Using serial information from arduino to play audio in Processing

Question

I'm creating a program that takes serial information from an ultrasonic sensor/arduino and sends it to processing, which will play either crickets.mp3 or growl.mp3, depending on the value of the input.

crickets.mp3 is supposed to play if the value is <10 growl.mp3 is supposed to play if the value is >10

As is, the code will play growl.mp3, but not crickets.mp3

import processing.serial.*;
import ddf.minim.*;
Minim minim;
AudioPlayer player, player2;

Serial myPort; // Create object from Serial class
String dataFromArduino; // Data received from the serial port
String convertedDataFromArduino;

boolean soundactivated = false;
boolean sound2activated = false;

void setup() {
  size(640, 480);

  minim = new Minim(this);
  player = minim.loadFile("crickets.mp3");
  player2 = minim.loadFile("growl.mp3");

  printArray(Serial.list());
  String portName = Serial.list()[4]; //change the 0 to a 1 or 2 etc. to match your port
  myPort = new Serial(this, portName, 9600);
}

void draw() {
  player.pause();
  dataFromArduino = myPort.readStringUntil('\n'); // read it and store it in message

  if (dataFromArduino != null) {
    convertedDataFromArduino = trim(dataFromArduino);
    println(convertedDataFromArduino);


//Music calls   
if (int(convertedDataFromArduino) < 10 && (soundactivated == false)) {

  player.loop();
  println("crickets");
  soundactivated = true;
  sound2activated = false;
} else if (int(convertedDataFromArduino) >= 11 && (sound2activated == false)) {

  player2.loop();
  println("growl");
  sound2activated = true;
  soundactivated = false;
}

//loop();
  }
}

Answer 1

You've left out a lot of details, so it's going to be hard to answer in a specific way, but I'll try to answer in the general sense:

It's time to start debugging your code.

You need to figure out exactly what your code is doing. You can do this using the debugger (which just steps through your code one line at a time), or by using println() statements, or simply by stepping through your code yourself, with a piece of paper and a pencil.

The first thing you should do is make sure those sound files are valid, spelled correctly (check your capitalization), and in the location you think they are. Create a small example program that simply plays the sounds without any Arduino code.

Next, you need to figure out exactly what's coming from your Arduino. You're already printing out the value of convertedDataFromArduino. What is that value? If it's always less than 10, then you need to figure out what that's happening. If it's greater than 10 when you expect it to be, then you can rule that out as the suspect.

Finally, you should take a look at your if statements. Are they both entered when you expect them to be? Are those print statements triggered when you expect them to be? What happens if the value is greater than or equal to 10, but less than 11?

If you still can't get it working, then you might consider creating a series of smaller programs. Create one small program that just plays the sounds without any Arduino code. Create another small program that just prints out the values coming from the Arduino, without playing any sounds. Get those working perfectly, and only try to combine them when they work separately. If you get stuck, you can post a more specific question along with an MCVE, and we'll go from there. Good luck.