ESP32-A1S audio dev board

[Digital Larry]

Finally got this in from Shenzhen (cough).

https://www.hackster.io/news/seeed-drops-new-esp32-audio-development-kit-for-audio-related-iot-projects-ad38d1f02637

Thought I'd do sort of a journal here as to what it takes to get going on it.  CAVEAT: I can't guarantee I won't give up.

The first things it takes are patience and perseverance as the getting started guide available off the Seeed page is outdated and will fail.

I tried setting up on Windows 10 at first, got failures even after following suggestions in the error logs, tried it on Ubuntu, same deal, Googled the error and found the answer on Github, you have to start with the ESP-IDF 2.3 installer.  So back to Windows where I managed to complete that exercise after about an hour.

Many of the links off the Espressif site are 404.  Looking at their forum, there are a lot of apologetic "we're working on it" kinds of messages.  Don't know how the coronavirus issue may be affecting that but it seems to go back further than a month or two.

Whenever I start these kind of things any more I just open a document and slap everything that happens in there.  Too diificult to remember all the twists and turns.

Anyway, next up I am going to try "Hello World".

[potul]

Following..... I have one of those in the mail, at some place between China and Europe

[Digital Larry]

All right, sounds good to have a partner in crime.  I got Hello World to run.  The "blink" example also ran, but didn't blink the LED on this particular board.

Following the ESP-IDF guide actually does seem to work.  Next you have to install the ESP-ADF libraries.  No Windows-specific instructions are given, but I think all one is trying to do is to check out some files from Git.  Some interpolation with reality is needed (directories aren't exactly as documented, etc.).  Similar to working with any online Linux instructable article.  I do have an old box running Ubuntu 18.04 but it sounds like a garbage truck when the disk is accessed which is increasingly disconcerting after I built an essentially silent Windows PC with SSD/M2 storage.  I also installed Ubuntu under Windows 10 just in case.

I haven't figured out how one connects the wifi yet.  Although you get a serial monitor via USB, it's not like you get to a prompt like you'd expect on Linux.  Truth be told, I have not worked with an RTOS before so this is going to be some exercise for my aging brain.  When I was messing with Faust on the Bela, that was cool because you can get Faust to represent controls on a web server connection, meaning you can just point your browser at the device's IP/some port and voila there is your UI.  Vastly preferable to trying to wire up pots via I2C for my home recording application.  Contrary to the intent of this forum I am not trying to make a stompbox out of this (sorry).

One bright note is that the English ESP-ADF Espressif forum seems to be active.  Most people there appear to be using it for speech recognition or smart speakers or I don't know what.

DL

[free electron]

For the ESP32 stuff on Linux i'm using VScode with PlatformIO plugin. Using this combo ESP32 can be programmed within Arduino framework or plain ESP-IDF. Installation is very easy, just install VScode, then PlatformIO extension, then add espressif32  platform.
https://docs.platformio.org/en/latest/platforms/espressif32.html

[dschwartz]

Suscribed!
I am too waiting for my esp32 a1s dev board.
I tried to install esp idf on win 10 and failed miserably.

[Digital Larry]

Suscribed!
I am too waiting for my esp32 a1s dev board.
I tried to install esp idf on win 10 and failed miserably.

See if this info helps.

Known issue with 2.2 installer.

https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/issues/4744

I followed these steps (to use the 2.3 Windows installer) and now have the esp-idf 4.0 installed.

[dschwartz]

Awesome..
thanks!!!
I'll try that tonight

[Digital Larry]

All right, just thought I'd jump in here with a bit of a warning.  Although you can install ESP-IDF and with some imagination, ESP-ADF in Windows, no such luck for Faust.  So I'm gonna start all over using the Ubuntu subsystem on Windows.  I'm reasonably sure it will work as I think I did it before on my laptop.  Sigh.  Also, the ESP-ADF examples don't seem to know about the ESP32-A1S board - only the various Lyra boards are included in the makeconfig setup.  So, it looks like for the purposes of Faust anyway, ESP-ADF is not strictly a requirement.

DL

[dschwartz]

What about using the Arduino IDE to program it?

[Digital Larry]

What about using the Arduino IDE to program it?

If you can figure it out, be my guest.  Problem is that Faust has its own world that doesn't run on Windows.  I just tried setting ESP-IDF up on Ubuntu 18.04 under Windows 10 and finally got all the packages installed to build hello_world, but Ubuntu under Windows 10 appears to not recognize the USB ports directly (so that ESP-IDF can flash the program).  I guess for the short term I will try getting everything to work on my "real" Ubuntu box even though it makes a ton of obnoxious noise.  If it works then I can worry about maybe getting an SSD for it.  That's about all I can take for one evening.

There may be some hope here...  will try again tomorrow.
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/wsl/serial-support-on-the-windows-subsystem-for-linux

[dschwartz]

excuse my ignorance if i'm wrong.. but isn't there web based Faust editor? that will generate ESP32- compatible code ?

https://faust.grame.fr/tools/playground/index.html

https://faust.grame.fr/tools/editor/

[Digital Larry]

Yes, I've used it.  Only works on Chrome (or, at least that was the case last year).  That might work.  There's an advantage in that it lets you see the block diagram easily.  The disadvantage is mostly in workflow, in that AFAIK when you generate code this way, then you download the C++ in a ZIP, then... etc. etc.  A little inefficient. 

But keep in mind I just have my own biases and way of working and I don't always know what the best setup will be without trying some things that don't work first.  Feel free to explore whatever options you wish.  I'm semi-distracted by a million other things.



DL

[dschwartz]

BTW have you seen this?

https://www.deeptronic.com/electronic-circuit-design/esp32-a1s-guitar-multi-effect-engine-with-microphone-and-midi-i-o/

I m a total newbie with MCUs ...i managed to install the arduino IDE and the ESP32 board library...of course, no esp32 a1s board is available on the list..but at least i think i should be able to make blinky work...someday...with a similar board definition like the standard esp32 dev board.

[Digital Larry]

Hah, that looks pretty rad.  I'm not so interested in making a pedal honestly.  I just want a relatively powerful Faust host that is not a PC with an audio interface hanging off it (so I can patch it into my guitar preamp's effects loop easily).  I'm also maybe going to buy a MOD Dwarf assuming they have reasonably low latency.  Faust can also create LV2 plugins which would work with that so far as I know.  I do have a Macbook with Ubuntu on it, and a 4-in 4-out audio interface, what the heck I might use that.  Too many options!  Ahhhhhhh!

Sounds like the guy making the project you linked to wants to keep the code to himself, which is fine, but I don't really want to deep dive into developing a bunch of nuts and bolts stuff.  I just want to design the FX in Faust.

[potul]

So I got my board yesterday and I was playing with it for some time.

- I successfully installed ESP-IDF on Windows 10, after 3 attempts.
-"Hello world" is running.
-"Blink" is working after some testing. Hint: The on-board LEDs are GPIO 19 and 21. If you change this in the code, they blink.

I did not try ADF yet.
I tried to use the online Faust editor, ... but as fas as I can tell it only supports the "export" using WM8978 codec. I couldn't find a way to generate C++ code compatible with the AC101.

Next: Try to install and run faust2esp32.

[Digital Larry]

Few corresponding notes (I didn't work on this last night at all).

The ESP32-A1S is not an Espressif product, whereas the Lyra line is.
If you're interested in Faust, you can sign up for the Faust user's mailing list.
There's also a Faust Slack channel you can get an invite to once on the mailing list and there's a section there devoted to the ESP32.  Lots of low level discussions going on, e.g. using wifi seems to cause some noise in audio, etc.

[dschwartz]

I managed to get ESP IDF 4.0 up and running on my window 10..with the python fix it was a breeze (although it took quite a while)

Also installed Eclipse IDE for C/C++ .. havent tried it yet, but i guess i will have to configure it later.
Also have Github installed..

But i'm a bit confused.. on espresiff "get started" page ( https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v3.3.1/get-started/windows-setup.html ) says i have to setup the toolchain before the ESP..another 600MB .exe to install...uugh.. does it never ends?

anyway, being 43 years old, it feels nice to learn something new and feel your brain cells having a good workout again.

[potul]

I think this documentation is not for version 4.0.  This is the one for 4.0:

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/v4.0/get-started/windows-setup.html

If you used the "ESP-IDF Tools Installer" you should be good to go.

[dschwartz]

yes,
esp-idf-tools-setup-2.2.exe

[Digital Larry]

I had problems with the ESP-IDF 2.2 Windows installer.  The 2.3 installer which worked is here: 

https://dl.espressif.com/dl/esp-idf-tools-setup-2.3.exe