Art and Technology are Friends

Aurora 18×18 + Audio Interface Video

Here’s a video showing how Aurora 18×18 works with the audio interface. I’m still tweaking the firmware to add more animation patterns, but it’s working quite well.

Aurora 9×18 mk2 will work the same way, except with only 9 channels of colors, so the range of animation is limited.

The audio interface hardware is still being finalized. I’m waiting for the final candidate PCB to be fabricated, so that I can make the final prototype. It’s only hardware/cosmetic that I’m working on now – the circuit itself is finalized and working well, as you can see from the video.

(Here’s the final version)

10 Responses

  1. Mike

    Curious… does the device do any sound frequency to color mapping/manipulation, or is it amplitude-based triggering of pre-programmed color sequences, or…? I’m interested in a color organ combined with the size and beauty of the Aurora series. I once breadboarded a color organ with an arduino and the 7-band spectrum display chip, msgeq7, driving a single RGB LED, but am looking for something more visually awesome. In my first attempt, when all frequency bands are active, I just end up with different brightnesses of white, which is not so interesting. I have some other ideas for color organ animation, but the computational power of the arduino is limited to be doing lots of math and software pwm at the same time. Anyhow… I love your work, and if you’ve already done what I was trying to do, I don’t need to do it, I can just buy some of yours! ;-)

    January 18, 2014 at 5:02 pm

    • Aurora + Audio interface only use audio amplitude (volume) as input data. The firmware uses peak value and average value over time to reflect the dynamics of music. Frequency band based animation seemed more complex, so I used the simpler approach.
      However, after refining and fine tuning the algorithm, I think Aurora + Audio interface deliver very nice light shows.
      MSQ is an interesting chip, and I have been tempted to use it. However sourcing of the IC in quantity seems difficult.

      Aki

      January 26, 2014 at 11:11 pm

      • Mike

        Yes, it most certainly does produce beautiful shows! Thank you for the explanation.:-)

        February 2, 2014 at 3:00 pm

  2. io

    Very eye catching :)

    Does Aurora 18×18 go to an “attract mode” cycle when no sound is detected after a while ?

    If no, it could be nice, even for Aurora 12 bar.

    January 5, 2013 at 8:58 pm

    • That might be a good idea. Noted for the next firmware upgrade!

      Aki

      January 5, 2013 at 10:18 pm

  3. Peter

    Hi I think this is Brilliant
    Do you ship to South Africa?
    Can differant music be played.?
    When will the final kit be on the shelf?

    Regards
    Peter

    September 18, 2012 at 6:50 am

    • Hello Peter,

      Yes I do ship to South Africa (and I have a few times).
      You can play any music – you will hook up your own music player.
      Final kits are ready – click on “Store” link at the top!

      Thanks,
      Aki

      September 18, 2012 at 10:15 pm

    • Colin

      Hi Peter,

      I’m in South Africa (Cape Town) and I’ve completed my Aurora 18×18 – with audio interface. It’s excellent!

      December 16, 2012 at 7:24 am

  4. So epic and so brilliant!

    April 3, 2012 at 10:55 am

  5. Jerry Jones

    Looking good!

    March 31, 2012 at 11:53 am

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