ilovefuzz.com

Lights that flash in relation to the frequencies of the music are so cool looking to me, I love 'em. This project doesn't do anything but make sounds visual, it's not an effect, it's purely for looks, but I thought this was a really cool project and I think I'm going to make a small run of these.

I found out about a special chip that's designed to read in a signal and split it into 7 filtered frequency, the MSGEQ7, and it's the heart of the analyzer combined with the LM3915, a 10 segment LED driver. So in a nutshell, you read in audio, split it into 7 bands (63Hz, 160Hz, 400Hz, 1000Hz, 2500Hz, 6250Hz, 16000Hz), output the info to the LED driver to light up some cool LED bar graphs. The MSG chip outputs a voltage that represents the level of each frequency band one after another so the micro is used to time the MSG chip to keep outputting the 7 bands while also turning on and off the appropriate LED bar graphs.

There's 2 3.5mm jacks that are connected together for pass-through and off those jacks I tap the signal into a couple buffers, then send it to the MSG chip. The system runs off 9V, 5V internally. The micro is an ATMEGA228P which I program using an Arduino Uno and the Evil Mad Science ISP shield. (feel free to ask away if you have questions about that Arduino stuff, happy to share what I know about the hardware etc. The ISP shield is really handy for burning the boot-loader onto new micros then programming them all from the Uno.)











You can plug in pretty much anything like your phone, iPad, MP3 player, computer, guitar, drum machine, synth, and whatever you plug in you will see the frequencies of without altering or doing anything to the signal, it's totally unobtrusive and just monitoring from a distance kinda thing. You can also use it with a built in microphone to monitor the sound around you, like in a band room. There's a little volume pot on the side to adjust the threshold of the display and inside there's a trimpot to adjust the idle noise plus a push-button switch to select line/inst or mic inputs.

I'll have more pics and a demo vid soon... sooo... anybody else like flashing music lights?

That's so cool Ryan!!

That is super-cool, but I can't be the only one who thinks

A) That this was going to be the kickoff thread for a Dr. Sci Ring Mod (Spectrum Analyzer = Frequency Analyzer)

and

B) that you should totally take that chip and use it to make a fuzzstortion that splits your EQ into seven different bands AND LETS YOU DIAL IN THE AMOUNT OF DIRT ON EACH!!!!!

I'm so going I attach that to the front of my pedaltrain. That way folks can see and hear the music (if they're standing real close or have super good eyesight).

Haha yeah, I'll definitely be making a noise maker with the micro.. kinda like I did with the Spin, as soon as I learn how to process audio in and out through a micro I try to make it a fuzz. The filter chip doesn't really output audio though, it outputs a multi-plexed DC voltage, it's intended as a display driver.

goroth wrote:I'm so going I attach that to the front of my pedaltrain. That way folks can see and hear the music (if they're standing real close or have super good eyesight).

Totally, it's a sweet pedal board accessory! I'll put you down for one! *big smile*

projector version!

I think that'd look awesome.. I love watching lights move to music.

same here. have a couple gadgets that do it. maybe rca out?

This thing can't interface with a projector, it's all task specific hardware.. it was borned to drive 7 x 10 segment LED bargraphs and that's it.

You could interface the micro and filter chip with a video output but that would be a whole new project, cool idea though...

Ryan wrote:Haha yeah, I'll definitely be making a noise maker with the micro.. kinda like I did with the Spin, as soon as I learn how to process audio in and out through a micro I try to make it a fuzz. The filter chip doesn't really output audio though, it outputs a multi-plexed DC voltage, it's intended as a display driver...

SWEET!

Well, of course it's INTENDED as a display driver... but it would be cooler if it could be mangled/maimed/mis-handled for more sinister purposes!

Hm... let's see... could that multi-plexed DC voltage be used to tweak filters or something in real-time?

Ryan wrote:This thing can't interface with a projector, it's all task specific hardware.. it was borned to drive 7 x 10 segment LED bargraphs and that's it.

You could interface the micro and filter chip with a video output but that would be a whole new project, cool idea though...

i gotcha i gotcha.

needs 8' tall LED bargraphs.

Holy crap, that's awesome.

I like flashing music lights!!!

I'm going to permanently attach this to my face at a mustache.

jrmy wrote:B) that you should totally take that chip and use it to make a fuzzstortion that splits your EQ into seven different bands AND LETS YOU DIAL IN THE AMOUNT OF DIRT ON EACH!!!!!

I was thinking this exactly.
I NEED IT!

Clean Channel wrote:I like flashing music lights!!!

I'm going to permanently attach this to my face at a mustache.

belt buckle! hat adornment! guitar strap decoration!