MP3 Trigger board is built to make MP3 sound integration easier than ever. The board has 18 external trigger pins that will directly trigger pre-selected MP3 tracks, & a full-duplex serial control port that provides full transport control, remote triggering for up to 256 tracks, & fast real-time volume control. MP3s are stored on FAT16 formatted SDSC or FAT32 formatted SDHC micro-SD flash memory cards. Optimized code can achieve 192Kbps stereo playback from a wider range of cards.The heart of the board is the Cypress PSoC CY8C29466-24SXI microcontroller which serves up MP3 data to a VLSI VS1063 audio codec IC. Supports an optional initialization file that can be used to set the serial port baud rate as well as to reprogram the 18 trigger inputs to alternate functions, including random & sequential track selection, transport controls & even volume up/down. Each conventional trigger can be set to either allow immediate restarts, or to lock out restarts if audio is playing. A new trigger filename convention provides greater flexibility in naming your MP3 tracks & makes file management easier.There is a “Quiet Mode” feature that can be enabled via the serial control port. Trigger inputs don’t start tracks directly, instead produce a serial message indicating which triggers were activated. A host microcontroller can thus monitor the trigger inputs & then start any track or sequence of tracks via the serial control port, making the triggers much more flexible.It includes firmware that supports the use of an initialization file on the microSD card that can be used to change the serial baud rate, as well as to repurpose any of the 18 trigger inputs to alternate functions, such as random & sequential triggers, navigation controls & even volume controls. A restart lockout option can be used to prevent any trigger from starting a track if audio is already playing. Custom applications can often be implemented w/out the use of a separate microcontroller.