Sound-To-Light project using MSGEQ7 and WS2812B RGB LEDs

[top204]

Sound-To-Light project using MSGEQ7 and WS2812B RGB LEDs

[trastikata]

This is so cool, brings back the past forgotten drunken teenager in me. 

And it is astonishing how the entire project probably takes only 5-6 components including passives. Back in the days this would have costed at least hundred dollars or so.

[top204]

I am currently working on a similar Sound-To-Light unit, but using the 8-bit FFT routines I wrote about 10 years ago, because it operates in milliseconds and is virtually real-time.

So all that is required is a pre-amplifier into an ADC channel of a PIC18F device, and certain blocks of the FFT result will illuminate a set of WS2812B LEDs for a particular frequency band. If I use a PIC18F with a built-in op-amp, it can all be done with a single PIC18F chip and a few resistors and capacitors!

[charliecoutas]

Brilliant, well done Les!

Charlie

[top204]

Many thanks for your kind words.

Remember, that the program can operate many WS2812B devices and not just the 30 that the demo uses. If the RAM is available to store the RGB colours in the 3 arrays, the code will support many hundreds of them and it automatically calculates how many WS2812B devices will be used for a particular frequency band colour, based upon the $define WS2812B_Amount that tells the program how many WS2812B devices are attached.

See the code section:

Code Select Expand

    Symbol cBulb_Amount = (WS2812B_Amount / 7)                      ' The amount of WS2812B devices used per coloured bulb
    Symbol cLight1_Pos = 0                                          ' The start WS2812B position of light 1
    Symbol cLight2_Pos = cLight1_Pos + cBulb_Amount                 ' The start WS2812B position of light 2
    Symbol cLight3_Pos = cLight2_Pos + cBulb_Amount                 ' The start WS2812B position of light 3
    Symbol cLight4_Pos = cLight3_Pos + cBulb_Amount                 ' The start WS2812B position of light 4
    Symbol cLight5_Pos = cLight4_Pos + cBulb_Amount                 ' The start WS2812B position of light 5
    Symbol cLight6_Pos = cLight5_Pos + cBulb_Amount                 ' The start WS2812B position of light 6
    Symbol cLight7_Pos = cLight6_Pos + cBulb_Amount                 ' The start WS2812B position of light 7

I remember making a 3 bulb Sound To Light unit when I was about 16, and it took quite a few components for the filters and Triacs/Diacs with large coloured mains powered bulbs. I even made the box for it myself in the back garden shed, and with crushed up tin foil for the front reflector. :-)

At the time I thought it was great because I had never used Triacs before, but looking back, it was probably dreadful, but it worked and kept a young, inquisitive, mind active.

[John Lawton]

Must be 50 years ago... with a friend we made some 'disco/party' lights using three of the old style sealed-beam 12V vehicle headlights which made it safe to connect directly to audio equipment. If I recall correctly, two of the lamps were left and right channels and the centre was the bass signal.

Happy days.

John

[See_Mos]

Ah, happy days!

Memories of dichroic PAR38 lamps.  I built several 3CH sound to light units for mobile discos and local clubs.

I also built an 8CH unit from one of the electronic magazines which as I remember used 741 ICs in the filters.  The bigger unit is the original and the smaller one the rebuild. I often wondered if it would be possible to use the IC's from a graphic equaliser to build a big multi-channel bar graph display.

I just watched the video and perused the other Postron8 posts.  Very nice!.  If only I had the use of such a piece of kit

[top204]

I love that little scope. It looks like a Telequipment, sometimes called Tektronix, type with the red knobs and the black rim controller around them.

They were a lot less expensive than other scopes, but still very good oscilloscopes for repairing and general tests, and did their job excellently. I had one for many years when I was a TV repair engineer, and I eventually dumped it, even though it was still working! I know..... I can't believe what I did with it either now! But back then, there was no such thing as the "vintage" con word for the "asset" collectors, just second hand and cheap used goods, so it was probably only worth about £5 in the early 1990s when I dumped it.

[See_Mos]

I could not possibly have afforded Telequipment gear.  It was second hand and I suspect it was branded Eagle Products.  It was single channel 1MHz.

I still have the Eagle RF generator which is next to the 'scope.  The rest is long gone!