Support
Here are the files for the current version of the MP3 Trigger V2 firmware. I recommend always using the latest version.
Version 2.53: Adds the following improvements to v2.50: Faster startup with lots of MP3 files, control of initial volume, and ability to make TRIG18 a play status output pin. See sample initialization file below for documentation on the volume and play status output functions. Fixed a bug that prevented proper parsing of init file commands when the command section of the file was more than 256 bytes long.
Sample initialization file for version 2.53 (zipped)
Version 2.50: Supports MP3 playback using FAT32 formatted SDHC microSD cards, as well as the older FAT16 formatted SDSC cards. Code optimization allows for 192kbps MP3 playback over a wider range of cards.
Features inherited from Version 2.40 beta: Supports init file for setting baudrate and alternate trigger functions. Requires new filenames for triggers. See this post for more info.
Sample initialization file for version 2.50 (zipped)
Version 2.40 beta: Supports init file for setting baudrate and alternate trigger functions. Requires new filenames for triggers. See this post for more info.
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.40 beta
Version 2.23: Not recommended! Included here for archival purposes. These versions did not support setting baud rate or alternate trigger functions and therefore came in different flavors. Also, issues with 192kbps MP3 files have since been fixed.
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23 2400 baud
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23 9600 baud
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23 38.4k baud (default version)
Alternate Version 2.23r, with a sequential trigger function on TRIG17, and a random trigger function on TRIG18:
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23r 2400 baud
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23r 9600 baud
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23r 38.4k baud
MP3 Trigger V2 Troubleshooting Guide
This will be a work in progress until it converges on the best procedure. Feedback welcome and necessary.
IMPORTANT: Before you begin, remove anything you may have connected to the MP3 Trigger, including any buttons, swtiches, wires, serial adaptors, etc. If you’ve globbed on custom wiring that can’t be removed, then all bets are off.
Please do the tests in the prescribed order. If your unit fails at any point, please mention at what point the first failure occurred when you post to the forum. This will help isolate the problem.
1) Is the Power LED on when you apply power? If not, make sure you have the little slide switch in the correct position for your power source. It should be in the “EXT” position when using a power supply (4.5 to 12VDC) with the on-board barrel connector, or in the “USB” position if supplying powering through the serial connector. Confirm that you are applying the voltage you think you are applying. If you cannot get the Power LED to illuminate, you’ll need to contact your distributor for repair or replacement.
2) Is your PSoC microcontroller alive and running? You can test this as follows: Remove any flash card and turn on the power while holding down the center navigation switch position. This causes the microcontroller to enter the bootloader, and with no flash card installed you should see the Status LED blinking rapidly, indicating that it can’t find the firmware file. If you don’t get this result, then you’ll need to contact the distributor for repair or replacement.
3) Do you have valid firmware installed? You can test this by removing any flash card and turning on the power. (Do not hold down the nav switch for this test.) You should see the Status LED turn on for about 2-3 seconds and then go out, indicating that the firmware is running but you don’t have a flash card installed. Next, install a flash card that DOES NOT have any .MP3 files on it, and cycle the power. You should observe the same 2-3 second flash followed by a single brief flash, indicating that it found a card but no MP3 files. If either one of these things does not occur, then you may need to update your firmware. More likely, there’s a hardware problem with your flash card or the socket. If you get the same result with more than one flash card, then it’s likely the socket and you’ll need to contact the distributor for repair or replacement.
Always make sure you have the most recent firmware version. If in doubt, reload it.
4) Does it play audio at all? Forget the triggers for a moment and just see if the unit will play MP3 audio. Copy one or both of the following files onto an empty flash card. Insert the flash card into the MP3 Trigger and turn on power. You should see the Status LED flash 3 short blinks, indicating that it found a flash card and at least one MP3 file. Use the navigation switch to play the file(s). (Again, it’s important to do this test with nothing connected to the MP3 Trigger except power and your audio output.)
128kbps stereo music test file 1
128kbps stereo music test file 2
You should hear stereo music with a fade-in, fade-out and no glitches.
5) Do the triggers work? Grab the following set of audio files, unzip and copy them onto a blank flash card. They should be the only files on the card. The files are properly named to correspond to the 18 triggers and contain simply the spoken trigger number. Insert the card and turn on the power. When you activate each trigger, you should hear a voice speaking the trigger number.
6) Are you experiencing a long delay before audio when you activate a trigger or when you are trying to loop a track? The following MP3 file is a 10-second A440 sine wave with no silence at the beginning or end of the file. Copy it to a flash card and rename it to be one of the trigger tracks, such as TRACK001.MP3. Activate the corresponding trigger, in this case TRIG01, and you should hear the sine wave for 10 seconds. If you continue to hold TRIG01, it should restart almost immediately. If this is what you observe, but your own MP3 file does not start or loop immediately, then there’s something wrong with your MP3 file.
192kbps stereo A440 sine wave test file
To be continued…
Hans on October 2nd, 2010
Hi Jamie…I have an original MP3 Trigger and PSoC programmer. Will the v2.x firmware versions work with the original hardware?
robertsonics on October 3rd, 2010
Sorry, no. There were hardware changes for the V2 that make the new firmware incompatible with the original version.
Andre on March 15th, 2011
Hello Jamie,
I’ve a V1 MP3 Trigger, but I didn’t found the documentation anywhere, and now sparkun has only V2 documentation. Could you put somewhere the doc for the V1 (board 8-25-09) ? It will be used on my drone
(http://www.youtube.com/hilitec)
Thanks in advance
Regards from Switzerland
André
Andrew on March 18th, 2011
This MP3 trigger is just the thing I need to make voice announcements over a radio system. I’m designing a system that makes alarm announcements to train drivers. One thing that would make the device so much more useful is a “PTT” output to interface with a radio. This output is active while the device is playing audio files. It would be really useful for it to have a configurable “tail” of about 10mS so that several files could be played in sequence with PTT active, and not dropping out between files. Of the 18 trigger inputs, 16 are from a 4:16 MUX and two are general purpose I/O on the processor. A small firmware change would allow such a use of one of these as a PTT output rather than a trigger input. Also useful would be a “Carrier Detect” input; that would cause the MP3 trigger to delay playing audio till the CD was not active. This would allow the device to wait for the radio channel to be clear before transmitting. Waiting for a configurable time up to several seconds would be even more useful.
Another thing I found was that the MP3 trigger seems to “think” that audio files are about 1405mS longer than they actually are. I am using a lot of short words and phrases as audio files and stringing them together into messages. When I create them in CoolEdit I know their exact duration. When I play them and measure their duration by waiting for the “complete” response “X” they measure approx 1405mS longer.
I compensate for all these things in the application program I use to control the device; the application program looks after PTT and CD and a configuration routine plays and measures all the tracks and stores an array of actual track durations. With this the application and device works beautifully! I will have a number of applications for it.
robertsonics on March 21st, 2011
Before addressing the above, let me mention that I’m much more likely to respond quickly to these sort of comments and questions if they are posted in the forum. I just tend to monitor that more often and it’s easier to have a dialog. Thanks.
Regarding a status output, I realize that this would be useful, but honestly believe that the correct way to do this is with a new hardware revision with a dedicated output for this purpose. Currently, the only way to implement would be to re-purpose one of the trigger inputs, and while this is possible, I don’t like the idea of turning something labeled an input into an output. It would be too easy to end up shorting and damaging the PSoC GPIO. I will discuss adding this to future revisions with SparkFun.
In the meantime, I know that some people have wired directly to the LED output. Crude, but it works.
With respect to your observation that the MP3 Trigger thinks the files are 1405ms longer than they actually are, I’m wondering if the problem might be with your mp3 encoder. I have encoded sine waves, looped them and measured the gap at the loop point to be less than 100ms. What version of firmware are you running?
RChesley on June 1st, 2011
In this support Troubleshooting Guide under the power section, it says “1) Is the Power LED on when you apply power? If not, make sure you have the little slide switch in the correct position for your power source. It should be in the “EXT” position when using a power supply (6 to 9VDC)”
The specs for the board (Sparkfun.com product info) say Input voltage: 4.5-12VDC. Are you recommending a narrower specification of 6 to 9VDC and recommending against 4.5VDC to 12VDC as the product info states?
robertsonics on June 2nd, 2011
My mistake – now fixed. The 6 – 9VDC range that I previously mentioned in the post was a carry-over from an earlier design with a different regulator. The input range of the LM1117 according to the datasheet is from (Vout + 1.2V) to 15V, so I have modified the above post to agree with the SparkFun description.
Thanks for the catch
sparky114 on June 11th, 2011
Firstly i would like to take a moment to thank you for this awsome Product you have devoloped!
just a quick question when i try to load up anyone of the three Hex files into the PSoc programmer it says invalid Hex file
but if i program it with MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23r 2400 baud
it works, just dosent want to fire up on the standard version,
Any Clues on what im doing Wrong?
Thanks in Advance
David.
Standard Version 2.23:
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23 2400 baud
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23 9600 baud
MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.23 38.4k baud (default version)
sparky114 on June 11th, 2011
Whoopsy seams like part of that message Juggled up a bit (:
il try do that again Basicly the standard Hex files wont be accepted by the programmer just says invalid Hex file, but it does work with 1 of the alternative versions.
anyideas on what i can
robertsonics on June 13th, 2011
The MP3 Trigger V2 has a resident bootloader that allows firmware upgrades directly from the microSD card without the PSoC programmer. The hex files published on this page are meant to be loaded using the bootloader. If you attempt to use the PSoC programmer you may very well overwrite the bootloader and render your MP3 Trigger useless.
Please review the current user guide for information about how to use the hex files with the bootloader.
robduarte on October 6th, 2011
Hi – the link to the newest firmare (MP3 Trigger V2 Firmware v2.40 beta) is broken (404 not found).
robertsonics on October 7th, 2011
Sorry about that. I was trying to redirect robertsonics.com and didn’t realize it would affect links in my blog. It’s fixed, but you may need to clear your cache.
luisnperez on December 9th, 2011
Robert: Could you please advice if the PUREFORMER from JK audio will do the job of protecting the MP3 Trigger when connecting to any non-isolated electronic equipment?
http://www.fullcompass.com/product/260900.html?utm_source=googleps&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=googleps&gclid=CMDI85O_9awCFYvDKgodSw90Rg
robertsonics on December 10th, 2011
Based on what I see on the website, it certainly looks like it would work, though perhaps a bit expensive.
rahji on December 13th, 2011
mp3trigger is working great for a kiosk i created – problems only arise when i try to connect sony studio headphones. the board seems to freak out with the fancy headphones (i’ve tried several identical pairs). i’m assuming it’s because they are 32 ohms impedance vs the 8 ohms cheapies that are working fine. trouble is that the cheapies sound awful.
any idea what the simplest solution is for getting the better headphones to work with this board? thanks for any info
DGO on December 16th, 2011
Hi robertsonics… again!!
Im going to be updating the firmware on the board. What version of the FW is this board currently being shipped by sparkfun??
Im waiting for this sensor to be plugged in port 18…
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9587
How do you suggest i should wire it??
im algo going to use the PARALLAX sensor.
Thank you and keep on rocking
TonyR on March 21st, 2012
I havw an MP# Trigger V2 (I Think). It has the SD card reader abd switch on one endge. On power up it gives only one long blink of the status light. The only Micro SD cards I can buy are SD HC. Are they supported?
It still has the firmware as supplied, should I load a later version?
TonyR on March 21st, 2012
Hi
I saw the earlier question and the recommendation to install 2.5, which I have tried. The status light blinks rapidly for ever, indicating it did not find MP3TRIGR.HEX. Can I load the firmware from an SD HC card if my firmware is older? Or must I locate a non-HC card?
robertsonics on March 21st, 2012
You’ll need a SDSC FAT16 (2GB or less) card to update your firmware. Once the firmware is updated, you can use any card for normal operation, but you will always need an SDSC FAT16 card for firmware updates, since your bootloader does not support SDHC.
Eric on March 28th, 2012
I want to do a digitalsound modul for a modelling boat and i want to now if a blank sound appaer bitween 2 triggers
Thanks
Eric
Bromus on June 16th, 2012
Hi,
I just got a new MP3 trigger from sparkfun. I like the product and it works great in all respects but one.
It takes a long time to change track! I am using a serial interface to switch between tracks but it takes up to a few seconds before it starts playing. I don’t think that the problem is with the mp3 files, as they start just fine on other players. Even if i use the on board switch it takes time. Am I doing something wrong or do I have to use the triggers to change fast?
Any tips would be helpful!
robertsonics on June 17th, 2012
How much time are you talking about?
My guess is that you need to edit non-audio tag information from the beginning of your MP3 files. Try downloading the test files above and see if the delay goes away when you use those.
kevinglenville on June 28th, 2012
the spoken number test works fine with the navigation switch but not with the trigger inputs. can you help ?
robertsonics on June 28th, 2012
The spoken number files are named using the older trigger naming convention. Please read the latest user manual on the SparkFun website and rename the files accordingly. The triggers should then work fine.
kevinglenville on June 29th, 2012
You say use the spoken word files to test the trigger inputs, they are named correctly surely they should work
kevinglenville on June 30th, 2012
All sorted now, many thanks