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Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0

I finished this a bit later than I wanted to, but a brand new version of my Light Sequencer application and article is now available at Coding4Fun.  You may recall my previous article on creating a musical light show for the holidays.  If not, here's the video showing the output:

New Features for 2.0

  • MIDI support
    • Load a MIDI file and a sequence will be automatically created based on the data contained in the file.  You can automatically create your own show with barely any effort at all!
  • Playlists
    • Load up several sequences and have them play in order to create a multi-song show!
  • More accurate timing
    • The timing algorithm used in the last version was very imprecise...it worked, but it wasn't perfect.  The new version uses a method which gives millisecond precision timing
  • Cut/Copy/Paste
    • One can now cut/copy/paste cells on the grid...makes it easy to repeat chunks of sequences without having to tap out the rhythm by hand over and over again
  • Edit existing sequences
    • After loading a sequence created by someone else (or yourself), you can now re-assign Phidget boards, serial numbers, output ports, etc. to get them to run on your setup.

Note that any sequences created with the old version will continue to play just fine, but editing them could be troublesome due to the new timing method.

Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you.  Hopefully version 3 won't take as long as this one did...


Posted Sun, Dec 23 2007 6:35 PM by Brian Peek

Comments

Mehmet Polat Diker wrote re: Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0
on Fri, Feb 29 2008 10:05 PM

Hello!

Is it possible to convert your software to use phidgetled 64?

I mean easily :(

I'm an architecture student and want to use led sequences on a scale model.

Your software is just what I need but I've found it after I've ordered phidgetled 64.

Thank you for your time..

Brian Peek wrote re: Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0
on Fri, Feb 29 2008 10:24 PM

@Mehmet, I've never used the Phidget LED64, but I assume it uses the same API as their other kits, so it should be pretty easy to use...

Brian Belden wrote re: Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0
on Sat, Mar 1 2008 5:28 PM

I see that you used 2 Phidget Interface Kit 0/0/4 , was there a reason you choose this configuration over using 1 Phidget Interface Kit 0/0/8?

Brian Peek wrote re: Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0
on Sat, Mar 1 2008 5:45 PM

@Brian, there are 2 reasons:

1) It just came out two weeks ago :)

2) The amperage max per relay is 2 amps which may not be enough if driving many small bulb strands or even 1 or 2 regular size bulb strands on the same channel.

That said, you *should* be able to plug the new board right in and have it work with the software unless they've made some drastic change to the API.

mike wrote re: Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0
on Fri, Nov 21 2008 5:07 PM

where can I find 2.0?

Brian Peek wrote re: Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0
on Fri, Nov 21 2008 5:08 PM

@mike, click through to the article and click Download

Karl wrote re: Animated Musical Holiday Light Show - Version 2.0
on Tue, Dec 23 2008 2:22 PM

Hi Brian,

I have to say that this article has provided me with some great times.  Last year after reading your article I built my own relay box (with two 0/0/4 phidgets), but never actually got around to doing much more than tinkering with it.  This year, I weatherized the unit and set it to task on my apartment balcony.

www.facebook.com/.../543364007411

This is a video of the finished product, it's not that great of resolution, and the sound is a bit soft, but you get the idea.

I just hope I don't drive my neighbors too nuts over the holiday season.

Thank you very much for this great article!

Regards,

Karl

PS: not sure if your blog supports embeded comments, but here's a shot:

<object width="320" height="240" ><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="www.facebook.com/.../543364007411" /><embed src="www.facebook.com/.../543364007411" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="320" height="240"></embed></object>

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