Easily add flash drive mp3 audio playback with the VMUSIC module

Technology
Easily add flash drive mp3 audio playback with the VMUSIC module

vmusic2.jpg

Looking to embed mp3 audio into a microcontroller project? I just came across this unit and would be curious to see how it works:

VMUSIC is a product that not only lets you add USB Flash drive interfacing to your product but allows you to play back MP3 and other popular digital music formats direct from a USB Flash drive. Extensions to the VDAP command set allow you to play a selected file as well as control the volume, balance, etc. of the sound channel and monitor the status of the file being played.

VMUSIC module lets you embed mp3 audio playback via USB flash drive – Link. (Thanks, Byron!)

10 thoughts on “Easily add flash drive mp3 audio playback with the VMUSIC module

  1. GarrettM says:

    This is based on FTDI’s new Vinculum modules I’ve had some experience playing with (thanks to the nice folks at the FTDI booth in the robotics area of Maker Faire Bay Area 2007). The system is pretty bulletproof for FAT-formatted USB mass storage and peripheral access, and not too costly especially on a chip level. They also have a module like the one above that only accesses drives, in case you don’t need to play music.

  2. BruceR says:

    Looks like a cool way of adding an MP3 player to a car. If you could interface it so that it pretended to be a CD auto-changer that would be an awesome project.

  3. stric910r says:

    I would not buy the Vmusic module. Many students, including me, at SPSU in Atlanta Georgia used this module for the Digital III class.

    The documentation was horrible, and the tech support would take days to get back with you. They had no clue how their own product worked. We would ask them questions about their documentation that were simple; it took days to get a response.

    After weeks of testing we finaly got the component to work, but it was wasted time due to their documentation being incorrect. We had to figure out how this product worked on our own using a frequency counter.

    Very unprofessional documentation, lack of flow charting their own work. The only useful thing they had was an example in Pic code, but if you do not know Pic and you’re software runs on a different language, you’re not helped.

    Maybe they’ve changed by now and gotten better. This was not the case in Summer of 2007. I would highly advise not using this product.

  4. Bradley Gibson says:

    This module is useless I’ve been trying to get this thing to play mp3 files for over 4 weeks now. The company doesn’t seem to help you much even though you tell them whats wrong. If anyone has gotten theirs to work please email me at bradgm@bellsouth.net

  5. David Bodnar says:

    Bradley – I have successfully used VMUSIC modules with both PICAXE and PIC microcontrollers. I agree that the documentation is poor but I have code for both if you would like to use it.
    email is dave@davebodnar.com

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Becky Stern is a Content Creator at Autodesk/Instructables, and part time faculty at New York’s School of Visual Arts Products of Design grad program. Making and sharing are her two biggest passions, and she's created hundreds of free online DIY tutorials and videos, mostly about technology and its intersection with crafts. Find her @bekathwia on YouTube/Twitter/Instagram.

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