Outdoor Christmas Light Controller
Roy Carlson
Posts: 46
Yes - I know, it's only the first day of Sept but this was a project idea I never started last year and I want a jump on it for this Christmas.
Has anyone used a micro (SX or Stamp) to control 110 VAC Christmas lights using sound as the source for controlling the pattern.· I was wondering how one would go about using an input from a music file (actual sound input) to develop a software controlled output that would turn the lights on and off based on a preset range of notes (freq) and timming.
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Has anyone used a micro (SX or Stamp) to control 110 VAC Christmas lights using sound as the source for controlling the pattern.· I was wondering how one would go about using an input from a music file (actual sound input) to develop a software controlled output that would turn the lights on and off based on a preset range of notes (freq) and timming.
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Comments
If you're trying to have a microcontroller or circuit that uses a frequency range to activate lights, then you're building a color organ. Here's a link to buy a kit:
www.goldmine-elec-products.com/products.asp?dept=1064
If you want a computer to do a really cool light show, then you want to do something like this:
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=771108
In all of the systems that do the really cool Christmas light shows, there isn't a circuit that listens to the music and activates the lights based on specific frequencies and timing. They are done by manually programming the show using PC software that then tells the hardware what lights to turn on and off, usually via a serial link.
Thanks,
PeterM
Thanks for linking my experiment last year with the Basic Stamp. This year i have built an SX controller, so far i have assembled 3 of 6, 17 channel controllers. I will be controlling the lights via vixen. http://www.vixenlights.com/
I can share my firmware and show ya how to make the boards. I didn't make a PCB, just used protoboard this year.
Send me an email if your interested.
lboucher26@gmail.com
Probably post the firmware later when i get home, i think i have already posted it in another thread.
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=823180
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In any case here is the updated firmware, and a new version for 57600 baud
I will look into this further.
What I was thinking of doing is to create a sound freq means of controlling the lights similar to the color organ concept.
If there was a means to use a music source and break it down into 8 or 16 channels, then use those channels to control the lights.
It would have to have specific detection criteria set to avoid just flashing the bulbs, for example, the sample rate could be controlled slow-fast and a delay or flip-flop means of moving through the light sequence.
This would avoid having to code the channels in Vixen for each song.
Note: New thought, someone could write a software program that would take the music input and then covert it to 8, 16, or 32 channels that could then be moderately edit/modified in Vixen.
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...or, you could just edit the songs by hand in Vixen.
Feel free to experiment, but the likelihood of getting an algorithmic approach to give you the cool, synchronized style of show that has been featured the past few years on YouTube, etc, is slim to none. If you haven't tried manually creating a show, perhaps you should try doing it first to find out whether it's actually as much work as you think it is.
Thanks,
PeterM
I agree with you on the trying part. I am not very artistic or as patient as I once was. From what I have seen on the Vixen site is a software tool to match the on/off bits for the channels with pwm to be coordinated with the music file being played. I have seen where you can down load pre-defined scripts and I am absolutely sure this would be the best way to have a personalized Christmas Display.
My thoughts were centered around the idea that most family households don't have the ability to do all the pcb, programming, etc. The idea of creating a COLOR ORGAN type of display seemed to make this potential project less software driven.
I am not sure how it would work but I wanted to see if anyone else had attempted this from a sound-in, light channels-out approach.
Thanks again for your input.
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Frequency Spectrum
Acts like a 31-band equalizer, allowing you to set up band-to-channel mappings and threshold levels. The results are events that are created in response to certain decibel levels of frequency bands.
Analog Frequency Spectrum
Like the above-mentioned Frequency Spectrum add-in, but this version has two sliders per band -- lower and upper limits. The intensity of the resulting channel events are based on how far the band's decibel level is between the limits. i.e. If it reaches halfway between the limits at a given point in time, the channel's intensity will be approximately 50%.
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. -- HST
1uffakind.com/robots/povBitMapBuilder.php
1uffakind.com/robots/resistorLadder.php
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