RoadTest: Matrix VOICE Dev Board
Author: gam3t3ch
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?:
What were the biggest problems encountered?:
Detailed Review:
First off I would like to thank Element14 and Matrix Labs for selecting me for this roadtest.
When I first applied for this roadtest I had a ton of Idea's that were flowing through my head that I wanted to try.
So the first thing I did was went over to https://matrix.one to get some more information and check out the forum to see what was going on there.
It seems a few days after I got the Matrix Voice Debian Buster was released and seemed to be causing a issue with the Matrix Voice.
They were quick on the draw there tho coming up with solutions to the issue. But by the looks of it for now the option was to roll back to the previous version which is alright with me for now.
On the site there was tons and tons of information and projects to go through and it was nice because the projects were such a wide variety it was basically where ever you wanted to start there was
examples and options to try out.
This made it so easy to start messing around with the Matrix Voice.
So what did I decide to do? Well of course my favorite thing to do is make odd things and hopefully it turns out pretty cool. I really think it did and had a ton of fun making the Studio Matrix Dev Center.
Now I do know its no perfect and it would certainly ask me for more cooling if it was able to but that's a simple fix and something I can work on later as well its a work in progress. I have found that the Matrix Voice
out did my expectations in every way possible. This was a wonderful change since I know I have had a few road tests in the past where it was really hard to find the good in some of the products being tested.
OK so on to the fun stuff now I won't get very technical because I haven't got that far.
If you would like to play around with the Google Sketchup File you can download it from Here (only available on Element14): gam3t3ch.com/sketchup/StudioMatrix.skp
If you would like to check out the STL Files you can download them here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3783458
The first thing I did like I said was I played around with some of the files to make sure everything was working fine and thought I would see how it would look in the new case so I have added the video below here of it going through the Everloop files
I have to say I was very impressed with how it responded. I am sorry its pretty to watch as well I had a lot of fun in this build and getting it to where I was happy. So lets have a look at some images of the build it took a bit of time and I did have a ton of mess ups on the cap but that's OK I will reuse the parts from the prints on that in another project that I didn't have planned. Funny how that works.
Let's just say it was one of those days where nothing wanted to work properly for me and I just was getting frustrated. It happens but in the end I got it done and where I wanted it to be. Oh and I was using the worlds worst filament that I have ever used in my life on this build so take that into consideration haha.
Here we go a bunch more photos of the Studio Matrix.
OK so its working its pretty and man those colors look great.....ok so its the same color as the Hack Like Heck - Wesley Gardner - The Port-A-Cade Project but its my favorite colors so its perfect.
Now that its all together I wanted to do one thing and one thing only right away that was to get it recording as a podcast station cause why not that would be fun. While messing around with the matrix voice I mine as well also put it to work eh!
Below is the first test on the Studio Matrix no editing or adjusting of any kind its completely raw and edited just so you can see the quality I was able to produce with it on a single channel in mono.
Next one I do however I will record 8 tracks at a time and then go through the audio more and do some actual editing on it properly. So here it is click below to check it out. (also available most places that have podcasts just search for gam3t3ch electronics hobby house, just for fun only nothing serious)
After listening to that I was happy with the results. since it was running on the raspberry pi there was no background noise from a computer running or other electronics it was nice for once not having to edit that out.
So just when you thought you were near the end I had more photos planned so here they are.
Well that should do it for the pictures.
So after being apart of the webinar's for project14 and getting to interact with Matrix Labs I really felt I was missing out and wanted to test further and see what I could do with the board. Well for now all I can say it doesn't matter what your flavor of programming is or skill set they have everything setup for begginers and advanced and have tons of support on their website in the forums there.
As I mentioned I think in the little podcast test there here are the links to the project14 webinars if you have not checked them out
As for right now I have a bunch of stuff I still want to test on the matrix voice but so far it hasn't been a disappointment to me at all. oh the GPIO connector block was not in my box when I got it so I had to rig up my own that's about the only complaint I had.
So thank you for checking out my little project here it was fun to build and really enjoyed the outcome of it. I am glad I built a dedicated system just for the matrix voice I can't wait to get back on it after this and start on some projects on it.
Thanks again if you made it this far down the page and thank you once again to Element14 and Matrix Labs for putting on this roadtest it was so much fun I doubt I will be without ideas for some time while using this board. Like I said this wasn't going to be a very technical post because I felt there was just such a wide variety of projects out there already that anything I did would not measure up to it.
Final words: If your thinking about it don't. Just buy it its so worth it!
Top Comments
A good demonstration of Matrix board. But this product should be use with full features to make a good industrial application or scientific research prototype.
Cool Matrix Studio! Now that's what I would call beautiful. See if I can build the same for my Matrix Creator.