Waveshare WM8960 Audio Hi-Fi Sound Card HAT

I’ve been looking for a soundcard that will let me let me create a PureData powered musical instrument based on a Raspberry Pi device. This one looked like it might fit the bill. It even has two tiny microphones and comes with a pair of speakers.

The hardware isn’t directly supported by the Raspberry Pi operating system, so you have to do a mildly complicated install which involves downloading GitHub repository and then running an init script. My pro tip: rather than using Git clone from the command line (which will insist on you giving a GitHub username and password that you’d really rather not) use the browser to download the zip archive and then unzip the files onto your desktop.

I couldn’t get it to work (which is nothing new for me). I filed an online support request from the product page and was very surprised to get a prompt response offering help. Buoyed by this I had another go, starting from a brand new fresh install of Raspian. This worked a treat. Better yet, both the speakers and the microphone work perfectly with PureData (as long as I remember to start PureData in supervisor mode):

sudo puredata

If you are looking for an “all in one” audio solution for your Pi this is a very good bet. The speakers are OK for their size. The only thing it is missing is line audio in. You can only record from the onboard microphones. However, they do supply a full schematic, so if you are handy with a soldering iron and fine wire you might be able to make your own. And the support is very good. They even got back to me to ask how I was getting on after their first response.