card and uploading files. I am now working on "V3" and would love to figure out the following.

Is it possible to use the BLE connection to upload files via the M0 Bluefruit to the Music Maker SD card? This would allow us to bypass the SD card to adjust system settings as well as upload new audio files for the music maker. It would also help us to waterproof the design by limiting the required port openings where water can get in.

Is it possible to use the M0 USB connection to accomplish the same thing, i.e. use the USB on the M0 to act as a "flash drive" with the Music Maker SD card?
SoundBoardV2.jpeg
SoundBoardV2.jpeg (611.43 KiB) Viewed 47 times

User avatar
mikeysklar
 
Posts: 13936
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:10 pm

Re: Upload files to musicmaker SD card via BLE or USB?

Post by mikeysklar »

This is an impressive project. Well done making a truly enabling piece of hardware that also is so professional looking.

Unfortunately, there is no road to get you to u/l files over BLE. The closest I've seen is to use the Adafruit BLE Connect App which can do image file transfers. It also supports UART where you could maybe convert your the audio file to a clear text hex array and upload it. Nothing established right now with Arduino code to make this easy.

Two other routes to consider:

1) SD Card Extender or PCBs making the swapping of SD cards easier

https://www.adafruit.com/?q=sd+card+ext ... =BestMatch

2) Use a Raspberry Pi Zero W which would allow remotely copying files and has built in audio plackback. This would come with the compromise of having a full blown OS to deal with.

User avatar
nugenta
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2022 4:10 pm

Re: Upload files to musicmaker SD card via BLE or USB?

Post by nugenta »

Thank you for the reply and link to SD card extenders, which I had not seen before. I actually used a RPi Zero W on another similar project and the drawbacks are increased power and long boot-up time, although Feathers have more going for them. Feather boards are much better for low power and fast bootup and have the battery charging stuff all worked out already. We need to board to last ~12-24 hours on a charge being used, which is possible with the Feather/MusicMaker but not really with the RPi Zero on a reasonable battery. Given what we needed the M0+Music Maker combo was almost perfect out of the bag. I guess i'm just casting a wish out to the internet for the "cherry on top". :)

User avatar
mikeysklar
 
Posts: 13936
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:10 pm

Re: Upload files to musicmaker SD card via BLE or USB?

Post by mikeysklar »

I certainly understand why you would prefer to do it all on a Feather setup.

On the CircuitPython side there is a new BLE_File_Transfer library which can download files right on to a Feather. The Feather also has the ability to play MP3 files so the MusicMaker is not critical. It might be fun to explore this option to see if you can make it all go.

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_Ci ... e_Transfer
https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpytho ... -mp3-audio

There could be non-Adafruit Arduino solutions to consider as well, but I've not come across a setup that I think will work.

Locked
Please be positive and constructive with your questions and comments.

Return to “Feather - Adafruit's lightweight platform”