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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
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Sound controlled lights
#23435144 - 07/12/16 02:51 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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Anyone know any cool ones? Something for a home lightshow essentially but it would be sweet if it was big enough for small venues too.
Basically I want some sort of lightshow set up that reacts to sound in a fairly "fluid" way.
I have been looking around but so far have just seen a lot of cheaply made crap.
Anyone have any experience with lighting equipment and can make some recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Here is the first solid one I have come across though it is just a controller: Optima Lighting RGB LED DMX controller w/ color chase, fades, sound active

Its 86$ but I would need to buy some lights to use with it...
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
Edited by musiclover420 (07/12/16 02:54 PM)
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pirate-blues



Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 13,656
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Nothing remotely in the price range or scale for home equipment - if I were you I would look into DMX control software.
The industry standard is Sunlite - which is great, but pricey.
I know there is free software out there but can't give you the specifics - but I would take a look around and invest more money on intelligent lighting instruments(followed by dmx control software)than the console itself.
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
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Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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That's crazy sunlite has around 14K products 
Will look into DMX too and the free stuff, I assume you mean programs to control lighting on a computer right?
What do you think of the one in the OP for 86$?
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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pirate-blues



Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 13,656
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Yes, that is the stuff you'll use to automate the lights with, then you can pretty much make your own light shows. Sunlite lighting software is the industry standard though they sell all sorts of lighting equipment - as far as consoles HOG and ETC are standard - but I don't think they make anything under 10,000 - and they're definitely overkill for any kind of non-professional concert/theatre venue.
The console you posted in the OP looks okay for a small home lighting rig - idk anything about the brand itself - I think there's probably better options and I think you'll be able to accomplish much more if you invest in software and intelligent lights(in order for the lights to receive the signal they have to be compatible with dmx control, though when you get more into it you can start looking into arduino to act as a DMX slave). All in all, if you're looking to get a few lights that you can flash around while you smoke up, then I guess that's fine - the closest thing to automation that you're looking at on that console is the 'chase' option, which basically means flashing different lights in a certain sequence automatically. There's not a whole lot of programming and automation you can do - but I think it's probably a fine option to introduce you to the world of lighting if you're dead set on an analog console.
I would definitely recommend looking into software for lighting control though if you decide to get into it more, you'll be able to do much more.
And unfortunately lighting equipment is pretty pricey in general.
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
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Yeah I am looking to spend like 100th of what an HOG or ETC would go for 
Did you watch the video in the link for the Optima thing? If not check it out maybe, seems like it has fairly good control but what do I know 
So your saying a better bet would be nicer lights and some good software?
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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pirate-blues



Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 13,656
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I think it's a good starter, and honestly, if you decide you really like fucking around with lights and decide to get more into it, you always can - there's also some very DIY approaches using arduino and raspberry pi if you ever feel like tinkering.
I think this will probably do the job just fine if you just wanna bump a few lights to some music at home or for small shows.
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Down the line I hopefully will have more money and space to invest in some nicer stuff but I would prefer to start simple and cheap if possible 
Any thoughts on this open source lightshow program made for use with projectors: MoonBeam
Seems pretty cool but I don't have a projector, I have wanted to get one for awhile though...
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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Lophosaurus
suruasohpol


Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 8,744
Loc: CA
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I make my own lights for around my house using an arduino and addressable led strips or lights. You could make a big screen of them. Or take your baseboards off and route a channel for the strips to sit in. That way it would light up your walls. There are endless possibilities when it comes to LEDs
This is the latest light I made. I made the stained glass design and then put LEDs behind it. It changes color and can change to the music too. I went cheap with this one and didn't do the programming.

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pirate-blues



Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 13,656
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Looks pretty cool! definitely keep looking at whatever free or open source software you find awesome - there's a lot of really worthwhile downloads for free.
Projector design is super duper cool - and even if you don't have one you could probably find a decent one used for 100 bucks or so, maybe less, idk I have an NEC myself - think it was like 200 new? the lamps been burnt out for a while I've gotta replace it) and this looks like it'll save you some cash instead of trying to get this effect with an actual lighting instrument.
@ Lophosaurus that's pretty fucking awesome.
Ever fuck around with any self-styled gobos/shadow art? I've always wanted to try making something like this.
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Lophosaurus
suruasohpol


Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 8,744
Loc: CA
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Thanks Pirate! Yeah, I sort of have. I've tried to make a few lights out of dried gourds. I bought a cheap dremel and it wasn't nearly strong enough to carve a gourd so I did one and gave up. It was very tedious, but probably would have been worth it.
One time a made a light similar to the one in that pic. It was an upside down flower pot and I made flowers,vines, and leafs from milk jugs, lit with more LED. It ended up being too trippy. I had it hanging in my canopy at a festival and my neighbors told me that it tripped them out too much and they had to leave. Ha, it was pretty intense so I disassembled it
This is what those gourd lights look like. Mine wasn't anywhere near this quality.
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pirate-blues



Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 13,656
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You disassembled it?! Nooooo. That sounds awesome. I've made a few sphere chandeliers and yarn lights.
I've seen the gourd lights. Idk why I haven't at least tried to make some yet because I've also always wanted to grow squash and I could kill two birds with one stone.
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chulutu
Stranger



Registered: 10/30/15
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Dude sweet finally so other lighting nerds on the shroomery. I've done a bit of lighting for concerts,parties and events I'm planning on getting some cheap pos par cans and uplights off of Amazon that only support 4 Dmx channels but its enough to do Somme basic chases,strobes and color changes they are like 20$ or less for them. Quote:
Lophosaurus said: I make my own lights for around my house using an arduino and addressable led strips or lights. You could make a big screen of them. Or take your baseboards off and route a channel for the strips to sit in. That way it would light up your walls. There are endless possibilities when it comes to LEDs
This is the latest light I made. I made the stained glass design and then put LEDs behind it. It changes color and can change to the music too. I went cheap with this one and didn't do the programming.


Got any links to tutorials? I would kill to learn how to wire the led strips myself and would love to cover a wall in leds.
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Lophosaurus
suruasohpol


Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 8,744
Loc: CA
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Re: Sound controlled lights [Re: chulutu]
#23435843 - 07/12/16 07:18 PM (7 years, 6 months ago) |
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No I don't have any tutorials, but there are plenty of them on the internet. Wiring them is the easy part . Its just a power in, power out, data in, data out or something like that. The hard part is programming them do light shows. Do you know programming? If not you can find a lot of free code to use while you learn and you can alter it too.
You probably want to look into getting an arduino uno, ws2812 or other addressable LEDs, and a power source to get started or just do some reasearch before you buy anything
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musiclover420
psychonaut



Registered: 11/06/12
Posts: 19,563
Loc: PNW
Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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So I have a more specific question now, say I wanted to get a controller like the one I posted in the OP and use it with some RGB led strips, how would I connect em?
The controller uses midi I believe so I am wondering how I would wire all the led strips together then convert the signal to midi.
-------------------- Don't worry about me, I've got all that I need. And I'm singing my song to the sky You know how it feels, With the breeze of the sun in your eyes. Not minding that time's passing by I've got all and more, My smile, just as before. Is all that I carry with me I talk to myself, I need nobody else. I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
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