Blokas Pi-Sound Raspberry Pi MIDI & Audio Interface
Raspberry Pi Audio Shield
Pisound – Raspberry Pi Sound Card & MIDI Interface
Pisound is an ultra-low latency high-quality sound card and MIDI interface specially designed for Raspberry Pi pocket computers.
Meet Pisound!
Pisound is an ultra-low latency high-quality sound card and MIDI interface specially designed for Raspberry Pi pocket computers.
Equipped with 192kHz 24-bit Stereo Input and Output driven by the legendary Burr-Brown chips, DIN-5 MIDI Input and Output ports, user-customizable button and bundled software tools, this little Raspberry Pi HAT will bring your audio projects to a whole new level!
Make things!
Using Pisound you can turn your Raspberry Pi into a music instrument or effect, audiophile network player, portable recording studio, internet radio station or anything you can think of as long as it's audio related!
Pisound works great with Patchbox OS, Raspbian, ArchLinux, Pixel, Ubuntu Mate, Audacity, Pure Data, Sonic Pi, SuperCollider, Volumio and any other Linux software!
The Button
When we were designing Pisound one of the main goals was to empower everyone to use Pisound and Raspberry Pi in headless mode - without an external monitor, keyboard or mouse.
As it turns out, one button is all you need to achieve this and we call it The Button.
Its functionality can be customized according to your needs. By default using The Button you can open patches straight from a USB thumb drive, safely close them, shut down the Raspberry Pi and even launch “Pisound” Wi-Fi hotspot, so that you can connect to the device via SSH, VNC or send WiFi-MIDI messages directly to your Pi using smart phone or tablet.
Our favorite use-case for it - you can run your Pure Data patches, without any need to connect a display, keyboard or mouse, just by plugging in a USB drive containing “main.pd”, any optional MIDI controller / keyboard, click The Button once and Voilà!
* Triple-click WiFi hotspot works with Raspberry Pi models with WiFi integrated. Other versions require SoftAP capable USB WiFi adapter to be plugged in.
Specs
We used the legendary Burr-Brown Op-Amps, ADC and DAC chips in this little board to ensure flawless signal amplification and conversion. Of course, everything is hooked to the dedicated ultra-low noise power supply in order to get maximum signal fidelity and minimum interference.
Thanks to wide-range gain control, you can connect audio sources ranging from your bass guitar to a CD player or your modular synth. Using Stereo Output you can hook Pisound to any mixer, speakers or just plug in your headphones.
Furthermore, unlike usual MIDI solutions for Raspberry Pi ®, MIDI on Pisound is implemented using high speed SPI and a dedicated MCU for translating SPI data to serial MIDI byte streams and it's readily recognized in audio software as an ALSA Raw MIDI device.
* G = 0dB, Fs = 48kHz
** Fs = 192kHz, Pi Model = 2, Buffer Size = 128 Frames
|
Audio Parameters |
Value |
|
Input Type |
¼" (6.35mm) Stereo |
|
Output Type |
¼" (6.35mm) Stereo |
|
Input/Output Resolution |
24bit |
|
Sampling Frequency (Fs) |
48kHz, 96kHz, 192kHz |
|
Input/Output SNR @ 1kHz |
110dB * |
|
Input Impedance |
100kΩ || 2pF |
|
Input Gain (G) |
0dB to +40dB |
|
Input Clip LED |
Yes |
|
Input Clip Voltage |
2.5V (Peak to Peak) * |
|
Full Scale RMS output @ 1kΩ |
0V to 2.1V |
|
Loopback Bandwidth (-3 dB) |
7.5Hz - 23kHz * |
|
Loopback THD @ 1kHz |
< 0.045% * |
|
Loopback Latency |
2.092ms ** |
|
Phantom Power |
None |
|
MIDI Parameters |
Value |
|
Input/Output Connectors |
DIN-5 Female Sockets |
|
MIDI Loopback Latency |
2.105ms |
|
Activity LEDs |
Input & Output |
Other Parameters
Value
Power
Powered by Raspberry Pi
Current Draw
< 300mA @ 5.1VDC
Dimensions
56mm x 100mm
Weight
67g