Wow! This is a really cool device! I've been wanting to add some background music to my Bally Star Trek and this would be just the thing! Now that I think of it you could actually hook this up to multiple pins and run it into a game room sound system. Start the play on one machine and it starts a song. Start play on another machine and it plays a different song.

Will need to look into it some more. Thanks for resurrecting the thread!!

OK, I just ordered one of these things from Amazon. Free shipping. Also just dug out some old Star trek CDs from 15 years ago. I've got a great CD with a lot of the different Star Trek Themes from both the movies and TV series. All By Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops. Great orchestral recordings. Also found my CD with all the original TV series sound effects. There is also a great website that has a ton of Star Trek sound effects MP3s that can be downloaded.

What I plan to do is work up my Bally Star Trek. Attract mode and between balls I will trigger the bridge environment sound with the ball drain switch. Should be cool to just have that bridge sound while the game is waiting to be played. Once the ball is plunged it will trigger the plunge lane switch that will start the motion picture theme music. When the ball drains it will trigger a Klingon disrupter sound effect that will cut off the music and then revert back to the bridge environment sound as you wait to replunge the ball. One more switch on the drop target reset solenoid will trigger a Klaxon Red Alert Sound and then go to one of the other Star Trek theme songs. Each time you drop all the targets your multiplier goes up and you get a klaxon and a different theme song. That should keep things from getting too monotonous and should help to build the excitement. I plan to keep all the original game sounds going as is and just have it mixed with the orchestral theme musics.

One technical question. Can this MP3 Trigger be powered by the pins 5 VDC output off the power board? Would make it a lot easier to just get the power directly from the pin.

Interesting thing I just discovered while listening to all the different themes. Did you know that the theme used for "The Next Generation" TV series is the same theme as used for Star Trek "The Motion Picture" the first movie and the movie this Bally game is modeled after? I never realized that before.

This will be a great mod project to work on especially since I just finished the full LED retrofit. I will use the time while I wait for the MP3 Trigger to arrive working on selecting and mixing the sound effects and music for the 5 different sound files I will need to make this happen. Can't wait to start on it!

Study the video and the MP3 Trigger manual. If you use a separate switch you DO NOT need a power supply for those switches. The MP3 Trigger board already supplies that for you. Each of the 18 trigger points on the board has 2 contact points. You just wire each end of the switch to each point. The switch will just close the circuit and trigger the sound. Very simple.

I've been reading that the audio output of the MP3 Trigger was designed to drive a set of headphones. I would like to instead plug it into a set of common add on powered computer speakers. Does anyone know if this will work or do you need to add the circuitry to isolate to audio ground? How are some of you getting this hooked up to play through speakers?

OK, you just don't get it. The 4.5-12VDC input voltage is to power the board. It has nothing to do with the switch inputs. This board is designed so that you can trigger the switch inputs two different ways.

#1 Simply close the circuit of the switch input with a switch or jumper.
#2 Use an external voltage of 5V to trigger the switch input.

So if you use a new dedicated switch mounted somewhere on your playfield to trigger the switch input the switch needs no power applied to it. Just wire it to the two contacts of each switch input.

I hope that clarifies it for you.

I do not want to use the speaker in my pin as that will already be in use by the pins regular sounds. Plus you can't hook two amplifiers to one speaker. I do want to use a separate computer type powered speaker system as that will be in stereo sound and also can have a sub woofer. The issue I brought up is, in reading comments on the sparkfun website, there seems to be a problem when trying to connect this unit to an amplifier rather than just headphones. Some people have experienced a ground loop problem that creates a hum. I was just asking here if any one had that sort of problem and what type of amplification they may be using.

Yes I have already seen that mod that solves the amp problem. I was mostly curious if others have needed to actually do this mod and wanted to know what kind of amp systems they have been using successfully that may not need this mod.

Redketchup, Do you have any pics of how you piggybacked that second leaf switch from Marco Specialties? I'm looking at ordering two but I would really like to see it in action first and especially how it's mounted. The pic provided by Marco is not that clear.

Thanks!

OK, The mod is easy to do and will provide the protection. Strange that it wasn't incorporated into the original design.

As I already mentioned I will keep the sound separate. I am a sound engineer and own a recording studio and sound system rental business. I know all about what is needed to mix two separate sound sources together. What you don't want to be doing is trying to mix a speaker output like what is coming originally out of the pin with some other line/headphone output of a totally different device like the MP3 Trigger. That can cause all kinds of issues!

I'll just keep it simple and feed the audio from the MP3 trigger to a good external computer speaker system. Simply mount the two speakers to the sides of the back box and leave the sub on the floor under the pin.

Thanks!!

Did you do the mod to the MP3 Trigger so that you could feed it into your line mixer?

If you want to do this you may need to do the mod as we have been discussing here. Still trying to get the definitive lowdown on this however.

Good! So you do understand that are two ways to trigger each of the trigger input circuits. It's actually very simple if you use a separate dedicated switch to trigger each of the trigger inputs.

That's good to know. Thank you. I guess the simplest way to do this is to just solder up a "pigtail" directly to the extra components and then the board on one end and an inline 1/8 inch jack on the other. That way I can just feed the wire with the jack out some hole on the pinball machine to get it outside so that it can easily be connected to whatever speaker system I decide to use.

This should be a real fun project to work on and I'm really looking forward to it!!

Thanks once again!

A line mixer is usually used to combine two similar line level signals. Such as the output of a cd player and maybe an electronic keyboard. With the line mixer you can independently adjust the volume of each source and also adjust the tone (bass & treble) for each source. The audio is then combined and then can be sent to an amplifier which will drive the speakers.

The problem that exists with trying to get the sound that is produced by a pinball machine into this setup is the fact that the audio source, preamp, and amplifier are all already part of the pins sound board. The output coming out of the sound board to the speaker is a speaker level signal. This signal is a LOT stronger than a line out signal and can easily overdrive the line mixer. It can be done but you need to make some very crucial adjustments to your pins output volume and the line mixers input volumes.

The other problem is that even if you can get a good "mix" between the two vastly different type of audio signals, your line mixer still will only output a line level audio signal. You cannot hook this signal to a speaker as it is not strong enough to drive the speaker. You will still need some other amplifier to drive the speaker.

Since the pin's soundboard has all the circuitry already combined on the board, I cannot imagine any way you could get the line level signal off the board, through your line mixer, and then back to the boards amplifier circuit.

Now for your situation Jean-Luc you mentioned that you would not be using the pins sound ay all. In that case you do not need any sort of line mixer if you only plan to use one MP3 Trigger unit. If you plug it into a powered computer type speaker system, that system will already have volume and maybe even some tone controls. You may, however, still need to do the "line output" mod on the MP3 Trigger. Now if you plan to use two MP3 trigger units in your game. One for continuous music and the other for the sound effects and call outs, you would need the line level mixer to combine the outputs of the two MP3 Trigger units. You could then plug your line mixer into the powered computer type speaker system.

Again I hope this clarifies things for you!

How would you get the line out of your computer or the MP3 Trigger unit into your pinball machine's sound board amplification circuit so that it can drive the pinball machine's speaker?

I was looking at cheap mixers. This one has (1) output (4)Inputs
And a built in amp, as well will need a 1/8-Inch jack adapter - http://www.amazon.com/Pyle-Pro-PHA40-4-Channel-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B003M8NVFS/ref=pd_cp_MI_2

NO that will not work! That has One input and FOUR Outputs. You need something that works the other way around! Look at the pic.

41fTsG7vJVL.jpg

This is not the same as the mixer shown by Betelgeuse. That Behringer mixer you posted is a MONO mixer. You need a STEREO Mixer like the one that Betelgeuse has posted. Remember that the MP3 Trigger unit outputs a stereo signal and you will need a stereo speaker system with two speakers to play back the right and left channel that comes out the MP3 trigger unit. And if you decide to use a mixer the mixer must also be able to input and output stereo signals.

Yes exactly! Watching that video made it all very clear instantaneously!!

Did you have to do the Audio Line Out Mod as we have been discussing on the MP3 Trigger units before connecting them to the line mixer? Or did you just hook them up directly without any mod?

Thanks for the info! I know in theory this would be possible but I never realized that it would be relatively easy to do in actuality. In the pro sound world we do have special "direct boxes" that can take a high level speaker output and drop it down to a line or even balanced mic level signal. I assumed that is how they would be doing it at an Expo as it would be easier than hacking into a sound board. Just clip two alligator clips to the speaker terminals and feed them into the special "direct box".

Yes that PMIX-100 looks like it is just the right thing for this application.

Good to hear that for our application it may not be an issue. It would seem that there shouldn't be an issue in plugging this MP3 Trigger unit directly into a computer speaker system. Especially since it has been working for you just fine with that PMIX-100 line mixer. There should be no common grounds between the two to cause any problems. Perhaps if the unit is incorporated more directly into other audio circuitry in a larger project the problems of ground loops may be created.

This has been a great thread! Don't see too much modding done regarding sound. But that's probably because most of us never knew such a wonderful device like the MP3 Trigger even existed! I'm sure we'll see more use of this great product for pinballs in the future and it might all be because of this great thread!!!

I'll keep posting as I progress through my project.

Thanks again!

Just finished working up my sound files for the MP3 Trigger. Also wrote the INI file. Just need to find a microSD flash card. Also ordered capacitors and resistors to do the audio line out mod if needed and ordered my leaf and micro switches from Marco. I think I got all the pieces together for this project and I'm looking forward to test the MP3 Trigger when it gets here!

That's what I meant when I said I got to find a card. I know I have one laying around somewhere! Don't really need anything bigger than 2 gig. I only plan to use 6 files anyways.

Couldn't find a card laying around. Thought I had a few for my video camera but those are not the micro cards. Really just want to get a 2GB card so that it can be used for the bootloader if needed but the 2GB cards are not so easy to find anywhere! I did find one however on ebay for $6 shipped and it's now on it's way along with everything else I'll need.

I'll keep you all posted as the project continues!

Well hopefully I won't have to deal with any firmware updates as it seems that everything for this device has been pretty much finalized. It seems that the last firmware update is 2.53 that was done over a year ago back in April 2012. Does anyone know how to check what firmware version is currently installed? I would figure since I'm purchasing a new unit it should have the latest 2.53 firmware already installed.

I did find a source for the firmware updates. That's how I determined the last update was April 2012. Here is the link:

http://robertsonics.com/makerjam/support/

What I wanted to know is how to check what firmware version is currently installed when you get a new one?

That's a good point. I'm glad they are still making them and they are still available to purchase. Might be an idea to get a few more just in case! On the other hand this thread might spur a run on them and they will either run out or they will up the production!

Interesting. I think I remembered that they had something like 11 in stock when I ordered mine yesterday. You see it's all your fault for resurrecting this thread!

Jean-Luc,

Any ideas on sources for leaf switches that don't cost an arm and a leg? I picked up 2 from Marco at $8 each which is a bit much but OK since I only need 2 leaf switches for my project now. But in the future if I decide to get really creative the need for a whole lot more may be there.

How many are you looking at needing and where are you planning to get them?

Any switch will work. The difficult thing with those micro switches will be figuring out how to mount them so that they will work. You will need to devise some sort of mounting bracket so that they can be mounted at the correct height and orientation especially when mating them with leaf switches.

For my mod I got two leaf switches as they will be used on a rollover and the drain switch which are also both leaf switches. Should be easily able to piggyback them or mount them side by side to the existing leaf switch. I will also be using one micro switch on the drop target reset lever as that type of switch will work best there.

For pinball application each area that you want to switch will need a specific type of switch depending on what will work best. One type will not work for every area.

So you got your board. What are you plugging it in to to listen to it? Headphone or some sort of amplifier speaker set up? I should be getting mine some time this week along with everything else. My sound files are all ready to go too!

OK!! Some of my stuff came in today including the board and the switches. Can't do much with the board as I still need to get the SD card. So I decided to mount the 3 switches.

PHASE 1- Switch installation:

I picked up two leaf switches from Marco Specialties part #180-5006-00. Here is the link:

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/180-5006-00

Interestingly even though I ordered 2 of the same switch they sent me 2 slightly different versions as can be seen here in this pic:

Leaf_Switches.jpg

Also shown are the longer 1 1/4 inch screws and the 1/4 inch nylon spacers that are needed for the installation. The switches come with diodes installed but they are not needed so I simply cut them off. These switches work real well because you can easily piggy back the switches on top of the existing leaf switches. They have a plastic "finger" actuator that insures electrical separation but the "finger" is pretty long so a spacer is required. Below is a pic of the original drain hole switch:

DH_Switch.jpg

And here is a pic of the new leaf switch piggy backed on the drain hole switch:

DH_Stack.jpg

As you can see the spacer is necessary and a bit of leaf tweaking had to be done. Below is a pic of the installation on the plunger lane switch which needed far less tweaking.

Lane_Stack.jpg

I also purchased a micro switch part #5647-12693-19. Here is the link and a pic:

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/5647-12693-19

Micro_Switch.jpg

This switch needed to be mounted on the drop target assembly and set up so that it would trigger every time there is a drop target reset. This switch was not that expensive and seemed to have a good length and shape for the actuator wire. Luckily there was a good size hole already correctly located in the drop target assembly frame. I did not need to drill a new hole. The hole was a lot bigger than the bolt so I used a couple of increasingly sized washers to enable the mounting of the bolt. See the pic below:

DT_Stud.jpg

Continued in next post.

PHASE 1 - Continued

The washers and nut securing the bolt also acts as a spacer for the micro switch giving it some space from the drop target assembly frame. The micro switch is then mounted to the protruding bolt and secured with another washer and nut. The switch is is quite secure and I don't think a second bolt will be needed. See the pics below:

DT_Switch.jpg
DT_Switch_2.jpg

When the drop targets reset the reset bar is pulled up by the solenoid thus engaging the micro switch. You can see the micro switch actuator wire resting on the reset bar above. It works real nice.

After I completed the installation of the switches I tested operation of the game and also made sure the new switches were working with a volt/ohm meter. I then soldered the wiring to the switches and routed the wiring along the playfield to the top end and dropped the wires into the playfield cabinet where I plan to mount the MP3 trigger board. Another test of the switch operation was done at the end of the new wiring with the volt/ohm meter to make sure the wiring was sound.

PHASE 2 will involve transferring the MP3 files to the SD card, testing the MP3 Trigger operation and mounting the MPS Trigger board in the cabinet.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Yes that one older looking leaf switch most definitely looked like a possible return. That's OK though as it works just fine. Don't want to hassle with trying to return it.

That's good to know. I've read that there could be problems hooking it up to an amplified speaker setup. I did pick up the components to do the line level output mod but when my computer speakers get here I will try to hook it up without the mod first and see if it works. From what I've heard from you guys here on pinside it should work fine without needing the mod.

I will be hooking it up to an Altec lansing BX-1221 amplified computer speaker setup. I plan to mount the two satellite speakers under the back box one at each side facing the player. The sub will go inside the playfield cabinet. just waiting for it to get here. Here is a pic:

Altec_Lansing_BX1221.jpg

I've read that too. It seems the best thing to do is just try it first and see if there are problems. I suppose not as Betelgeuse didn't seem to have that problem with his setup.

Hopefully some more items show up today and, if so, I will post the progress on the next phase!

Thanks!

My SD card arrived and here is Phase 2:

PHASE 2 - MP3 Trigger Installation:

This phase was pretty easy and straight forward. Transferred my completed audio files to the SD card and also transferred the .ini file. Hooked up the MP3 trigger to power and headphones for a test run and everything worked. Did find one issue however with the initialization code as presented in the downloaded instructions. When setting up the unit to play a random group of mp3 files "N" in the #RAND N command needs to be the file number of the first random mp3 you want to be part of the group. Not the last mp3 you want excluded. For example in my case I did not want the mp3 file 1&2 included in the random group. According to the instructions the code should be #RAND 2. This did not work as it included mp3 file 2 as part of the group. So I changed it to #RAND 3. That fixed the problem as now only mp3 file 3 and higher are included in the random playing group. Here is the code I used:

#RAND 3
#TRIG 01, 0, 0
#TRIG 02, 0, 0
#TRIG 18, 2, 0

After the successful test I then went ahead and soldered the 3 pairs of switch wires to the MP3 Trigger. The drain hole switch to trigger 1, the plunger lane switch to trigger 2 and the drop target assembly reset switch to trigger 18. Tested the unit again and had no problems or issues with the wire lengths. Everything working as planned!!

I used #4 screws with a 1/4 inch nylon spacers, as shown below, to mount the MP3 Trigger board to the bottom of the playfield cabinet.

Screws.jpg

And here is the MP3 trigger mounted in the Pin.

MP3.jpg MP3_Cab.jpg

For now I am just using a set of headphones to test and listen to the playback. Also just have the MP3 Trigger plugged into the aux service outlet in the cabinet. Phase 3 will be the installation of the Altec Lansing Computer Speakers. Phase 4 will be installing a new on-off-on master power switch so that I can select, on power up, whether to have the music or not.

More to come!!

Rather than having the subwoofer sitting under the cabinet on the floor, I was hoping that by mounting the subwoofer inside the playfield cabinet it would actually help boost the bass as the cabinet would act as a resonator and a sound chamber. I will try it both ways once I get it and see what sounds best.

This is such a great project!!

Brian,

Thanks for the heads up I'll try to remember that if I decide to add a few more songs in the future. Right now I'm using the same theme song every time the ball is plunged. The group of 5 random songs are only triggered when the targets reset. This gives me a new random theme song each time I complete the 4 drop down targets which advances the score multiplier. This is not the easiest thing to do so those other themes don't get heard very often.

Thanks for the info though!

Nice set up you got there. Just trying to figure out what you have done. Looks like 2 MP3 Trigger boards with the audio outs going into a couple of volume pots and then going into some sort of amplifier. Is that an amplifier board below the MP3 Triggers? Are you somehow mixing the 2 MP3 Trigger boards together and then feeding the amplifier or are you keeping the MP3 Triggers as separate left and right inputs to the amplifier. I do see what looks like speaker wire heading out of the amplifier. What type of speaker set up will you be using?

I see no power hook-ups to the boards yet and also no trigger inputs. What are your plans for power? What Pin is this installed in?

Keep us posted as it looks like a great project!

Redketchup,

Nice work on that Dolly Parton! The header pins on the board is a great idea especially if you are doing a lot of switches. I see some very creative switch mounting that you have done. Always hard to figure out how to best mount the switches. Also an interesting idea to add the second speaker on the cabinet floor. Only problem is it defeats the stereo audio that both of your MP3 Trigger boards could offer. Did you sum the left and right channels coming off of each MP3 Trigger? Or did you decide just to use one channel? I'm sure you got some great Dolly Parton music coming off that setup and it would be a shame to not have it heard in stereo.

Any chance to put up a video so that we can hear what you have created? Would love to see and hear it in action!

I see. A blank slate to start with! So are you planning to give it some sort of theme? I do see that it spells "VEGAS" up on the stand up targets. This has really got me curious now! Can't wait to see the video!!

Just ordered another MP3 Trigger board. Going to give my old 1972 Williams Super Star some music!! This pin has a great music theme. I played it in the local pool hall when I was a teen. I remember all those great 70's songs by groups like Chicago, Tower of Power, Elton John, BTO, The Doobie Brothers and so so many more. I have a great Time/Life CD collection of all the great 70's hits so I just went through them and picked out about 80 of my all time favorites!

I'm going to keep it simple for this pin as I just want to hear those tunes when I'm playing. I'm going to mount a switch to the drain kick out solenoid so every time a new ball is served it will start a new song. I will set the switch to random so it will always play something different. I'll get five random songs per game, one at the start of every ball! It should create some great incentive to keep the ball from draining so that you can hear a complete song start to finish!

An update to the Star Trek project. My Altec Lansing speaker system should be here on Monday. Will get that installed and present an update here. Been just using headphones for now but I'm really looking forward to get the music and effects through speakers and blended with the original sounds from the pin. Should be totally awesome!

This little MP3 Trigger is just the greatest gizmo for doing these sound mods. I just love it!!

That would be easy to do. But you could take it a step further by installing a house wide sound system and wire every door, window, toilet, whatever to a MP3 Trigger Board and broadcast it throughout the house!!!

Sounds Great!! Interesting choice of music and sound effects. Are you planning any more artwork for the playfield? What about the back glass?

A strange thing started to happen with my MP3 Trigger a few days ago. When the ball was sitting in the drain hole closing the number one switch, the number two trigger would sometimes, for no reason, kick in song two. It got so bad that whenever switch one was closed trigger two would constantly retrigger song two a couple of times a second. Here is where it gets even stranger. If I manually held trigger switch one it would still do the same retriggering of song file two - but only sometimes. Sometime I could hold the switch closed and song one would play correctly with no retriggering of song two. What Gives??!!

Then I noticed something. If my other hand was touching the cabinet rail while I manually closed the switch everything work correctly. But as soon as I let go of the rail the unit would start triggering song two like mad!! Somehow my body was acting as some type of ground that prevented the problem! This is really strange as everything had worked fine for a week and then, out of the blue, this started to happen.

For some reason the MP3 Trigger needed ground to the pin to behave. This is really strange as the whole MP3 Trigger system supposed to be isolated from the pin. Well I wasn't going to argue with the situation so I simple soldered a wire to the ground/common point of one of the unused triggers and grounded the other end to the pins ground. Problem solved!! Everything working as it should!

Update on the next phase. My Altec Lansing computer speakers did arrive on Monday. Didn't have a chance to work on hooking it up because I had a chance to score a free pinball machine instead! I've been running a WTB old pinball ad on Craigslist and I got a call on Sunday from someone with a Data East Back to the Future. So I went to check it out on Monday and the guy just gave it to me!!! It's pretty dirty, rubbers are all shot, and the MPU board has major battery damage, otherwise it is in pretty good shape. The GIs do light up and there is a "Back to the Future" call out coming off the sound board when you switch it on. The MPU however does not boot up. Since the MPU is so badly damaged I figured it would be best to simply get a new board. It's been ordered and should be here by the end of the week. Hopefully she will fire up once I get the new board in. Then all I need to do is clean and shop the machine. Off course will be relamping her in LEDs.

It's great to have another project pin since I've pretty much done everything I can to the ones I already have! I should be able to get the Altec Lansing speakers mounted and hooked up tomorrow. I did test them and it sounds great! Will update with a few pics once I get that done.

What a great hobby!!!

PHASE 3 - Altec Lansing Speaker Installation:

I finally got around to installing the Altec Lansing speaker system. This was pretty simple. I chose these speakers because of the size and shape of the 2 satellite speakers. The cylinder shape made it real easy to mount them upside down under each side of the back box as shown below:

Altec_1.jpg Altec_2.jpg

The speakers are light enough that I just used double sided adhesive mounts to mount them under the back box. Routed the cables through the same hole as the power cord. It gives a real clean look and I have easy access to the volume control.

The sub woofer went inside the cabinet as shown below:

Altec_3.jpg

It fits in there perfect and doesn't take up any floor space. But most important it sounds great! You can feel the bass resonating through the cabinet. As I expected the cabinet does act as a resonating chamber and really enhances the output of that small sub woofer.

For now I just have the 2 power supplies plugged into the service outlet as you can also see in the photo. I'm still waiting for my on-off-on switch so I can complete the final phase of the project and wire the power so that I can run the machine with or without the new sounds. I'll cover that in the next installment.

Thanks again!!