When Spell Jam first launches, it will take a moment to initialize the WiFi and other necessary hardware, as well as sync the time on the device using NTP. When it's ready, the interface will be shown with the prompt "Type a word" visible in the 14-segment text in the center.

Type any word that you want using the connected USB keyboard. The text on the screen will update as you type. When your word is complete press Enter. The NeoPixels on the Fruit Jam will turn yellow while it makes the request to AWS Polly and downloads an MP3 file of the word. 

When the download is complete, the NeoPixels will turn green and the downloaded MP3 file will be played out of the connected speakers or headphones. After that, each letter within the word will be played individually from the preloaded files inside of the spell_jam_assets/letter_mp3s/ folder included in the project files. Afterward, the downloaded MP3 of the full word will be played again.

If you want to hear the last word again, simply press Enter without typing a new word. The word and spelling will be repeated. You can repeat it as many times as you want by continuing to press Enter.

Pressing the up and down arrow keys will raise and lower the volume.

Optional Custom Sounds

Spell Jam can also play custom sounds optionally based on keywords. For instance you can download an MP3 of a cow mooing and set it to play when "cow" is entered into the app. To set this up create a words/ directory inside of spell_jam_assets/ and place audio files inside of words/ in either .wav or .mp3 format. Each audio file is named with its keyword, so cow.mp3 would play if the user entered "cow".

Issues

If you have issues, ensure you entered your WiFi and AWS credentials in settings.toml. Accessing the internet time and Amazon Polly requires the Fruit Jam to connect to internet sites.