(June 3rd, 2010) Just a notice to anyone who purchased a Shifty VU Shield in the past few weeks or at Maker Faire: our supplier mixed up some diodes and it's very possible your shield will not work. If you're seeing no response on analog 2 and 3, this is probably why. Please contact us so we can determine if you have a faulty shield, we will repair any with incorrect diodes.
The Shifty VU Shield provides easy connection and filtering of audio input for the purpose of developing sound-reactive Arduino projects. It rectifies and smooths stereo audio from a 3.5mm jack, and provides ready to use voltage levels on the Arduino analog pins 2 and 3.
Click here for documentation!
Due to the wide range of possible audio input levels, many options have been provided for scaling the analog inputs correctly. The ADC external reference can be jumpered to 3.3V or to the wiper terminal of a user-supplied potentiometer. If the jumper is removed, the Arduino internal 1.2V reference can be used. Also, each channel has an adjustment potentiometer to fine tune the input levels and balance any offset. A typical useful setup would have the internal reference enabled and both trimpots set to their center positions.
You may also be interested in the 3.5mm Y-cable Stereo Splitter.
The Shifty VU shield also has an external power terminal and ShiftBrite header, creating a complete solution for driving ShiftBrites, MegaBrites, or ShiftBars in response to music.
To allow easier use in more types of applications, the female passthrough headers are no longer included. You can install normal 0.1" headers or add the Passthrough Header Kit as an option above.
This product is constructed with RoHS-compliant components and lead-free solder.
