Hi, thanks ahead of time for any advice.
The short:
I'm starting work on a voice activated home automation project. I need to determine a viable way of receiving multiple audio inputs, as well as having multiple outputs. Each input/output needs to be independent from one another.
I've been searching for viable solutions, but anything I find either won't work, or is well outside of my price range for a side project. The only thing I've found which might work are certain M-Audio cards http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=PCIinterfaces
However I don't have enough info about these cards to know if they will work for sure (hopefully someone does?!?!)
The long:
I'm starting work on a voice activated home automation system side project. My purpose is as much to see if I can do it as it is to have a working system. Ideally if I pull it off I'll start an open source project for the software I write. What I have in mind is to have a microphone input from multiple sources (1 per room). I will have at least 1 output device (or more) per room. This would ideally be ceiling mounted speakers, but could include a surround sound system, headphones, bluetooth devices, etc. This will also include inputs from a/v equipment such as a bluray player, dvd player, HTPC, google tv device, etc (maybe a cable box, but would have to subscribe again to do that). I'm not worried about the video aspect as I already have a solution for this. Assume I able to input the audio from these devices to my computer.
Each input would need to be independent of the othes. This is necessary for both microphone inputs so I can determine which input the voice recognizable stream is coming from, as well as a/v sources, so I can use specific inputs to output to a specific device.
I'm working on a program to monitor microphone inputs, decipher the input stream with voice recognition, determine what command to run, and will almost always have an output stream of audio to play. I need to be able to determine which microphone is inputting the stream that is recognized to determine what room/zone it is coming from. For the output I'm wanting to output text-to-speech as well as be able to output an input stream to a specific room/zone. Ideally the system would be able to output an audio stream from a microphone input to and output devices in the same room the command input came from. Also I'd like to be able to output any input I'd like to one or more outputs. (ie. be able to issue a command in the living room to play a dvd, and have it output the audio to every speaker in the house that is part of the system). I also plan to have the ability to output the microphone input from room A, to the speaker output of Room B (ie, voice communication between the two rooms).
I understand there can be (most likely will be) serious limitations with microphone input. Depending on external variables such as the quality of the mic, amount of background noise, relative position to the mic, etc, I understand there will be additional complications. Regardless of these I'd still like to attempt to create such a system.
What I'm asking:
I hope this is enough info to describe what I am trying to do. Basically I'm looking for any advice as to what interface I could use that will allow complete control of the input/outputs of the audio streams via a computer. Ideally it would have at least 4 inputs and 4 outputs, and a price than say $300-400 would be awesome. That budget is for the card itself, any speakers, receives, amp, headphones, etc I understand would be a separate costs. Assume I already have 4 sets of stereo speakers with 3.5mm,RCA, S/PDif, etc). If you know of equipment outside my price range I'd still appreciate if you could still let me know as it might help in the future, or for me to recommend others that might use whatever software I write.
I'd appreciate any suggestions or anyone that has experience with interfacing with multiple independent input/outputs. Pretty much any information. I'm not worried about the software as much as finding compatible hardware. I'm a programmer, not an electrical engineer, and have little experience with audio hardware, so pretty much any info in this regard is useful.
Thanks so much, I hope someone can help me out with this.
The short:
I'm starting work on a voice activated home automation project. I need to determine a viable way of receiving multiple audio inputs, as well as having multiple outputs. Each input/output needs to be independent from one another.
I've been searching for viable solutions, but anything I find either won't work, or is well outside of my price range for a side project. The only thing I've found which might work are certain M-Audio cards http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=PCIinterfaces
However I don't have enough info about these cards to know if they will work for sure (hopefully someone does?!?!)
The long:
I'm starting work on a voice activated home automation system side project. My purpose is as much to see if I can do it as it is to have a working system. Ideally if I pull it off I'll start an open source project for the software I write. What I have in mind is to have a microphone input from multiple sources (1 per room). I will have at least 1 output device (or more) per room. This would ideally be ceiling mounted speakers, but could include a surround sound system, headphones, bluetooth devices, etc. This will also include inputs from a/v equipment such as a bluray player, dvd player, HTPC, google tv device, etc (maybe a cable box, but would have to subscribe again to do that). I'm not worried about the video aspect as I already have a solution for this. Assume I able to input the audio from these devices to my computer.
Each input would need to be independent of the othes. This is necessary for both microphone inputs so I can determine which input the voice recognizable stream is coming from, as well as a/v sources, so I can use specific inputs to output to a specific device.
I'm working on a program to monitor microphone inputs, decipher the input stream with voice recognition, determine what command to run, and will almost always have an output stream of audio to play. I need to be able to determine which microphone is inputting the stream that is recognized to determine what room/zone it is coming from. For the output I'm wanting to output text-to-speech as well as be able to output an input stream to a specific room/zone. Ideally the system would be able to output an audio stream from a microphone input to and output devices in the same room the command input came from. Also I'd like to be able to output any input I'd like to one or more outputs. (ie. be able to issue a command in the living room to play a dvd, and have it output the audio to every speaker in the house that is part of the system). I also plan to have the ability to output the microphone input from room A, to the speaker output of Room B (ie, voice communication between the two rooms).
I understand there can be (most likely will be) serious limitations with microphone input. Depending on external variables such as the quality of the mic, amount of background noise, relative position to the mic, etc, I understand there will be additional complications. Regardless of these I'd still like to attempt to create such a system.
What I'm asking:
I hope this is enough info to describe what I am trying to do. Basically I'm looking for any advice as to what interface I could use that will allow complete control of the input/outputs of the audio streams via a computer. Ideally it would have at least 4 inputs and 4 outputs, and a price than say $300-400 would be awesome. That budget is for the card itself, any speakers, receives, amp, headphones, etc I understand would be a separate costs. Assume I already have 4 sets of stereo speakers with 3.5mm,RCA, S/PDif, etc). If you know of equipment outside my price range I'd still appreciate if you could still let me know as it might help in the future, or for me to recommend others that might use whatever software I write.
I'd appreciate any suggestions or anyone that has experience with interfacing with multiple independent input/outputs. Pretty much any information. I'm not worried about the software as much as finding compatible hardware. I'm a programmer, not an electrical engineer, and have little experience with audio hardware, so pretty much any info in this regard is useful.
Thanks so much, I hope someone can help me out with this.
