March 3, 2010

Lights!

On Monday I saw Muse live. It was awesome. Matt's piano, which is actually a digital piano in a piano housing, has really cool lights. Every time he plays a key it lights up a light. It is a really cool effect:



As soon as I saw that I needed to figure out how to build one. Its a good thing the internet exists. After some research, I think I figured out how to do this. Its actually much easier (in theory) than I thought.

Enter the MIDI 16-Way Light Controller. It does exactly what I need it to. Takes the MIDI input and outputs a small voltage. It can output up to 16 channels. They also include a schematic for wiring multiple LEDs to the circuit:





If you have a 61 key keyboard (like I do) you will need 4 controllers, not to mention the 61 transistors and 200+ LEDs. I think it will be worth it though.

I'll keep you updated if I decide to build this.







No comments:

Post a Comment