We built an 8x16 array into frosted glass top coffee table. After spray painting the interior with metallic silver paint, we mounted the driver board to the underside of the table and routed the LEDs through holes in each cell.
More pictures can be found here
We set out to create a complete TI solution. TI's portfolio of LED display driver chips allowed us to create our 128 RGB LED matrix with minimal components. Schematics, layout, and Eagle CAD file can be found here.
Software was written to take the FFT of music and find beats. For each frequency bin the magnitude is saved and the standard deviation of it's history is computed. For each bin, if its current mangitude and standard deviation are greater than a certain threshold a beat is detected. Each beat that is detected is assigned a light as well as a random color and location on the table. If the beat assigned to a light no longer exists the light begins to decay. After the beat detection algorithm has finished the screen is updated and the table data is sent out the USB port to a FTDI USB-to-Serial Adaptor which talks to the MSP430 over UART. The music input stream is provided by MPD's FIFO file output capability. The beat detection software is written in C and uses the OpenGL, fttw, and ftdi libraries. A Python module called PyTable was also developed to allow easy communication to the table with Python. Combining PyTable and 3D Perlin noise we were able to create organic flowing visualizations. The code for the MSP430 was developed using MSPGCC and flashed with mspdebug in Linux.
http://github.com/bear24rw/rgb_table https://picasaweb.google.com/bear24rw/RGBTable
This is an amazing project. Good Work!
Nice project. I don't understand the need for the FTDI USB to Serial Adapter when the Launchpad does serial emulation over USB.
I live in VietNam where most people can only afford motorcycles and, just like people with cars, they like to personalise them. VietNam is next to the country, China, where you buy LEDs by weight!
Now I have to get busy experimenting - these lights will out LED most others fitted under the seat on the side panels!
Could u give me a detailed explanation of ur work like d materials required with specification.
Great idea! Looks like a fun project. What was the part # of the LEDs you used?
Great job! It's a really wonderful project. Can you tell me how it can detect the music? I can't see any audio interface in the schematic. Is it via USB?
The PC side software is unknown and complicated for me since it's platform is Python. I have no experience with it. Would you please give us some hints and clarify how to compile and use the software to make it connected with the table? Thank you.
I cannot figure out for the life of me how to get the correct files to send to the pcb manufacturer to make the driver board. i have all of the components but not the gerber files to send the company to make the board. or is there somewhere else to get these?
Thumbs Up!
It's a very nice project.