Welcome to

Cinnamon Hill Art

The mountains of North Carolina are very conducive to making art, music, and good food.
We do it all.
It may be the dark green forests, the altitude or perhaps the oxygen-filled air, but living here inspires creativity.

Cinnamon Hill Art (aka Tom and Andy) has been inspired recently to create several
whimsical, wacky folk art projects along with specialized Electronic Products such as
a Digital Toy Counter for Theater Organs, RF Transmitter and Receiver, Red-Blue-Green light-controller,
Headphone/Mixer Amplifier for electronic organs, embedded 6-channel audio mixer,
Programmable Digital Toy Counter and a Programmable Sound Effects Machine for Community Theaters.
Be sure to check out the Ubuntu Choir music at the Chateau de Versailles.

Here are a few of our creations (CLICK on image to see all the different projects) :

Doorbells
The sound producing device.
(Remote controlled by the actuator)
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
All doorbells contain a proprietary receiver (see photo below) which detects the radio-frequency signal sent out by the actuator. This receiver then switches on the doorbell circuit.

All ringers (actuators) for the doorbells contain a proprietary transmitter circuit (see photo below) which sends a radio-frequency signal to the doorbell receiver. This circuit runs on a 9 volt battery which should last over two years and is easily replaced.

Therefore, there are no wires to and from the actuators and doorbells. Doorbells and the receiver circuit contained inside are powered by a “wall wart” plugged into a home outlet. The bells work an low voltage and are completely safe.

Cinnamon Hill Folk Art Transmitter (left) and Receiver (right) printed circuit boards.

Left:Transmitter board showing 9 volt batter connector, red antenna wire and code switch (in blue). The two LEDs indicate battery life. When the transmitter is actuated the green LED will light if the batter is good. When the battery is low then the red light will light.

Right:Receiver board showing the code switch in blue and red antenna wire. At the time the photo was taken a 9v. battery was used for testing. Normally the battery connector is replaced by a wall wart power supply connection.

Actuators
(Pushbutton Ringers)
Ringers are remote controlled doorbell “pushbuttons” (actuators) made to operate our wacky doorbells.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
All ringers (actuators) for the doorbells contain a proprietary transmitter circuit which sends a radio-frequency signal to the doorbell receiver. This circuit runs on a 9 volt battery which should last over two years and is easily replaced.

All doorbells contain a proprietary receiver which detects the radio-frequency signal sent out by the actuator. This receiver then switches on the doorbell circuit.

Therefore, there are no wires to and from the actuators and doorbells. Doorbells are powered by a “wall wart” plugged into a home outlet. The bells work an low voltage and are completely safe.

Mood Lights / Night Lights
Adjustable color Mood lights
Steady color LED night lights
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Night Lights
The Night Lights use a single color LED and run on a low voltage plug-in converter, making them completely safe.

Mood Lights
The Mood Lights have a knob or other control which changes the color of the light from red to violet, including all the rainbow colors in between.

In order to control the tri-color Light Emitting Diode, a custom-designed circuit using a microcomputer chip had to be programmed. It takes about 100 lines of program to read the dial value, convert it to a number, go to a lookup table, and then to control the amount of brightness for each of the three LEDs.

This circuit was designed and programmed by Cinnamon Hill. The circuit board is professionally manufactured to our specifications.

So, if you are feeling a bit pensive, you might select a violet light. Or perhaps you feel passionate, then a deep brilliant red might do you good.

Cost to run.
These Mood and Night Lights take very little power. It was calculated that a NIGHT LIGHT with one LED (light emitting diode) will cost about 5 cents per month. A MOOD LIGHT will cost about 7 cents per month. The life of these LEDs is about 100,000 hours which comes out to be about 10 years or so.

Other Cinnamon Hill Art Projects

Multiple Lamp Chandelier
Rabbit Clock
Outdoor Organ
Angel Sculpture
Schoolhouse Automaton
The Bush Lying Machine Automaton
Self-Playing Glockenspiel
Fairground Organ (MIDI-Controlled)
Democracy Voting Machine (Unfinished)

Star of Bethlehem
Programmed Animated LED Light Display
(Sound Effects Device for Theater Organs)

(Version V2 Final Software Release Aug.2015)
Almost 2 minutes of display time before repeating.
Uses: Home Christmas Display Installations, Church Christmas Display, etc.

The Cinnamon Hill Art Star of Bethlehem.
Dimensions: Height 60-1/2", Width 40"

The Star of Bethlehem comes unassembled and unfinished. You do the work.

You save $$.

No soldering skills necessary. The only tools needed are the following:
Phillips Screwdrivers, Flat Blade Screwdriver, Tape Measure, and a Square.

You will also need a paint brush or roller and paint or stain and polyurethane.

The Star of Bethlehem mounted on my deck
This is my prototype which I painted white.

Your kit contains the wood arms which are unfinished.
!
At 60-1/2" high the Star can be seen from very far distances

Electronic Products

DigiTal Toy Counter™

Features:

18 pushbuttons for 18 different “traps” sounds.
One pushbutton can be used as a “sound cut-off” if desired.
Each pushbutton can be assigned to any one of the over 90 included sound files.
User expandable library to a total of 255 sound clips.
User can download more sound files from the web and assign them to any of the pushbuttons.
Sound clips can be shorter than 1 second or longer than 5 minutes. There is plenty of memory available.
Professionally made sturdy walnut pushbutton console.
Easy pushbutton assignment using your computer.
Master volume control on the right side.
Complete installation instructions and user manual available as a pdf file (Go to EDTC Tech Page)
Can be used in either stereo or mono.
Version #4 (and #3) allows the addition of 8 or 16 remote pushbutton (supplied by user) inputs using the OC-1 add-on printed circuit boards.

First Section Second Section Third Section Ending Section
Atlantic City 100" wind pressure blower, Crash Cymbal Roll, Wolf Call Whistle, Old Car Bulb Horn, Large Tubular Chime “C” Wolf Whistle with Laughing Man immediately following Klaxon Horn, Acme Siren, Police Whistle, and Wolf Whistle again Triangle Dinner Call, Long Gong
Introduction to Gualione (a young Boy) in the streets of Naples. Boy is in love with Neapolitan “Street Lady”. Older boys make fun of him. Boy’s Mamma tries to talk sense in him, but to no avail. Time to come home to dinner.

Headphone Mixer/Amplifier Rev6

6-channel mixer to 2-channel stereo output
NEW! On-board muting. Easier to install.
Works on all organs using RCA plugs and jacks

Headphone Mixer/Amplifier Installation Kit Rev.6
NEW! On-board muting. Easier to install.

(Mix down 6-channels to 2-channel stereo headphone channels)

Works on any organ with RCA plugs and jacks

This Headphone Mixer/Amplifier Installation Kit (Photos #1 and 2) was designed specifically for the Allen Organ MDS-317, 4-channel Theater Organ but it can be used in other installations where a headphone is desired.

This kit is no ordinary “Headphone Mixer”. Besides being a headphone amplifier and 6-channel (optional 12-channel) mixer, the unit performs two very important MUTING functions;

1- When the earphone plug is inserted, the circuit MUTES the audio going to the amplifiers. This prevents any organ sounds from going to the speakers. The organ plays only through the headphones.

2-It MUTES the organ startup sounds (pops, crackles, ARTE sounds that may start, etc.) so that these noises do not enter the headphones.

Since electronic organs usually have several channels, it is necessary to combine those channels (called “mixing down”) into two channels, one for the left earphone and one for the right.

This kit can mix up to six channels. An additional “Piggyback” board can be ordered which will add 6 more channels. Each audio channel in the organ is input to the Headphone Mixer/Amplifier ( abbreviated HMA from now on) printed circuit board.

The HMA picks off the audio from each channel connected and uses this audio, after mixing and amplification, for the headphones.

Since the inputs to the HMA are buffered, the addition of this kit will have no effect on the normal operation of the organ.

The Headphone Mixer/Amplifier installation kit will allow you to hear your organ without disturbing anyone. When you plug in your headphones you will disable the organ’s amplifier and speaker system. This will allow you to hear the organ through your headphones.

All necessary items are included in the installation kit. No soldering is necessary. All you need are some basic tools and basic skills. You should not have any trouble installing this kit. Estimated time to install is from 1 to 2 hours depending on installer skills.

Tools required: awl, phillips screwdriver, flat blade screwdriver, 3/32” & 7/64” diameter drill bits and drill, needle nose pliers, wire stripping tool, wire cutters.

Just installing headphones to an organ output would not give the results desired.

The Cinnamon Hill Headphone Mixer/Amplifier printed circuit board performs several functions that are necessary for a complete operation. These are:

Making the Headphone Mixer/Amplifier transparent to the operation of the organ. Each input to the HMA from each organ channel is buffered (isolated and amplified) so that there is almost no load placed upon the Allen Organ mixer output.
Having each input contain an associated un-mixed RCA jack output for connection to the organ’s amplifier input. This allows for normal operation of the organ using the speakers.
Having the volume of each channel of the HMA mixing circuit individually adjustable.
Having individual volume controls for the mixed left and right earphones.
Incorporating the MUTE function of the Allen organ so that the Allen Organ amplifiers are switched off whenever a headphone is plugged into the jack.
Having the headphone amplifier muted upon start-up for a few seconds so that the various clicks, pops, and other annoying sounds from the computer do not enter the user’s ears.
Having the ability to expand to 12 (or more) channels.
Having a basically flat frequency response from 40 Hz to over 20,000 hertz.
Having the organ easily returned to its original wiring if necessary. No permanent changes have been made to the Allen Organ

Technical specifications:

Power Supply: 12v at 100 ma minimum (supplied).

Minimum input voltage, P-P, for an output to headphones: 20 mv.

The Headphone Jack and Box mounted on the right side of the console. It can be mounted on the left side if desired.
When the headphones are plugged in, the organ’s speaker amplifiers are disabled so that the audio will only be heard in the earphones.

Completed Installation of the
Headphone Mixer/Amplifier Kit

The HMA board is located just below and to the right of the green Allen Organ Audio Mixer board.

All audio connections are performed by RCA plugs and jacks.

The black wire on the bottom left of the HMA board is the power cable coming from the “Wall Wart”.

The white wire to the right of the black cable is connected to the MUTE function on the Allen Organ amplifier. A terminal strip (included in kit) is used to place this cable in series with the MUTE function.

The thicker silver cable on the right goes to the headphone box.

Detailed instructions are in the pdf file below.

Conceptual drawing of how the HMA is connected
More detailed information can be found in the HMA Installation Manual

Audio Mixer 3-Channel Stereo/Expander

16 pushbuttons for 16 different “traps” sounds.
Two levels of memory giving a total of 30 sound clip selections.
One pushbutton can be used as a “CANCEL” if desired.
Each pushbutton can be assigned to any one of 99 sound files.
Over 90 MP3 sound files included with purchase.
User expandable library to a total of 255 sound clips in reserve.
User can download more sound files from the web or record your own and assign them to any of the pushbuttons.
Sound clips can be shorter than 1 second or longer than 5 minutes. There is plenty of memory available.
Easy pushbutton assignment without using your computer.
Individual volume assignment for each of the 16 pushbuttons.
Master volume control.
LCD brightness and contrast controls.