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Before I go off to build my own...

I want to connect several microphones (MEMS microphones, but that's not terribly important -- it only really means I'm not looking for high-end audio here) to a Pi.

Using usb audio "cards" is not a good solution, as I lose all timing information, plus they eat up a fair amount of CPU that I need for real work.

I've found a couple of audio cards, but they all pay a lot more attention to having lots of output options, which I do not need.

Any advice?

Thanks

JayEye
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  • I2S. That's a good place to start. – Aloha Feb 10 '16 at 14:53
  • You are asking for advice but have not mentioned the criteria you will use to judge that advice. – joan Feb 10 '16 at 14:55
  • I'll be impressed if the Pi has the horsepower to deal with a multitude of incoming audio streams. That aside, can you expand a little on the timing issues you're having with USB cards? It would be useful to rule out any options that might suffer from the same problem. – goobering Feb 10 '16 at 14:56
  • @PandaLion98 I know about I2S. Doesn't do me any good if I have to build my own hardware to use it. Which I could, but I'd rather not spend the time if someone else has already done it. That's how the existing audio cards talk to the Pi. – JayEye Feb 11 '16 at 01:33

2 Answers2

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https://www.adafruit.com/products/1761 was the answer to my quest.

Thanks to all who responded.

JayEye
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    The Cirrus Logic card mentioned in the answer is discontinued. Would the PiSound work for you? It can have 192kHz stereo input. https://blokas.io/pisound/docs/ – kdarras Apr 10 '18 at 12:26
  • Good to know. I did buy one two years ago, and I haven't had the need to look for one since then, but I'm sure the need will arise eventually. – JayEye Jul 22 '18 at 16:51
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Just for anyone looking, I've found a current alternative:

https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/boards/hifiberry-dac-adc/

By default this has line-level inputs, but documentation is available on how to connect a microphone: https://www.hifiberry.com/build/documentation/using-dynamic-microphones-with-the-dac-adc/

Bastiaan
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