7 Jan
2013
7 Jan
'13
11:14 p.m.
On Mon, January 7, 2013 9:42 am, Johannes Kroll wrote:
I was not trying to say it shouldn't be hacked, just that there needs to
be a large enough group of people who also see a need (or a why) for
hacking it before there is much support (so that you are not doing the
whole thing on your own). Those are all good reasons you have above (none
of which I had thought of) I am sure more would show up out of need too.
On Sun, 6 Jan 2013 08:48:35 -0800
"Len Ovens" <len(a)ovenwerks.net> wrote:
As for hacking
the unit itself, the first question is why. Not so much
why
you want to, but why would others want to. Before something gets the
firm/software hacked there generally needs to be a reason at least a few
people want to do so. Some extra functionality that is obvious (the
smart
phone has so much locked functionality it is frustrating so there are
lots
of hacks). The dr already seems to me to anything I would think of using
it for,
As to why, I can think of a few things:
- triggering recording at fixed time intervals, or based on some audio
event like raised volume, or based on some external event, e. g. for
syncing to a video camera
- implementing USB audio so the device can be used as an external
microphone. The recorders I've seen only output an analog signal.
- changing recording parameters like custom sampling rates or different
encodings. Commercial ones mostly do uncompressed WAV or MP3, but no
lossless compression like FLAC for example.
Other people probably have other ideas... Last not least, I simply like the idea of being in
control of hardware
I buy.
Nothing wrong with that.
As to price: the DSO nano is a free/open source
oscilloscope which
isn't expensive at all, so building free and inexpensive hardware is
possible. Actually, using the DSO nano as a base could be a good
start for a recorder, it has A/D converters, mass storage and
everything... Just no mics.
It could be a good base, but I think you may wish to add an A/d converter
with more than 4bit sample depth (at least it looks like to me) and single
channel. The sample rate is fine (though not fixed but variable so I don't
know how easy to set to 48k or whatever), but takes lots of CPU as the cpu
becomes part of the codec. However, there are lots of unused pins (i/o
ports) on the cpu and it is open so the possibility of adding something is
there. There is a schematic in the manual on
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/micro-digital-storage-oscilloscopedso-nano…
for download which is where I got my info.
It has a display, buttons, battery, USB port, etc. I might be tempted to
add a second USB port (host instead of client) and use one of the cheap
USB audio ports (parts all in the USB plug) and some $5 mics. I just found
a great site for DIY mics That has some better pres than what comes with
the little electrets. (its on my other computer :P )
--
Len Ovens
www.OvenWerks.net