Sychronize lights with music using FieldPoint

[GoCougs]

Introduction

During the Christmas Season you may have thought, "I've seen those youtube videos where people program theirs lights to music.  I don't have time to do that, but I still want to be cool like them."  Don't worry, I thought the same thing, so this was created so that ANY song can be played and have the lights beat in sync.  This DIY is very simple to set up the hardware and "ready out of the box" for software only configuration.

Hardware List:

8 strands of christmas lights

Standard 120V Power Strip

13.5 VDC 1 A transformer (with the output ends stripped to bare wire)

Field Point modules FP-1600 and FP-RLY-420.

Steps to Complete

Hardware

1. Cut the wires of the christmas lights about 3 inches from the end with the prongs and strip the new two ends.

2. Connect the wire end with the lights (the load) to the N.O. terminal of the FP-RLY-420 and the wire end going to the power source to I.C.terminal.

          Note: Each FP-RLY-420 only has 8 relays, connect more modules to acheive more then 8 strands of lights.

3. Connect the wire ends of the transformer to the FP-1600 (this also pwers the relay switches).

4. Using a CAT5 cable, connect the FP-1600 to the subnet your computer resides on.

5. Connect the FP-1600 to the FP-RLY-420.

6. Using the Power Strip, connect the transformer and the lights to a 120V source.

Software

1.Open Max and connect to the FP-1600.

2. Open the project contained in the zip file.

3. In the block diagram of Main.vi there is a FP write, replace the source with your FP device.

Additional Notes

-For the software only configuration, delete the FP write VI and the LEDs on the front panel will serve as the light indication

-The sound file must be in WAV format and can be mono or stereo.

-The range and beat thresholds can be set to optimize experience

-The slider at the bottom determines which frequecies at the specified threshold lights up a strand of lights.  Adjust those depending upon the frequency range of your song.