COBRA

AudioBox
DetailedUserGuide

WhatistheAudioBox?
TheCOBRAAudioBoxisawirelessMP3playerthatallowsyoutoplaymusicinsyncwithyourfireworks.Youconnectyour
audioboxtothesoundsystemandpressasinglebuttontostartyourshowusingthe18R2.Asthescriptfires,theaudio
staysinsync.PleasereadthisdocumenttomakesureyouunderstandhowtousetheCOBRAAudioBoxwiththeCOBRA
system.

PerformthefollowingbeforeusingtheCOBRAAudioBox:

1.

Makesureyoursystemsarerunningatleast3.0.1(see
http://www.cobrafiringsystems.com/release
).Toupgrade,youwill
needthe
COBRAWirelessReprogrammer
.Tolearnhowtoupgradeyourunits,viewthe
UsingtheWirelessReprogrammer
instructions.

2.
PrepareyourMP3audiofile.See
AppendixPrepareMP3File
attheendofthisfile.

HowdoIusetheAudioBox?

1. TosynctheAudioBoxtothe18R2,pressandholdSYNContheAudioBoxand18R2atthesametime.TheSYNC
LEDwillblinkafewtimesontheAudioBoxand18R2toindicatethesyncissuccessful.Inaddition,the18R2will
displayP.Oncecomplete,restartthe18R2.

Note:
the18R2countstheAudioBoxasamodulewhenitreportstheamountofmodulessynced.

Note:
ForexistingCOBRAusers,theSYNCprocessisslightlydifferentbetweenversion3.0.3and3.1+.Thedifferenceisthateachunitneeds
tohavetheSYNCbuttonpressedandheldfor23secondstoplaceintoprogrammode.Whentheaudioboxisinthismode,theSYNCLED
stayson.Forthe18R2,Pisdisplayed.Whenthesyncprocessisfinished,the18R2needstoberestartedtopoweronnormallytoconfirm
sync.Alsonotethatwhenthe18R2isinprogrammode,itonlyrequires1secondtosynctoanotherunitinprogrammode.Thisspeedsupthe
syncprocessastheusercansyncseveralunitsinquicksuccessionandthenconfirminbatchthatallunitsareproperlysynced.

2. SavetheMP3filetotheUSBdrive,namethefile
audiobox.mp3
.Donotsavethefileintoadirectory.Thefilename
mustbe
audiobox.mp3
.Also,makesureyoupreparetheMP3file(see
AppendixPrepareMP3File
attheend
ofthisfile).

3. Inyourcobra.csvscript,adda5thargumenttotheheaderrowtoindicateyouwanttheAudioBoxtoplayyouraudio.
InExcel,thislooksasfollows(youcanalsoreferencethesamplecobra.csvfileprovidedwiththisdocument):

Note:
IfyouarecreatingyourscriptinCOBRAShowCreator,thisargumentisautomaticallyaddedforyou.Youcanskipthis
stepandgotoStep4.

4. Savethecobra.csvscripttotheUSBdriveandinsertitintoyour18R2.Thescriptshouldloadsuccessfullywithall
greenLEDsdisplaying.

5. InsertUSBintoAudioBox.ThiscanbedonebeforeoraftertheAudioBoxispoweredon.IfyouremovetheUSB
stickwhiletheAudioBoxispoweredon,itwillselfreset.Thisisnormal.

Note:
IfthePowerLEDontherockerswitchblinks,turnofftheAudioBox,wait5seconds,andturnitbackon.Ifthe
LEDstillblinks,email
ssmith@cobrafiringsystems.com
forfurtherassistance.

6. ConnecttheAudioBoxtoanynumberofsoundsystemsusingtheheadphone,RCA,and/or1/4jacks.The
headphonesbothsupplyLandRchannelsinthesameoutputjack.

7. PressandreleasetheAudioTESTbuttontostartplayingtheaudiotogetyoursoundlevelscorrect.Youcanusethe
volumeknobsontheAudioBoxandalsoyoursoundsystemtoobtainthebestquality.Wesuggestavolumeof
about70%ontheAudioBox.Tostoptheaudio,pressandreleasetheAudioTESTbuttonagain.

IfyoupressandholdtheAudioTESTbutton,theaudiowillplayforaslongasthebuttonisheld.Whenreleased,the
audiowillstop.

8. TotestAudioBoxsignalstrength,pressandreleasetheSYNCbuttonwhilethe18R2isintestmodeandon
channel99.Theaudioboxwillalwaysreportsignalstrengthonchannel99.

Note:
Ifyouhavemultipleaudioboxes,youcanrepeatedlypressandreleasetheSYNCbuttontocyclethroughsignalstrengthoneachaudio
box.AfterreleasingtheSYNCbutton,thesignalstrengthfollowedbytheaddressoftheaudioboxwilldisplay.Whenfirstsyncingtheaudio
boxtothe18R2,wesuggestyouwritetheaudioboxaddressontotheoutsideoftheaudiobox(forexampleonapieceofmaskingtape).This
wayyoucanrecognizewhichaddresseachofyouraudioboxesison.

Forexample,ifyouhave5modulesand1AudioBox,youwillsee6displayasthenumberofunitsinbothTEST
andARMmode.Makesureyouseethisvalueasitindicatesproperfunction.

9. Runyourscriptonthe18R2andtheAudioBoxwillstartplayingmusic.IfyoupressARMtopauseandresume,the
AudioBoxwillresumealong.IfyouturnofftheAudioBoxandturnitbackonwhilethe18R2scriptisrunning,itwill
catchupandplayalongsideinsynctothescriptautomatically.

Note:
Iftheaudioisskipping,PrepareyourMP3audiofile.See
AppendixPrepareMP3File
attheendofthisfile.

10. Thatsit!Havefunandmakesuretoreadthe
Troubleshooting/Knownissues
sectionbelow.

PLEASEREAD/TROUBLESHOOTING

TheAudioBoxhasanoperatingtimeofabout2hours.Thereisnosleepmode.WesuggestnewAAbatteriesfor
eachshow.Wearelookingtointroducesleepmodeinthefuture.MakesuretousefreshDuracellorEnergizer
batteriesonly.Ifyouusearechargeablebattery,wesuggestalithiumorhighmAhcapacitybattery.Ifyouare
unsureofthebatterycapacity,pleaseemail
ssmith@cobrafiringsystems.com
andwearehappytohelp.

Addsomesilence/noeventstothebeginningofyouraudiofileandscript.About5secondsissufficient.Thisis
becausetheaudioboxwillselfalignwhentheshowstartsandwilllikelyskipasitisaligning.

SomeUSBsticksmaynotoperateproperlywiththeAudioBox.MakesuretotestyouraudioandUSBdrivebefore
theshow.Insomecases,thecurrentdrawoftheUSBmaybetoohighandcausetheAudioBoxtorestartoverand
over.PleasetryadifferentUSBdrive.AnyissueswiththeUSBdrivewillbeapparentrightaway.Wesuggestthe
SandiskbrandUSBdrivewhichcanbepurchasedatWalmart.Thelowerthecapacity(GB)thebetter.

Whenpausingandresumingyourscript,youmaynoticeasmallskiporpop,thisistheaudiorealigningafterthe
restartevent.Weareworkingtoimprovethisinthefuture.

IfyourAudioBoxisblinkingthepowerswitchuponpoweron,itislikelythatyouhaveasoftwareversionmismatch.
ThismeansthateithertheS19orSPYfileontheAudioBoxisadifferentversion,orthe18R2towhichtheaudio
boxissyncedisrunningadifferentversion.Pleasemakesuretoupgradeallunitstothesameversion.Contact
ssmith@cobrafiringsystems.com
foranyfurtherquestionsorsupportonthis.

Inversion3.0.1
only
(doesnotapplytoversions3.0.3or3.1+)

Theaudioboxwillstopplayingaudiowhenthescriptisfinished.Therefore,iftheaudiofileislongerthan
yourscript,itwillstopprematurely.Placeadummycue(e.g.channel99,cue1)withaneventtimelaterthan
whenyouraudiofileends.

Thereisabouta350msoffsetbetweentheAudioBoxandthe18Msfiring.Whenfirststartingyourscript,we
suggestyoupressthebuttononthe18R2threetimessothat0.3isdisplayedonthebottom7segment
displays.Thisissueissolvedinversion3.0.3(see
http://www.cobrafiringsystems.com/release
).

 AppendixPrepareMP3File

ThissectionsshowsyouhowtoprepareanMP3filefortheCOBRAAudioBox.

THISMUSTBEDONEUSINGTHEAUDACITYSOFTWAREONLY(explainedbelow)

Whenpreparingyoursoundtrackforyourpyromusical,makesuretopurchaseyoursoundfilesfromiTunesoranother
sourceofhighqualityoriginalfiles.WedontsuggestdownloadingyouraudiofilesfromYouTubeasthequalitycanbepoor
duetobeinghighlycompressed.

Wealsorequireyouhaveafewsecondsofsilenceinthebeginningofyouraudiotrack.
Thiswillmakesuretheaudiostarts
smoothlyastheaudioaligns.Withoutthissilence,youmaynoticeasmallamountofskippinginthefirstfewseconds.

1. DownloadandinstallAudacityonyourPCfrom
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
.

2. LaunchAudacityandclickFile>Import>Audio.Selectyouraudiofileandimport.

3. Onceimported,youneedtochecktwothingstoseeifanychangesarerequired.

4. Onceimported,checkthevalues.Ifyousee44100Hz,everythingisOK,pleaseproceedto
Step11
below.

5. Ifthevaluesshowanythingotherthan44100Hz,youneedtoimporttheaudiofileagainclickFile>Import>Audio.
Selectyouraudiofileandimport.Youwillseetwoinstancesoftheimportedaudiofileasshownbelow.

6. Asshownabove,clickonthe2ndaudioinstancetohighlightit.Then,clickEdit>RemoveAudioorLabels>Cut.
Thiswillremovetheaudiofromthe2ndinstance.

7. Forthesame2ndinstance,clickonthe1,2,and3arrowsbelowtochangetheRateto44100Hz.

8. Clickonthe1stinstancetohighlighttheaudio.Then,clickEdit>Copy.

9. Clickonthe2ndinstancetohighlight.Then,clickEdit>Paste.Theaudiowillcopytothe2ndinstance.Afterclicking
Paste,youmayneedtowaitafewsecondsbeforetheaudiofinishescopying.

10. Deletethe1stinstancebyclickingXasshownbelow.

11. Toaddsilencetothebeginningofyouraudio,followtheinstructionsbelow.

12. ClickFile>Export.

13. ClickOptionsinthelowerright.Then,makesurethefollowingareset:

Note:
YoumayberequiredtoinstalltheLAMEMP3Encoder.Toinstall,see
http://www.cobrafiringsystems.com/lame.exe

BitRateMode:
Constant
Quality:

Choose
320kbs
forfirmwareversion
3.0.3orgreate
r.

Choose
128kbs
forfirmware
version3.0.1
.
VariableSpeed:
Fast
ChannelMode:
JointStereo

14. ClickOK.Then,savethefiletoyourUSBdrivewiththefilenameaudiobox.mp3.Youonlyneedtotypeaudiobox
withoutthequotesintothefilename.Youdonotneedtoadd.mp3.

IMPORTANT!
Alwaysperformafulldryrunofyouraudiofileontheaudiobox
WITH
the18R2runningthescript
and
audio.The
MP3maysoundgoodwhenusingtheAUDIOTESTbuttonontheaudiobox,butmaysounddifferentwhenthe
18R2iscontrollingtheaudioboxwiththetimecode.

Anyquestions,emailScottSmithat
ssmith@cobrafiringsystems.com
orcalldirectat5182227410.

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