The Adafruit Grand Central is arguably one of the most feature-rich boards Adafruit produces. Adafruit is planning some great tutorials to showcase using the Grand Central in many ways. But what about a simple "I just got my board and want to do a quick demo to kick the tires?"

Rather than code some "blink the LED" or "Hello World" project, here is a quick project only using a few parts which will have you building a fully functional soundboard in about ten minutes.

The ability to do this partially lays with the powerful processor on the Grand Central but has everything to do with being able to run CircuitPython. This easy to use yet powerful code is loaded onto the board by saving a file onto the flash drive, which shows up when you plug the Grand Central into your PC / Mac / Linux / Chromebook via a USB cable. It is that easy, no software framework to set up, no compiling, no compatibility issues. It really allows you to plug, copy, and go!

This project will get you started with the code and eight public domain/creative commons sound files and you can make this project your own by changing things up.

Parts

Top down shot of a Adafruit Grand Central M4 Express featuring the SAMD51.
Are you ready? Really ready? Cause here comes the Adafruit Grand Central featuring the Microchip ATSAMD51. This dev board is so big, it's not...
$39.95
In Stock
Finger pressing one key of 3x4 keypad
Punch in your secret key into this numeric matrix keypad. This keypad has 12 buttons, arranged in a telephone-line 3x4 grid. It's made of a thin, flexible membrane material with an...
$3.95
In Stock
Two square-ish USB Powered Speakers
Add some extra boom to your audio project with these powered loudspeakers. We sampled half a dozen different models to find ones with a good frequency response, so you'll get...
$9.95
In Stock
Group of Small Alligator Clip to Male Jumper Wires
When working with unusual non-header-friendly surfaces, these handy cables will be your best friends! No longer will you have long, cumbersome strands of alligator clips. These...
$3.95
In Stock
USB cable - USB A to Micro-B - 3 foot long
This here is your standard A to micro-B USB cable, for USB 1.1 or 2.0. Perfect for connecting a PC to your Metro, Feather, Raspberry Pi or other dev-board or...
$2.95
In Stock

Power

For a demo project, USB power for the speakers and the Grand Central is perfect. If you really want to take this on the go, an optional a cell phone recharge battery with two USB ports would help.

Angled shot of white rectangular USB battery pack with 4 dotted lights indicating battery is fully charged.
A large-sized rechargeable battery pack for your Raspberry Pi (or Arduino, or
$39.95
In Stock

or maybe two of these:

Angled shot of a blue long rectangular USB battery pack.
A smaller-sized rechargeable battery pack for your Raspberry Pi or Raspberry...
$14.95
In Stock

This guide was first published on Jan 16, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 28, 2024.

This page (Overview) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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