[PD] cheapest possibility, many audio players or outputs

[tim]

On Thu, 2008-09-11 at 17:57 +0200, smilingmolecule wrote:
> hallo list,
> 
> i know this is not a special pd question but i think there are some 
> points which touch pd. i ask this question here cause i think maybe here 
> are some people which are familiar with this.
> 
> i am planing to do something like an art sound installation.
> many different speakers should be placed in a room, and every speaker 
> should do a different sound.
> 
> now i need a cheap possibility to get as many audio units as possible.
> 
> i am thinking about two ways of realizing that stuff.
> 
> first version of my project works with autark/isolated sound. so for 
> example, every sound objekt in the instalation has an audioplayer and a 
> speaker.
> 
> the second version is that all speakers are connected to a computer, so 
> i need many outputs at the sound card, and only many speakers. in this 
> version the speakers could for example interact, or do other serialized 
> actions, managed by puredate.
> 

you would need some kind of amplifier for each speaker too...

What I did once is use relays to switch the output of one stereo
amplifier to 8 speakers.
I used an arduino+pd to control the relays and generate the sound.
Also I made the sound fade out right before switching a relay on or off,
and a fade in right after, to avoid clicks.
If you have stereo out, and one stereo amp, you're only be able to
activate two different sounds at the same time, but you can route them
to any combination of speakers you want.
Though it was not 'real' 8 channel spatialisation, but for the project
it was just fine, and cheap :)

Tim