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Controlling electronics from my computer

Bert

Nov 22, 2011
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Hey there! I'm a total electronics noob, but I've been fascinated by this stuff for as long as I can remember and I finally have a project in mind that requires probably more than a bit of know-how in this field. Basically, I want to control a guitar amplifier from my computer. Turn the knobs, flip the switches, etc. (electronically, not robotically. I'm guessing I would be replacing or bypassing the knobs and switches somehow). I'm sure there is a way to do this, but I haven't the faintest idea how to get started. Has anyone ever done this? I realize I may just need to start from the beginning and just learn electronics, but I wanted to see if this had already been done or thought about. If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be amazing.
 

davelectronic

Dec 13, 2010
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Hi bert welcome to the forum. i dont know for sure if music gear can be powered / controlled from your pc, there are electronic interface boards and programs for the pc, so to hazard a guess i would say yes there is, but i am not totally sure onthe best interface board for your music needs, hopefully a member with the pc interface experience can help out on a choise of intrface board for you.
 

alfa88

Dec 1, 2010
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Most electronics these days use digital controls as apposed to analog (potentiometers variable capacitors etc.). The heart of the digital control is a controller chip that turn the pushbutton 1s and 0s into the varied output, On occasion I have seen motorized potentiometers that I suppose could be controlled by a microcontroller A Google search will reveal a plethora of sources. I would recommend that you pick up a microcontroller trainer kit to get your feet wet. Oh, and welcome.
 
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(*steve*)

¡sǝpodᴉʇuɐ ǝɥʇ ɹɐǝɥd
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Jan 21, 2010
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There are easy ways and there are hard ways...

The hard way is to make a robot that will flip the switches and twiddle the knobs.

The easy(er) way is to replace the switches with relays and the volume controls with motorised pots and get some sort of interface to these from your computer.

The latter method will obviously render many of the controls inoperable to humans.

There are probably many other ways too.
 

Bert

Nov 22, 2011
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I'm pretty sure this is simple...

Hey there! I'm a total electronics noob, but I've been fascinated by this stuff for as long as I can remember and I finally have a project in mind that requires probably more than a bit of know-how in this field. Basically, I want to control a guitar amplifier from my computer. Turn the knobs, flip the switches, etc. (electronically, not robotically. I'm guessing I would be replacing or bypassing the knobs and switches somehow). This seems like it would be really simple for anyone that knows anything about the technologies that would be involved, but as I said I really have NO knowledge in this area. I suppose my question then is...should I attempt to learn to do this myself (and if so how do I start?), or should I try to find somebody to do this for me? It seems like a strange thing to do I guess, but I've got a potential business idea that would utilize this.

Thanks,
Rob
 

Harald Kapp

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Nov 17, 2011
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Behind a "knob" is probably a potentiometer. You may be able to replace this by an electronic potentiometer, e.g. http://www.analog.com/en/digital-to-analog-converters/digital-potentiometers/products/index.html.
Your switches could be replaced by small relays (reed relay), photocouplers or PhotoMOS relays (http://www.panasonic-electric-works.com/peweu/en/html/photomos.php?, PhotoMOS is, as far as I know, a trademark, there are comparable devices by other manufacturers, too).

Regards,
Harald Kapp
 

Bert

Nov 22, 2011
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I would need to hook all these things up to a microcontroller and that to my pc somehow correct? And then of course some software to do the tweaking. Am I on the right track with all this? I've found a couple systems like this online but nothing that i would have the knowledge to customize to do exactly what I want it to.
 

(*steve*)

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Any particular reason you thought you'd post exactly the same question again?
 

Bert

Nov 22, 2011
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After a little more research I decided I posted in the wrong subforum. Thought I might get more specific help in here.
 

Harald Kapp

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Methinks using a microcontroller to control all your pots and switches is the right idea. Then you'll need a communications connection to the PC. RS232 is probably too slow if you're going to handle many controls in realtime. Probably a USB solution is a good idea, but not so easy to handle as an RS232.
I'd go for a ready made controller board with integrated communication stack so you can dedicate your time to working on the controller part, not the communication part.

Regards,
Harald
 

Bert

Nov 22, 2011
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I'm learning some good stuff about microcontrollers, but I'm having trouble finding information on everything. Here are some questions I'm having trouble answering. If you can suggest a specific part, tutorial, or website that could help me accomplish this I would greatly appreciate it:

- I'm going to want to control 18 digital pots, 3 normal switches (or i guess relays?) and 2 3-way switches . That seems like a ton of I/O? Can a normal IC handle that?
- This device will always be connected to a pc, so do I even need an IC? Can I just leave my programming on my pc somehow?

Also, is there a 'go to' retailer for microcontroller parts (like newegg for computer parts)?
 

daddles

Jun 10, 2011
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If I was attacking this problem, I'd use my HP3488 scanner, as it has suitable digital boards already in place. Since I already have a GPIB interface, I could have something working with just a little easy wiring. However, you won't have that capability and I can guarantee you wouldn't want to spring for the USB to GPIB controller.

You can do similar things with inexpensive digital IO cards that connect via USB to your computer. I don't have a particular recommendation (I used a Rabbit card years ago with a DOS system), but there are no doubt many choices out there. These types of boards will get you up and running faster than you could probably get going with a microcontroller; however, the tradeoff is that you'll have to have things connected to your PC. Google "digital io usb board" or something similar and you'll get a gazillion hits. Correction: it was only a bazillion, not a gazillion. Sorry for the exaggeration. :)
 

Bert

Nov 22, 2011
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I thought this would be too many problems to solve all at once so I didn't mention this before, but I am wanting to control the amp from another computer via the web. I mention it now because I just found this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Web-controlled-Surveillance-Camera/. This is precisely what I want to do with this project, only I want to control the pots on a music amp instead of the step motors on a security camera.
 
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