Idea for a random little project

[unrise_lyrical]

So I recently bought myself an oil-wheel projector light as I saw one going for cheap on ebay (possibly the coolest purchase of my life)...for those who dont know what this is, heres a quick video I made to show a friend who lives overseas:

This has got me thinking about lighting effects and stuff, and after reading someone else's post regarding using Midio for controlling LEDs...it got me wondering.

How hard would it be to make some form of midibox that takes midi data from a separate track in a program...say ableton live (or even a drum machine? I have a spare tr-626 that would be perfect) and the midi data can be wired into some form of lighting? perhaps purchase 3 or 4 of the small strobes that go for sale on ebay, and have these wired up to kick etc. (go the ghetto route and put coloured celophane(sp?) over the lens to give different colours).

Fairly rough description of what I'm thinking, plz pull me up if it doesnt make sense and I will attempt to make it a tad more concise.

But yea...possible? worth the effort? I think it would be...especially for those who cant afford actual lighting sequencer machine thingy rentals for gigs....

[stryd_one]

Totally dude. Have a look at the C examples for code that lights a LED.

I spent wayyy too manny hours of my misspent youth staring at those oil lamps and laser beams :)

PS, Ghetto is good.

[asafnetzer]

This sound like a nice Idea,

I entered this field of DIY electronics and music instruments building last year with the intention of combining sound and visual

in a better way then seen in a DJ - VJ show, I want the sound to trigger the visual and vise verse.

I think that first trying to work with leds can teach you a lot about the interface you care for and the programing and (not but) after that I think that

something more complex is needed as just light on / off + intensity can get boring, Just take a look at the oil lamp, it's simple yet fascinating as you won't see the same thing twice.

If you're already going in the C language way search for some interactive interfaces that were built that way, this can give a better idea of possibilities.

Hope to hear more on your future developments,

Best regards,

Asaf

[seppoman]

... audiocommander go go go :D ....

[Rio]

that music in background...  :) omg

but that oil-beamer ( i don't know before ) looks awesome...

Greets,

Rio.

[unrise_lyrical]

hehe, the song is something I started working on a few days ago... :)

heres a question for you (and a little background info first). Im studying music (in the main field of production) at university. We are currently learning all about Max/MSP... would it be possible to use this to control it? or does it have to be run in C? I have done like...html coding before...and a tiny bit of java and actionscripting.....and of course Max/MSP...but never any C... is it entirely essential? or can I get by with using other peoples pre-compiled code?

[stryd_one]

Nah you'll need to write your own code, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how easy TK has made it for us.

If you scope out the programming examples, the MIOS function reference, and some C tutorials (I like "The C book") then you'll be firing in no time.

[unrise_lyrical]

excellent! :) thanks for the advice! I may put this plan on the back burner for a few months though, as I have decided to definately start work on building a midibox64 first :)

[tos]

You can use this piece of board for interfacing 220V Lamps to a DOUT module.

I haven't tried this yet as until now, I was using native discolitez hardware but

the need of usb interfacing made me thinking the same way you did.

Laptop->USB->MIDI->MBHP->DOUT->DiscoLitez->Lights (I'm worried about the lag though....)

Also the "USB->MIDI->MBHP->DOUT" can be swapped with "*duino" probably.