Adafruit Voice Bonnet User Manual

Adafruit Voice Bonnet

Created by Kattni Rembor

Last updated on 2021-07-07 03:47:28 PM EDT

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Guide Contents

Guide Contents Overview Pinouts

Power Sound Button STEMMA QT Connector DotStar LEDs Digital/Analog Connector

Raspberry Pi Setup Step 1 - Burn SD Card Step 2 - Configure log-in access Step 3 - Log in & Enable Internet Step 4 - Update/Upgrade Blinka Setup Audio Setup Install Voicecard software Headphone/Speaker Test Microphone Test Python Usage

Joystick and Button DotStar LEDs GPIO JST connector

Parts Wiring Code

Stemma QT

Parts Wiring Code

Downloads

Files:

Schematic and Fab Print

Overview

Your Raspberry Pi computer is like an electronic brain - and with the Adafruit Voice Bonnet you can give it

a mouth and ears as well! Featuring two microphones and two 1 Watt speaker outputs using a high quality

I2S codec, this Pi add-on will work with

any Raspberry Pi with a 2x20 connector - from the Pi Zero up to the

Pi 4 and beyond

(basically all but the very first ones made).

The on-board WM8960 codec uses I2S digital audio for great quality recording and

playback (https://adafru.it/Of7) - so it sounds a lot better than the headphone jack on the Pi (or the no-

headphone jack on a Pi Zero). We put ferrite beads and filter capacitors on every input and output to get

the best possible performance, and all at a great price.

We specifically designed this bonnet for use with making machine learning projects such as DIY voice

assistants - for example see this guide on creating a DIY Google Assistant (https://adafru.it/Of8). But you

could do various voice activated or voice recognition projects. With two microphones, basic voice position

can be detected as well.

WM8960 codec uses I2S digital audio for both input and output (https://adafru.it/Of7)

On/Off privacy switch to deactivate audio so you

know

it can't be recording.

Two analog microphone inputs (left and right)

Two 1W speaker outputs

3.5mm stereo headphone or line-out audio

Plugs into any Raspberry Pi with 2x20 headers

With the extra space on the PCB we also added some bonus extras!

Push button - Use to change modes, activate the voice assistant, anything you like!

Three DotStar RGB LEDs - add LED feedback or make a rainbow light show

STEMMA QT connector - plug in any of our I2C sensors, OLEDs, or

accessories (https://adafru.it/HMB).

3 Pin JST STEMMA connector - for larger accessories, like NeoPixels (https://adafru.it/Cup), a

relay (https://adafru.it/NmC) or servo (https://adafru.it/FWq)

No assembly required! Simply pop it onto your Pi and install the microphone/speaker card using our

installer script. Your Pi will then have stereo input and output for use in any software - they appear as any

other speaker/mic would. Play music or record audio with ease. For audio input, the two microphones are

built into the Bonnet. For audio output, you can either use the Line-out/Headphone 3.5mm stereo jack

or

you can plug in one or two of our enclosed speakers (https://adafru.it/uyB). For DIY speakers, solder any

1W+ speaker to one of these JST 2-PH cables (https://adafru.it/drM). If you'd like to stack another HAT or

bonnet on top, use a 2x20 stacking header (https://adafru.it/ejT) to feed through the 2x20 connector.

Pinouts

Power

5.0V - Connected to power on the audio amp

3.3V - Connected to the STEMMA QT / Qwiic connector

GND - Ground for everything

Sound

GPIO #18, GPIO#19, GPIO #20, GPIO #21 - I2S

Digital Audio.

Speakers - The two speaker connectors are located

on the bottom in the middle, labeled Right and Left.

Plug in an enclosed speaker (https://adafru.it/uyB) or

use a JST 2PH cable to attach custom

speakers (https://adafru.it/drM).

Microphones - The two mics are in the middle of

each side, labeled L Mic and R Mic.

Headphones/Line Out - 3.5mm headphone jack

located on the bottom right. Use any headphones or

Line-Out to another audio system.

On/Off Switch - Located towards the left in the

middle of the board, switches audio on and off.

Button

This pin has a 10K pullup to 3.3V so when the button is

pressed, you will read a LOW voltage on this pin.

GPIO#17 - Button

STEMMA QT Connector

SCL, SDA - I2C data for the STEMMA QT / Qwiic

connector. Can also use with Grove sensors with an

adapter cable (https://adafru.it/Ndk). Great for quickly

adding sensors or accessories with plug-and-play.

DotStar LEDs

Three fully color RGB addressable LEDs can provide

feedback or a light show. Uses DotStar protocol (not

NeoPixel) so any microcomputer can easily control the

lights.

GPIO #5 - DotStar LED data pin.

GPIO #6 - Dotstar LED clock pin.

Digital/Analog Connector

GPIO#12 - 3-pin JST digital or analog connector. Easily

connect things like NeoPixels (https://adafru.it/Cup) or

servos (https://adafru.it/FWq) using this 2mm connector.

You can also use a generic JST cable to connect to a

breadboard. (https://adafru.it/CVg)

Raspberry Pi Setup

OK now you have all your parts in order, it's time to get your Raspberry Pi computer set up with the HAT or

Bonnet.

Step 1 - Burn SD Card

Use Etcher or the Raspberry Pi Imager (https://adafru.it/dDL) to burn the latest Raspbian Lite to an SD card

(you can use full but we won't be using the desktop software and it takes up a bunch of room.

Step 2 - Configure log-in access

You'll need to be able to log into your Pi, either enable SSH access (and use and Ethernet

cable) (https://adafru.it/jvB), use a USB to serial cable, or connect a monitor and keyboard. Basically get it

so you can log in.

We have a quickstart guide here (https://adafru.it/NmF) and here that you can follow (https://adafru.it/DQA),

or there's dozens of online guides. it is assumed by the next step you are able to log in and type

commands in - ideally from a desktop computer, so you can copy and paste in some of the very long

commands!

Step 3 - Log in & Enable Internet

Once you've logged in, enable WiFi (if you have built in WiFi) with sudo raspi-config (https://adafru.it/v7D)

so you can ssh in.

Enable SSH as well if you haven't yet, also via sudo raspi-config

After you're done, reboot, and verify you can log into your Pi and that it has internet access by running ping

-c 3 raspberrypi.org and seeing successful responses.

Step 4 - Update/Upgrade

Now that you are logged in, perform an update/update:

sudo apt update

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get -y upgrade

and

sudo apt-get install -y python3-pip

sudo pip3 install --upgrade setuptools

OK you've now got a nice, clean, connected, and up-to-date Pi!

Blinka Setup

Blinka is our CircuitPython library compatibility layer. It allows many of the libraries that were written for

CircuitPython to run on CPython for Linux. To learn more about Blinka, you can check out our

CircuitPython on Linux and Raspberry Pi (https://adafru.it/BSN) guide.

We put together a script to easily make sure your Pi is correctly configured and install Blinka. It requires

just a few commands to run. Most of it is installing the dependencies.

cd ~ sudo pip3 install --upgrade adafruit-python-shell wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/adafruit/Raspberry-Pi-Installer-Scripts/master/raspiblinka.py sudo python3 raspi-blinka.py

When it asks you if you want to reboot, choose yes.

Finally, once it reboots, there are just a couple CircuitPython libraries to install for the BrainCraft HAT or

Voice Bonnet.

The DotStar library is for controlling the 3 on-board DotStar LEDs and the Motor library is for testing out the

GPIO pins.

pip3 install --upgrade adafruit-circuitpython-dotstar adafruit-circuitpython-motor adafruitcircuitpython-bmp280

That's it for Blinka and CircuitPython libraries.

Audio Setup

Install Voicecard software

Make sure you've got the BrainCraft HAT or Voice Bonnet installed, and I2C support installed as well!

When you run sudo i2cdetect -y 1

you should see an entry under 1A, indicating the hardware sees the audio card. The number may also

appear as UU if you already installed software

At the command line run:

cd ~

sudo apt-get install -y git

git clone https://github.com/HinTak/seeed-voicecard (https://adafru.it/Nna)

cd seeed-voicecard

Depending on your kernel version, you may need to change your branch. You can check your kernel

version by typing uname -r .

If your kernel version is around 5.4, use the following:

git checkout v5.5

sudo ./install.sh

If your kernel version is 5.10 or higher, use the following:

git checkout v5.9

sudo ./install.sh

Start by making sure you've installed I2C support, see the previous page (Blinka Setup) on how to

do it!



At the end you should see something like this:

Reboot with

sudo reboot

and on reboot run

sudo aplay -l

To list all sound cards, you should see it at the bottom

If your card number differs from the above image, take note of your number.

You can use alsamixer to adjust the volume, dont forget to select the card with F6

On a Raspberry Pi 4, your card number may be Card 2 instead of 1 because of the second HDMI

port. You'll need to make some changes to some of the commands to reflect this further down.



A gain of about 60% is plenty loud!

Headphone/Speaker Test

Make sure the Audio On/Off switch is set to ON!

With either headphones plugged into the headphone jack or a speaker attached to the speaker port, run

speaker-test -c2

you will hear white noise coming out of the speakers/headphones!

If you don't hear anything, make sure you have the audio on/off switch set!



Microphone Test

There are two microphones, and now we can test that they work. This test is best done with headphones ,

not using the speaker port, because it can cause a painful feedback effect if the speakers are next to the

mics!

Run:

sudo arecord -f cd -Dhw:1 | aplay -Dhw:1

If your sound card ID is not #1, then replace the number in both of the -Dhw: parameters with your actual

number.

Then either gently rub each microphone, or speak to hear yourself echoed!

Control-C to quit when done

Your audio subsystem is now completely tested!

Python Usage

At this point, you should have just about everything already set up.

Besides the audio, the Voice Bonnet has quite a few other useful features on it that can be controlled

through Python. We'll go through those and how to control them in Python.

Joystick and Button

The button uses simple digitalio , so it's really simple to

control. Here's a little script that will setup the GPIO,

create an internal pull up, and then print out the value to

the terminal.

import time import board from digitalio import DigitalInOut, Direction, Pull

button = DigitalInOut(board.D17) button.direction = Direction.INPUT button.pull = Pull.UP

while True: if not button.value: print("Button pressed") time.sleep(0.01)

Go ahead and save the above code onto your Pi as button_test.py and run it with the following command:

python button_test.py

Now try moving the joystick and press the button and you should see it print out what you're pressing.

DotStar LEDs

The 3 DotStar LEDS can be controlled with the DotStar

CircuitPython Library. Here's a little script that will setup

the DotStar LEDs and then color cycle them.

import time import board import adafruit_dotstar

DOTSTAR_DATA = board.D5 DOTSTAR_CLOCK = board.D6

dots = adafruit_dotstar.DotStar(DOTSTAR_CLOCK, DOTSTAR_DATA, 3, brightness=0.2)

def wheel(pos): # Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value. # The colours are a transition r - g - b - back to r. if pos < 0 or pos > 255: return (0, 0, 0) if pos < 85: return (255 - pos * 3, pos * 3, 0) if pos < 170: pos -= 85 return (0, 255 - pos * 3, pos * 3) pos -= 170 return (pos * 3, 0, 255 - pos * 3)

while True: for j in range(255): for i in range(3): rc_index = (i * 256 // 3) + j * 5 dots[i] = wheel(rc_index & 255) dots.show() time.sleep(0.01)

Go ahead and save the above code onto your Pi as dotstar_test.py and run it with the following command:

python dotstar_test.py

The DotStar LEDs should start color-cycling in a rainbow.

GPIO JST connector

GPIO 12 is accessible with the JST connector on the

bottom edge of the Voice Bonnet.

Parts

For this script, we'll just need one part that isn't included with the Voice Bonnet:

Micro Servo with 3-pin JST Cable - STEMMA Connector Compatible

This tiny little servo can rotate approximately 180 degrees (90 in each direction), and works just like the standard kinds you're used to

but smaller. You can use any...

$5.95

In Stock

Wiring

Connect the JST PH 3-pin plug into the GPIO #12 on

the Voice Bonnet

https://adafru.it/Ofe

Code

Add to Cart

https://adafru.it/Ofe

import time import board import pulseio from adafruit_motor import servo

SERVO_PIN = board.D12 pwm = pulseio.PWMOut(SERVO_PIN, frequency=50) servo = servo.Servo(pwm, min_pulse=750, max_pulse=2250)

while True: for angle in range(0, 180, 5): # 0 - 180 degrees, 5 degrees at a time. servo.angle = angle time.sleep(0.05) for angle in range(180, 0, -5): # 180 - 0 degrees, 5 degrees at a time. servo.angle = angle time.sleep(0.05)

Go ahead and save the above code onto your Pi as servo_test.py and run it with the following command:

python servo_test.py

The servo should start sweeping back and forth in 5 degree increments.

Stemma QT

For the Stemma QT port, you can use any of our 50+

sensors, but we're going to use a script that demonstrates

using the BMP280 because it's so simple.

Parts

For this script, we'll just need a BMP280 and a Stemma QT cable:

Adafruit BMP280 I2C or SPI Barometric Pressure & Altitude Sensor

Bosch has stepped up their game with their new BMP280 sensor, an environmental sensor with temperature, barometric pressure that is

the next generation upgrade to the...

$9.95

In Stock

Add to Cart

STEMMA QT / Qwiic JST SH 4-pin Cable - 100mm Long

This 4-wire cable is a little over 100mm / 4" long and fitted with JST-SH female 4-pin connectors on both ends. Compared with the

chunkier JST-PH these are 1mm pitch instead of...

$0.95

In Stock

Wiring

Connect one side of the Stemma QT cable to either

port on the BMP280

Connect the other side to the Stemma QT port on

the Voice Bonnet

https://adafru.it/Off

Code

Add to Cart

https://adafru.it/Off

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2021 ladyada for Adafruit Industries # SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT

"""Simpletest Example that shows how to get temperature, pressure, and altitude readings from a BMP280""" import time import board

# import digitalio # For use with SPI import adafruit_bmp280

# Create sensor object, communicating over the board's default I2C bus i2c = board.I2C() # uses board.SCL and board.SDA bmp280 = adafruit_bmp280.Adafruit_BMP280_I2C(i2c)

# OR Create sensor object, communicating over the board's default SPI bus # spi = board.SPI() # bmp_cs = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D10) # bmp280 = adafruit_bmp280.Adafruit_BMP280_SPI(spi, bmp_cs)

# change this to match the location's pressure (hPa) at sea level bmp280.sea_level_pressure = 1013.25

while True: print("\nTemperature: %0.1f C" % bmp280.temperature) print("Pressure: %0.1f hPa" % bmp280.pressure) print("Altitude = %0.2f meters" % bmp280.altitude) time.sleep(2)

Go ahead and save the above code onto your Pi as bmp280_simpletest.py and run it with the following

command:

python bmp280_simpletest.py

The terminal should start printing out the detected measurements.

Downloads

Files:

WM8960 datasheet (https://adafru.it/Of9)

EagleCAD files on GitHub (https://adafru.it/Ofa)

Fritzing object in the Adafruit Fritzing Library (https://adafru.it/Ofb)

Schematic and Fab Print

Adafruit Voice Bonnet User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual