lightbox : Real Time Music Visualization
Independent Project
Spring 2015, Fall 2015
In college, I often helped my musician-friends set up and break down small, tight-budget shows. Visual effects were usually at a minimum (Christmas tree lights, toy disco balls, etc.), so I decided to create a plug-and-play light that could dynamically react to a wide variety of music in real time to enhance these performance.
The brain of the visualizer was the custom MAEVARM M2 microcontroller module (built around the ATmega32U4 processor) that I had experience with from MEAM510: Design of Mechatronic Systems. Other than the M2, the visualizer's electronics were straightforward: N-channel MOSFETs to power the LED strips, a MEMS microphone to support live instruments, an op-amp to buffer the direct line-in signal, and some power regulation. I made the light out of laser cut MDF and acrylic and used rows of white LED strips for illumination.
Since the M2 is not powerful enough to implement real-time FFT analysis, I resorted to filtering the audio signal and controlling the lights to reflect the filtered signal's amplitude. The closer the signal's amplitude is to the "maximum" recorded during that performance, the brighter the lights. That "maximum" value decays so lightbox can automatically adapt to both loud and soft parts of a performance. To smooth out the visualization without losing high-frequency response, I implemented an adjustable decay rate on the light control: the lights could turn on in real-time (to stay in time with the music) but could turn off only as fast as the input decay rate (to reduce the strobing effect).
PROTOTYPE REACTING TO TRAVI$ SCOTT'S "OLD ENGLISH"
PROTOTYPE (LEFT) AND LIGHTBOX (RIGHT)
Lightbox can create unique effects as both an ambient light and as a mesmerizing screen. I set up the visualizer for many of my friends' smaller shows, and I was excited to be able to support their art in my own way. Ultimately, I stopped development because creating a larger light (or multiple lights) was cost and labor prohibitive.