Color music from a Christmas tree garland. Do-it-yourself color music on LEDs

Surely you have already watched a video where New Year's garlands flashed in sync with the music. The single from one of the most watched YouTube videos of all time, PSY's "Gangnam Style", also featured an extravaganza of holiday lights. (See video below). If you want your garlands to twinkle to your favorite song, make a plan and get some equipment that will impress your friends and create a dazzling display. It will take a lot of time, garlands and tools to realize the plan, but the result will be amazing.

Steps

Decide on the size of your garland show. You can hang the whole house with garlands - both inside and outside - or choose a separate area on your house and in the front garden. Keep the following in mind as you plan your garland show:

• A strip is a section of strings that can be individually controlled. For example, a single patio branch can be a strip if you hang it with one set of garlands.
• All garlands in the strip work as a single section. Unfortunately, you cannot light a separate garland light bulb.
• Bands 32 to 64 are a great size to start with if you've never programmed string lights to match the music. Any streaks greater than these will cause you to curse the day you decided to take on the project (or the day your wife forced you to take it on).

1. Stock up. The best time to buy garlands is the day after Christmas. So, you will find garlands for the price of 20 rubles, although they cost 80 rubles. Compare prices at different department stores so as not to miscalculate. Compare prices online.

   Get a regulator. You will need hardware that connects to your computer. This control you can buy in the assembled state, in a kit or a homemade system.

   • The whole assembled system works right out of the box. It will cost approximately 700 - 800 rubles per strip. This regulator can be purchased online. Settle on this option if you don't want to mess around with any electrical work (especially soldering) or have no idea where to start.
   • The kit partly requires control through the keyboard. It costs from 500 rubles per strip, but it is almost the same as the whole control, only without the case. Since it is very easy to place electronic board case, this kit is a great option if you want to save money. Some dealers sell everything you need to assemble a regulator, including the bare circuit board and parts. If you want to solder a little, check it out.
   • The DIY system costs from 200 rubles per strip. The price depends on how much you have to do yourself. The system consists of a controller, which is adjacent to the computer, and a solid state relay (SPR), which actually lights the garlands. PPR can be bought or made by yourself. If you bought this system, you will have to take a long time to make this equipment, but you save money. You will also have the ability to fully customize your hardware and troubleshoot problems easily.

2. Ask for help. This project can be very significant and difficult, so at first you may be overwhelmed. Invite friends and family or join the forums below where they can help you.

   • Depending on the degree of difficulty, give yourself 2 to 6 months of preparation before your garland show is fully completed. It sounds terrifying, but that's how much time you'll need.

3. Install software. If you are a low tech professional, buy some software that will help you program the lights to flash. There is also free program for do-it-yourself systems (see links section). If you are ambitious and claim to be a technical master, codify this program manually in any major programming language. However, please note that you will not be able to use this option for pre-assembled products, as most of their protocols are closed source.

   • The software of your choice will break the song you want your strings to sync to into very short segments (.10 seconds), allowing you to program each string of lights to turn on, off, flash or twinkle. There are three commercial versions of the software.
     • Light-O-Rama is the supplier for most residential garland displays. However, it is very complicated, because to compare a minute of a song with 32-48 bands, you will have to take four whole hours.
     • Animated Lighting is much more expensive, but easier to handle. Some residential garland demos also opt for Animated Lighting.
     • D-Lights is the second least expensive option, but you will need to familiarize yourself with information about control systems and electrical engineering.
     • Hinkle's Lighting Sequencer is free software that is easy to use yet powerful in lighting bulbs, LEDs and RGB LEDs.

4. Create your own decoration. Create outdoor decorations. You need to include the following common elements:

   • Mini lights or naked garlands that extend throughout the garden area.
   • Light icicles or garlands-moons that hang from the roof.
   • Mini trees are two or three foot trees made from a tomato cage that needs to be wrapped in garlands of one or more colors. Arranged in a line or in a triangle, they are often used in animated scenery.
   • The megatree usually consists of a large pole adorned with garlands that extend from the top to a large ring around the base. Again, it is used in animated scenery.
   • Frames - metal frames, decorated with garlands. Compressed forms - plastic luminous sculptures of deer, Santa, etc. Often they are placed throughout the yard.
   • Garlands C9 - bulbous, convex and multi-colored lights, which are usually placed around the perimeter of the yard.

5. Program your show. And here you have to sweat! Select the music to which you will synchronize the twinkling of the garlands. And then start programming on the timeline. Don't take on everything at once. It will most likely take a couple of months, depending on the length of your show and the number of bands available. The show will depend on which software you choose.

6. Let them hear you. Enjoy an effect that will create a great sound that keeps everyone calm. Playing the same music over and over again on the speakers will infuriate the neighbors, so in most cases you will need to broadcast music on the FM frequency. Please see the Warnings section at the end of this article.

   • Be sure to inform the neighbors of your intentions to create an animated demonstration. It is important that you have the support of your neighbors if you want your demonstration to last long enough for other people to see it.
   • Run one show at the top of every hour, as well as once or twice a night. If the neighbors find out that the show is only three minutes long and will air at 8 or 9 p.m., they will be more understanding than if you run it from 6 to 9.

Often, to create the optimal atmosphere for a party, one important detail is missing - color music. How to be? Not everyone can rent such equipment. In this case, you can make your own color music. You don't have to be a genius to do this. In addition, everything you need for this can be found in any store. It is worth noting that the original color music, created with your own hands, can decorate not only a separate room, but also a car. This allows you to relax well in a long traffic jam and, of course, not fall asleep. So, how to make color music with your own hands?

LED string design

This is the simplest color music on LEDs. For its manufacture does not require special skills and tools. It can be made from ordinary Christmas garlands with which it is customary to decorate festive fir trees. To make you will need:

1. Special adapter for connecting to a computer.
2. New Year's garland on light-emitting diodes.
3. Insulating tape.
4. Shielded cable.

Material preparation

So, how do you do color music with your own hands? To begin with, it is worth preparing everything you need. To connect the garland to a computer, you will need a special adapter. It will not be difficult to find him. Indeed, in this case, you can use an adapter for the LPT port. In addition, you will need either a "twisted pair".

How to assemble?

Of course, for the manufacture of such a design, it is necessary to know at least an approximate scheme. In this case, it's next. A signal is transmitted to the control circuit from zero to 7 from the DATA contacts using eight conductors of a conventional "twisted pair". In this case, a desktop computer monitor is used as a ground transmitter. Therefore, in order to get such color music, you will also need an adapter for the B plug. AT otherwise the structure simply cannot be connected.

Connection and verification

After all the parts are connected according to the specified scheme, you need to run one of the programs on your computer that allows you to work with color music. The well-known Winamp is suitable for this. Through the USB port, the processed data array is transferred to the device. As a result, the signal is output to eight channels of "twisted pair". This is what causes the LEDs to light up in a certain sequence. This is how color music is made with your own hands from an ordinary garland.

LED design

To get a beautiful color music, you need to prepare a neat plexiglass case, as well as the required number of LEDs. The result is a very original design. This will require:

Case manufacturing

So, let's prepare the body. For its manufacture, you will need 4 rectangular plates with dimensions of 5 by 15 centimeters, as well as square-shaped plates - 5 by 5 centimeters. You need to cut them carefully so that the products are even.

In one of the rectangular plates, several holes should be made. One is required for headphones, and the second is for power. Each of the body parts must be matted and be sure to sand. Do the same with LEDs. You can assemble the case using When the structure is ready, you can start assembling.

How many LEDs do you need?

So, how many LEDs do you need to make good color music? With your own hands, you can do it quickly. The main thing is to correctly calculate the number of necessary parts. If you divide the operating voltage of the adapter by the operating voltage of one LED, you can get the number of LEDs you need. In this case, there are 4.

Do-it-yourself color music: scheme

First you need to thread the audio cord into the hole. Now it should be connected to the transistor. After that, all the LEDs must be connected in series to the plus of the battery or adapter. After that, all parts must be assembled in one housing. The adapter must be connected to the transistor through the "minus". This is the main rule. A series circuit of LEDs must be connected to a transistor.

Particular attention should be paid to the audio wire. It can be taken from old headphones. There are three cores under the braid. This is one common wire and several wires for the right and left channels. To assemble the circuit, you need only two. Usually this is common and one for channels. The third wire remains unused. Both wires are usually connected to the transistor. But the adapter - it is to the involved channel wire. That's all, LED color music, created with your own hands, is ready.

In order to have a party at home, you need to think in advance about creating an appropriate atmosphere, reminiscent of night club. One of its main elements is color music. If purchased in company store, it will be quite an expensive pleasure. Therefore, in such situations, the question often arises of how to make color music out of a garland. As a rule, this operation does not require special skills and special knowledge of electrical engineering. Enough to have on hand necessary materials and be able to work with simple tools.

Preparatory stage

For Assembly the simplest color music you need to prepare the following materials:

• LEDs 5 mm
• Electrical wire
• Transistor brand KT817
• 3.5mm headphone cable
• 12V adapter
• Plexiglas or plexiglass
• Sandpaper, fine-grained
• Hot glue gun.

First you need to make a box of plexiglass. Usually it is made in the form of a parallelepiped. For this, 4 large and 2 small plates are cut out. It is best to choose average sizes so that they are not large and not small. When cutting plates, you need to make sure that there are no distortions, otherwise problems may arise during assembly.

In one of the walls, which will be the back, it is necessary to pre-drill holes for the power cable and headphone cable. After all operations, the box must be made matte with sandpaper.

The next step will be installation. Their number is calculated depending on the output operating voltage of the adapter and the rated operating voltage of one LED. It is not recommended to use high power LEDs and power supply with a voltage of more than 12V.

Assembly of color music

It is not difficult to assemble a ready-made scheme, you just need to know exactly the procedure. When deciding how to make color music out of a garland, you must first of all pass the audio cord through the hole. Only the center wire and one of the channels are used.

After that, the LEDs are connected. It is necessary to carefully monitor the polarity so as not to confuse the conclusions. The transistor includes an emitter, collector and base. The installed plug is fixed with a glue gun.

After assembling the color music, the scheme must be checked for operability. To do this, the plug is connected to a power source. If everything functions normally, then the assembly was completed correctly. At the end of all operations, it remains only to fix top cover boxes. Hand-picked color music will be an excellent addition not only to the party itself, but also to the entire interior of the room.

DIY color music

It is difficult to find a person who would not like to listen to music. To satisfy this desire, high-quality music centers, speakers and other devices are purchased. For even more fun, many people think about creating special color effects that can brighten up any sound and create a romantic atmosphere on a date or a fun mood in the process of organizing a holiday party. Color music, like music centers, can be purchased, or you can do it yourself. The best option- make color music on LEDs with your own hands according to one of the proposed schemes.

Advantages of LED products

The modern electronics market represents a wide variety of LED strips, which have a wide variety of color effects. With their help, you can create high-quality spot lighting, it is possible to make light music with flashing or blurry effects.

Unlike conventional light bulbs, LEDs are characterized large quantity positive characteristics. Among the main advantages of LED strips are:

• wide and varied color range;
• transfer of saturated colors;
• different versions - rulers, modules, discrete elements, RGB tapes;
• high response speed;
• the minimum amount of energy consumed.

Ribbons can be used at home, in clubs and cafes, you can effectively highlight shop windows. This article will describe in more detail the option of LED color music for ordinary home use.

A simple scheme with one lamp

For starters, it's worth exploring a simple circuit color music. This is a device that runs on a single LED, transistor and resistor. Power for such color music can be supplied from permanent source current voltage of 6-12 volts. The device works on the principle of an amplifier stage with a common emitter. The impact in the form of a signal changing in frequency and amplitude enters the main base. As soon as the oscillation frequency exceeds a certain threshold value, the transistor opens and the LED immediately flashes.

This scheme of simple color music on LEDs has one drawback - the rate of blinking of the LED depends entirely on the level of the produced sound signal. In other words, the light effect will be activated only at a certain volume level produced by the music center. With a decrease in the intensity of the sound, the glow will be constant with rare winks.

Scheme with a single-color ribbon

This color music on a transistor is assembled using led strip in load. To organize such color music, you will need to increase the power supply to 12 V, find and install a transistor with a maximum collector current that exceeds the load current, and you will also need to recalculate the total resistor value. Such color music is quite simple, made on one single-color LED strip and is ideal for beginner radio amateurs. You can collect it without any problems at home.

Simple three-channel circuit

To get color music, devoid of all the above disadvantages, it is worth using a special three-channel sound converter. Such a circuit is powered by an LED strip constant voltage 9 V and is able to efficiently illuminate one or two LEDs in each channel. Among the main structural elements that characterize such a color-musical scheme, one can note:

• three independent amplifying stages, which are assembled on transistors of the category KT315 (KT3102);
• LEDs of different colors are included in the transistor load;
• for the pre-amplification element, a small step-down network transformer can be used.

The input signal is sent to secondary winding transformer, which in turn performs two main functions - it decouples two devices at the galvanic level, and also amplifies the sound from the main line output. After that, the signal goes to three parallel and included filters, assembled on the basis of RC circuits. They operate on an individual frequency band, which directly depends on the value of the capacitor and resistor.

Color music with RGB tape

This set-top box operates from 12 volts and is ideal for installation on a car. Such color music optimally combines the main functions of the previously considered schemes and is able to work both in the lamp mode and in color music. The second mode is achieved through a special non-contact control of the RGB tape through a microphone. As for the lamp mode, it is based on the simultaneous start of the glow of the green, red and blue LEDs at full power. The mode can be selected by means of a special switch, which is located on a special board.

To understand how this prefix works, it is worth studying its sequence of actions. The main signal source here is a microphone that converts the vibrations of the sound coming from the phonogram. The received signal is insignificant, therefore it requires amplification. This can be achieved by using a transistor or a special operational amplifier. After that, the automatic AGC level controller starts. It effectively keeps sound fluctuations within reasonable limits and prepares it for further processing. Built-in filters divide the signal into three parts, each of which works in one specific frequency range. In the end, you just need to amplify the previously prepared current signal. For this purpose, special transistors are used that operate in a key mode.

Acquisition of a finished CMU

If there is no desire to make color music for use at home, you can purchase a CMU, that is, a color music installation. This is a ready-made functional solution, which includes a controller. It will process the sound, converting it into a light and music visual representation. In the process of reproducing light, its intensity and color scheme will change, thereby creating the effect of a real disco. The CMU device also includes a panel with built-in diodes.

These devices can be based on a spectral decomposition by frequency, where each of them will correspond to a certain color scheme or pre-set adjustments with a variety of effects and their alternation. You can configure them using the included remote control.

Important! Modern DMUs are very easy to install and configure. This is the perfect solution for organizing a home party or disco.

Conclusion

There are a lot of schemes for independent implementation of color music settings. You can choose a fairly simple option, where the color of the RGB tape will simply change, to quite complex ones, which in the process will create a large number of various effects, overflows and attenuations. In direct proportion to the skills, you can choose and perform the appropriate option. It is enough to work a little and create something truly unique, it will be lighting equipment that pleases with overflows of various color shades. Also, do not forget that there is always the opportunity to buy a ready-made color music solution and fill your home with color shades and joy.