TILT!Audio is back – what’s new in version 2.0

First and most important: we did invest quite some time to debug the communication problems with WPC pinball machines. It turned out that it was a small timing glitch introduced by a charge of smd decoders I used in my kits. We heavily improved the PCB design (thanks to Lucky and David) and can now present a completely new design with much improved bus timings, bus termination or to say it simple: IT WORKS with wpc.

New 2.8rev of the PCB, completely assembled with optional DSP applied

More PCB improvements:

  • logarithmic pots to easier adjust speaker volume
  • bus termination
  • HF noise filtering for amplifier outputs
  • removed unnecessary WPC digital power connector
  • finally adjust dimensions & hole position to exactly match original sound cards
  • cleaner layout

Improved remote volume control (for DataEast)

Cabinet pot is now read via a real analog to digital converter that talks to the raspberry pi via i2c, so TILT!Audio can adjust audio volume very precisely.

Switch soundset on button click

For data east it is now possible to change soundset by just clicking the button on the board. In WPC machines this can also be done by just pressing the VOL- button in the cabinet again, if the volume is already zero.

Optional support for DSP sound output

Instead of just using a stereo DAC 5102 that converts from digital audio TILT!Audio now also optionally supports creating sound via a DSP (digital sound processor) ADAU1701 from analog devices. This way sound for cabinet and back box is digitally routed and processed separately with custom mixing and frequency based filtering each sound path.
The DSP is optional an gets recognised by the firmware automatically.

Enhancements in the firmware

Embedded sound editor

You can now simply edit every sound effect in place by just one click

Edit button to click
Sound Editor for trimming, fading ..

Ducking per sound effect

It is now possible to reduce the volume of the background music (ducking) for each sound effect individually.

Ducking per sound effect, buttons to reset to category default, slider with number batches

Full support for altsound

“Altsound” the new default standard sound format for sound packages is now completely supported and the preferred format. Just as a reminder: altsound stores all sound properties in a very simple CSV file along with the actual sound files. It is also compatible with pinmame (or VPinMame) for virtual pinball simulators and you can find various sound packages on http://altsound.vpin24.com

Country setting in WIFI

In addition to set wifi passphrase you can now also provide a country setting to adjust usage of channels and transmission power.

Additional wifi country setting

Wifi config file is now additionally exposed on the data partition (or USB stick) so that expert user can adjust it on their own.

Simulate sound output in the browser

If you TILT!Audio in not connected to the real machine (or just running on the raspberry pi alone) you can choose to get sound from the browser in the web UI itself. This way TILT!Audio UI can be used as standalone sound pack editor with or without pinball machine connected.

Cleanup of UI and controls

All slider control are now also have tool tips / labels the provide the current setting as number as well as button to restore defaults.

Nice clean slider with number batches & sound simulator switch

Better structure on config page

New sectioned layout of settings

You can actually take a look on the new web UI in the live demo. All changes are of course reset every 10 minutes.

Optional bigger OLED display

The oled display that is / was part of the kits so far, was quite small so you can now also choose to use the bigger ones with SH1106 controllers instead of SH1306.

Bugfixes

  • Wifi passphrase with exotic characters are now working
  • Moving sound effect from one category to another is working also for altsound.

Github repo with extensions examples

Today I’ve updated the repository on github https://github.com/sker65/tiltaudio-extensions that contains some examples, how TILT!Audio board can be extended by adding addtional hardware / mods for your game.

The principle is always the same:

  • take an arduino mini pro
  • program it with some little sketch
  • connect i2c bus from tiltaudio board to extension
  • write some support library in lua for your convenience

With the examples provided you can control:

  1. Arbitrary GPIO and also PWM
  2. Shaker with motor controller like https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32914093516.html
  3. RGB led lights as speaker lights or rgb gi replacement
  4. Servo for addtional moveable toys on the playfield.

See my youtube channelĀ for some examples.

I was also looking for a printable case for the arduino mini pro. I found one on adafruit website, that fit my needs (with minor modifications): https://www.tinkercad.com/things/0bF8IWiFE6x-arduino-mini-pro-case

So keep modding and send me your achievements.

TILT!Audio controls rgb led rings

With the new lua scripting support you can do “magic things” like control rgb led rings with the sound your machine is playing. Don’t believe it, just watch the video:

How does it work?

There’s 5 pieces you need to plug together:

  1. An arduino mini pro (5V 16Mhz) that controls the leds rings.
  2. Some leds rings (or other 2812 based rgb led strips from alibaba.com)
  3. TILT!Audio board 2.5f or newer that exposes the i2c bus.
  4. init.lua script on the tilt audio sd card for some convinience
  5. Arduino sketch to control the leds.

The sketch and the lua snippet can be found on github: https://github.com/sker65/tiltaudio-extensions

In order to program the arduino mini you need an FTDI usb to serial adapter (best is switchable between 3V3 and 5V). Arduino IDE to compile should be easy to manage, just ask goole there’s a lot of tutorials about that.

Then connect the led rings data pin is pin 4 (but this is configurable in the sketch).

Finally connect the i2c wires SDA, SLC (its a4/a5 on the arduino mini) plus GND and 5V from TILT!Audio board to the Arduino and you ready to play.

Be careful with the power consumption of the leds in my example its already 32 leds with 32*3*20mA = 1,9A when all are bright white. This would of course be already to much for the 5V output on the TILT!Audio board.

So if you add extra light in your pinball game, also add an extra power supply.