ECE 4760: Laboratory 1

Keypad Synthesizer.

You will produce a music synthesizer, played using a keypad, and with a programmable playback function. But first you need to set up a board, arrange jumpers, learn how to connect peripheral devices and use the compiler. I strongly suggest that you use some of the time during the first lab exercise to build your own PIC32 board, which you can then keep, but if you wish you can borrow one. Once you do that, the MicrostickII will be the programmer for the new board.

Examples:
Karplus-Strong algorithm String Synth, Thanks to Linda Alexander, Julia Hesterbrink, Nathan Zimmerberg.

Hardware

The Big Board which you will build features a port expander, DAC, TFT header-socket, programming header-plug, and power supply.
See the construction/testing page for specific code examples of each device on the big board. The connections from the PIC32 to the various peripherials is determined by the construction of the board. The list is repeated here.

PIC32 i/o pins used on big board, sorted by port number. Any pin can be
recovered for general use by unplugging the device that uses the pin.
SPI chip select ports have jumpers to unplug.
----------------------------
RA0 on-board LED. Active high.
RA1 Uart2 RX signal, if serial is turned on in protothreads 1_2_2
RA2 port expander intZ
RA3 port expander intY
RA4 PortExpander SPI MISO
-----
RB0 TFT D/C
RB1 TFT-LCD SPI chip select (can be disconnected/changed)
RB2 TFT reset
RB4 DAC SPI chip select (can be disconnected/changed)
RB5 DAC/PortExpander SPI MOSI
RB6 !!! Does not exist on this package!!! (silk screen should read Vbus)
RB9 Port Expander SPI chip select (can be disconnected/changed)
RB10 Uart2 TX signal, if serial is turned on in protothreads 1_2_2
RB11 TFT SPI MOSI
RB12 !!! Does not exist on this package!!! (silk screen should read Vusb3.3)
RB14 TFT SPI Sclock
RB15 DAC/PortExpander SPI Sclock
----------------------------

But note the few silk-screen errors on the board.

SECABB version 2 silk screen errors. (fixec on version 2.1)
--Edge connector pin marked RB6 -- RB6 Does not exist on this package! Silk screen should read Vbus.
--Edge connector pin marked RB12 -- RB12 Does not exist on this package! Silk screen should read Vusb3.3.
--LED D1 outline -- Silk screen should have flat side should be oriented toward PIC32.

Software

Software you will use is freely downloadable and consists of:

• MPLABX version 3.05 (near bottom of page choose Downloads Archive)
• XC32 compiler version 1.40 (near bottom of page choose Downloads Archive)
• plib (near bottom of page choose Downloads -> scroll to bottom) (local copy)

More information

• Getting started with PIC32
• MPLABX IDE users guide
• 32_bit peripherials library -- PLIB examples (ZIPPED) -- (full Legacy PLIB 115 MB)
• 32 bit language tools and libraries including C libraries, DSP, and debugging tools
• XC32 Compiler Users Guide
• PIC32MX2xx datasheet -- Errata
• MicrostickII pinout
• PIC32MX250 configuration options
  • JTAG enable overrides pins 13, 14, and 15
  • Primary oscillator enable overrides pins 9 and 10
  • Secondary oscillator enalbe overrudes pins 11 and 12
• PIC32 reference manual (local copy)
  (this is HUGE -- better to go to PIC32 page, then Documentation>Reference Manual and choose the section)
• Specific pages from the PIC32 datasheet
  1. PIC32MX250F128B PDIP pinout by pin
  2. PIC32MX250F128B ::: Signal Names=>Pins ::: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 PDIP highlighted in green (for PPS see next tables)
  3. PIC32MX250F128B Peripheral Pin Select (PPS) input table
     example: UART receive pin ::: specify PPS group, signal, logical pin name
     PPSInput(2, U2RX, RPB11); //Assign U2RX to pin RPB11 -- Physical pin 22 on 28 PDIP
  4. PIC32MX250F128B Peripheral Pin Select (PPS) output table
     example: UART transmit pin ::: specify PPS group, logical pin name, signal
     PPSOutput(4, RPB10, U2TX); //Assign U2TX to pin RPB10 -- Physical pin 21 on 28 PDIP

Microstick2 as a programmer

The connections to the microcontroller socket on the Microstick2 act like the standard programming signals from the PICKIT3, the programmer which was used to develop the boards you will build. On both the big and small board, J1 marks pin1 of the 6-pin ICSP header.

A wiring example is shown below. Note that pin 1, MCLR, is only available on the Microstick2 DIP socket as shown.
When you click on the images below, you will get enlargments with the pin numbers indicated.

Procedure

1. The current version of Protothreads is 1_3_2.
   All example programs using this threader may be found on the Development board page.
   Download this ZIP file to get all the libraries and substitute in the following source code:
   Program example 3, DDS_Accum_Expander_BRL4.c, on the Development board page is the basis for this lab.
2. For most of the semester you will be using the TFT LCD for output and debugging.
   You will need to use some of the graphics library calls described in the test code in this lab.
   Test code: TFT_test_BRL4.c -- displays color patches, system time, moves a ball, generates a slow ramp on the DAC, and blinks the LED.
3. You may want to refer the the ProtoThreads page for the general threading setup.
   But note that the UART functions mentioned on that page should be disabled for this lab.
   In config_1_3_2.h you need to undefine (comment out) the use_uart_serial define statement.
   
4. Timing of all functions in this lab, and every exercise in this course will be handled by interrupt-driven counters, (including the builtin functions in ProtoThreads) and not by software wait-loops. This will be enforced because wait-loops are hard to debug and tend to limit multitasking. You may not use any form of a delay(mSec) function.
5. The oscilloscope is essential for debugging this lab (and every lab).
   The oscilloscope is the only way of deciding if -- It doesn't work! -- results from hardware or software.
   You can connect the oscilloscope to the computer with a USB cable (type-B connector) attached to the back of the oscilloscope (not the type-A connector on the front).
   To use the Tektronix software on the PC:
   1. Search for OpenChoice Desktop in the start menu, and start the program.
   2. When the main panel appears, choose Select Instrument.
   3. In the select dialog box, choose the USB device, and click OK.
   4. Back in the main panel, click Get Screen.
   5. Copy or save the image or data to your lab report.

Keypad connection
The keypad page shows how to hook up the keypad to the port expander. Again, refer to DDS_Accum_Expander_BRL4.c, on the Development board page for an example that handles the port-expander, keypad, and DAC. This code is written assuming that the keypad is connected to the port expander! If for some reason you decide to connect the keypad directly to the MCU, the code must be changed.

DAC and audio output
The SPI DAC you will use is the MCP4822. The DAC analog output is marked DACA or DACB on the SECABB
The SPI connections are supplied on the Big Board (SECABB), as long as you connect the DAC_CS jumper.
Section 5.1 and 5.2 of the MCP4822 datasheet discussed the way the the DAC uses SPI.
The edge connector pin marked DACA or DACB will go (optionally through a low pass filter) to an audio socket, to be connected to the green audio plug of the speakers. If you are going to design a lowpass filter for the DAC, then you need to know that the input impedance of the speakers is around 10 Kohm.
Audio socket . The pin nearest the socket is ground. Wire the left/right channels together.
Speaker audio input plug The body of our plugs are green.

Musical notes
See the Suggested Background problems for the specifications on frequency, harmonic distortion, and envelope shaping. Generally speaking you want to make pleasant sounding synthesis. You may want to look at the sound synthesis page, but you should use linear envelopes (example 1), rather than exponential (example 2). I suggest starting with a linear attack of about 1000 samples, a sustain of about 1000 samples and a decay of 10000 samples. You are going to use either additive (Fourier) or FM synthesis to build interesting sounds. Near the bottom of the older AVR DSP page is a list of additive synthesis parameters for different sounds. The newer sound synthesis page has parameters for FM synthesis.
A table of note frequencies is below. If you prefer, you may use a higher or lower octave.
But if you go to a lower octave, the little speakers may not have much response below 200 Hz:
C4 262 Hz (middle C)
D4 294
E4 330
F4 349
G4 392
A4 440
B4 494
C5 523

Program Organization
I suggest that you organize the program as follows:

• Protothreads maintains the ISR-driven, millisecond-scale timing as part of the supplied system.
  Use this for all low-precision timing (can have several milliseconds jitter).
• Synthesis ISR uses a timer interrupt to ensure an exact 44KHz synthesis sample rate.
  
  • DDS of sine waves.
  • Additive or FM synthesis
  • DAC output
  • Sample count for precise timing of notes.
• Main sets up peripherials and protothreads then just schedules tasks, round-robin.
• User Input Thread
  • Scans and debounces the keypad and any other buttons you may use.
    The debounce state machine you will need a state machine that debounces all 12 keys.
    Actual waveforms taken from the keypad: push (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), release (1, 2, 3), Two button pushes, as fast as I could.
    (Lecture explaining the keypad scanner, debouncer, and DDS sample rate)
    (state machine pseudocode for ONE button, but use the state machine explained in the lecture)
    (State machine for 12 buttons explained in the lecture)
  • Parses the command (if any) and updates state variables (play-mode, note list, etc)
  • Waits for 30 mSec using PT_YIELD_TIME_msec(30), then repeats.
• Play Thread
• Sets up the DDS parameters for the note to be played.
• Maintains playback timing using the sample count from the timer ISR.
• Waits for 10 mSec using PT_YIELD_TIME_msec(10), then repeats.

You may find some of previous year's lectures useful. Particularly lectures 2, 3, 4.

Debugging

If your program just sits there and does nothing:
-- Did you turn on interrupts? The thread timer depends on an interrupt.
-- Did you write each thread to include at least one YIELD (or YIELD_UNTIL, or YIELD_TIME_msec) in the while(1) loop?
-- Did you schedule the threads?
-- Did you ask to initialize the TFT display in the code, while not having a TFT on the board?
-- Does the board have power?

If your program reboots about 5 times/sec:
-- Did you exit from any scheduled thread? This blows out the stack.
-- Did you turn on any interrupt source and fail to write an ISR for that source?
-- Did you divide by zero? A divide by zero is an untrapped exception.
-- Did you write to a non-existant memory location, perhaps by using a negative (or very large) array index
-- Did you use single quotes to define the FORMAT string in a PRINTF statment .

If your thread state variables seem to change on their own:
--- Did you define any automatic local variable? Local variables in a thread should be static.
-- Are your global or static arrays big enough the clobber the stack in high memory? You should be able to use over 30kbytes.

Week one required checkpoint

By the end of lab session in week one of the lab you must either have
built and tested your own board or tested a prebuilt board.

• Before you test, be sure to attach the chip-select jumpers (circled in red) for the Port Expander, TFT and DAC.
  Testing includes TFT, DAC, LED, and i/o expander with Keypad. You can omit the serial test for this lab.
  On the Development Board page, search for Current Protothreads version is 1_3_2 and download the ZIP file.
• Finishing a checkpoint does NOT mean you can leave lab early!

Week two required checkpoint

By the end of lab session in week two of the lab you must have:

• Frequency test mode working for all 8 frequencies and having accurate sinewave tones. You might do this by using the shift button so that you can play a tune manually on 8 buttons, but only as a sinewave at full amplitude, without envelope control.
• Finishing a checkpoint does NOT mean you can leave lab early!

Week three Assignment

Timing of all functions in this lab, and every exercise in this course will be handled by interrupt-driven counters, not by software wait-loops.
ProtoThreads maintains a ISR driven timer for you! This will be enforced because wait-loops are hard to debug and tend to limit multitasking.

Write a Protohreads C program which will:

• The program starts In play mode. The program will play the notes C4 through C5 using the keypad keys 1 to 8.
  Each note will play for the whole duration of attack-sustain-decay, exactly once, independent of the duration of the button push.
  The notes will play with an amplitude envelope and spectrum that you choose, but cannot be a boring pure sine wave, or a harsh square wave.
  Perhaps use FM synthesis to make a sound which is string-like or drum-like.
• The program will produce a rest (no sound) when you press keypad key 0.
  This is mostly usful in record mode (see below).
• In play mode the program will play the recorded (see below) note sequence at a fixed rate, perhaps one or two notes/second when the # key is pressed.
  The notes will play with an envelope and spectrum that you choose, but cannot be just a pure sine wave.
• The program should have three modes:
  1. Upon power-up the system should go to play mode and play a note for every keypad press.
     This mode requires keypad debouncing.
  2. Pressing and holding a separate button (not the keypad) puts the system into frequency test mode for frequency calibration.
     In this mode each button, 1 to 8, produces a pure sine wave for as long as it is pushed, at full intensity, with no envelope.
  3. Pressing and holding another button (not the keypad) puts the system into record mode so that each keypad press is recorded for later playback. Recording continues until the record mode button is released. This mode requires keypad debouncing. The duration of each keypad key press does not affect the recording.
• The program should support one timbre (envelope and spectral content) that you can hard-code.
• There should be no clicks, pops, or other audio artifacts of synthesis.
• The frequency accuracy and distortion specifications are in the problem set.

When you demonstrate the program to a staff member, you should demonstrate all three modes, the accuracy of the note frequencies using the scope, and record and play back a sequence of notes. One possibility for demo is below, but you can play any tune you like. At no time during the demo can you press reset, or reprogram the MCU.

Notes: E  E  E | F  F  |  G  F  E | D  E  F | G  C  F | E  D |  C  C   
Play the hollow notes twice as long as the filled notes.

Your written lab report should include the sections mentioned in the policy page, and :

• Table of measurements of frequency accuracy, with oscilloscope traces of at least one note.
• A scope display of a typical note playing showing rise, sustain, fall.
• A scope display of an FM note showing the spectrum of the note.
• A heavily commented listing of your code.