LED modding, where to start?

So here's the lowdown: I'd like to have a bunch of LEDs in my room that are controlled by the music I'm listening to. I'd like to do this on as much of a budget as possible. I'm very experienced technically and can utilize solutions that involve programming or circuit modification.

I've found a bunch of these rgb led strips that can be controlled by ir or rf remote ( http://cgi.ebay.com/IR-Remote-Contr...ultDomain_0&hash=item4aa3d71dc2#ht_4879wt_911 ) but I want something more automated. It would be GREAT if I could modify some of the circuitry in these boxes to receive commands from my computer. Anyways here's what I've thought of so far:

- Using a microcontroller. There are so many different kinds however, I'm not sure which would be best. The only relevant tutorials I found call for microcontrollers over $100.
- Using my PSP. I think this would work great. I have a few extra PSPs and they're all modded to run homemade code.
- Using an iTouch. I don't think this has as much potential as the PSP. Impossible to take apart, much fewer output options, but still a possibility.
- Building a SUPER barebone computer (motherboard + cpu + ram I can find for under $70). I have a few old PCs lying around, but I wouldn't want to use those because they don't support booting from USB and I'd rather not have a noisy CD or hard drive as part of my setup.

So those are the brains of the setup. Here of course are my ideas for actually interfacing with the lights:

- Direct connection with serial or parallel. I obviously don't know much about doing this.
- Using IR commands. There are IR emitters for cents on eBay that plug into an audio jack. There are rgb light controllers that interface with IR. What if I were to cut out the middleman (quite literally) and wire audio outs directly to IR ins on the $7 light controllers. It seems like this would work optimally with the PSP or motherboard. The only problem is I don't know how exactly or if that would work. It would also be useful if I know other ways to send signals like that (other than from audio jacks) such as from USB or parallel ports, then I can control more light sets at once!

So let me know if anyone has done anything along these lines or has advice or can point me to a nice tutorial! I'd really like to use as much of what I already have so that I have more $$$ to spend on lights. This project isn't worth much if I only have a couple meter long led strips for the whole room! Even if this is the wrong forum/community to go looking in, let me know if somewhere else would be better!

im not much into this sort of thing but i would think that these guys proly have a controller that would fit your needs. Their open source too and has a very active community of people hackin all sorts of mad *** stuff together. Like i said but, this is not my area of expertises.

EDIT: duno if this is any help but the guy used a pic to put sound sensetive led's in to his keyboard

I was going to suggest Arduino as well, i'm pretty sure i've seen setups for music controlled LEDs on 'em.

there are a fair few vids on you tube of people doing it w/ arduino's but non of them are very informative on how they do it. There is a big section on the arduino web site called showcase or something similar that might have something useful.

Yeah, the more I look at using a microcontroller the less I like it. I think I ought to start simple and work my way up.
I found a pulsating led type mod for the PSP, and I think I might attemt that. This is the simplest design I could find:

My thought is, would that appear as a vu meter? Or would all the LEDs light up the same amount.

They would all light up the same amount. To do a VU meter will require four separate currant regulators and resistors and such. For that sort of thing a microcontroller is almost certainly easier.

^^^^^what he said

I think if you really want to do this its going to require either some learning and practice and such w/ micro controllers or a pre-built kit which would proly still require some soldering.

Not me area of expertise though.

edit: trying to mod a psp to do this seems somewhat over complicated given the complexity of a psp in stock form as is.

I'm working on this exact same thing! I've found lots of different examples. One guy on youtube built a color organ on a small scale here. I have adapted my design from his, its just a basic three channel organ that uses frequencies rather than a microcontroller to make the lights flash. and then the lights are powered using a computer power supply.

I've also found another design that uses a COM interface to control the lights (here and here) but I am still new to its design which you can find here. I'm trying to figure out if I can make it useable on Arduino first. I love Arduino!

I bought RGB LED strips from a place called RightLEDs.com. Mine has 60 RGB LED's per meter and its pretty bright. You can order custom lengths and its pretty sweet. I used Drywall J-track to hang it up and it works really well. I still have some work to do on connectors and such, but otherwise, all I have to build now is the Color Organ. Heres some pics.

Hope this helps. Let me know what you find. I'm interested in keeping up with you

I cant stop looking at those leds u got all around the room. Looks ever so cool.

Pierre3400 said:

I cant stop looking at those leds u got all around the room. Looks ever so cool.

Click to expand...

Yeaaaah. Haha. I'm plenty entertained just sitting there enjoying the light. I'm having a few power issues though that I'm working out. The copper thats built into the strips doesn't have enough current carrying capacity to supply the other strips in line. I'm also working on a push button box for individually selecting the color channels. I might throw in some pots to adjust the color intensity. Then there will be a switch, that will move the light connection to my music sensing circuit. I'm want to make all the channels flash, but with the current setup, everything is backwards and I need to redesign the system. I may have to build my own LED strip for it. We'll see.

audrino howto video

For the schematic you posted, all the LEDs would light up the same amount. That's probably the easiest way to go if you want something simple.

If you want to go the microcontroller route, I highly recommend Arduino as well. It's extremely easy to develop on. If you want a cheaper and slimmer version, check out the seeeduino mega. It's a smaller board identical to the Arduino mega.