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MIDIbox RGB LED matrix module


ilmenator

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The RGB LED matrix described here can be used to signal feedback to the user, as for example in my MIDI Matrix with 56 Inputs and 56 Outputs. But, it can also be used for fancy stuff, Vegas mode, bling, impressing your neighbours,…

 

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The PCB is as wide as the RGB LED modules themselves, with enough space above and below for mounting holes. This means that the modules can easily be chained horizontally in order to create type crawls. If you cut off the top and bottom mounting holes along the line that is printed on the PCB then you can also create larger screens extending in two dimensions.

 

It consists of 4 DOUT shift registers (74HC595) that feed the RGB LED display module in a matrix style. It is connected to J8/J9 of the core board. In order to access the RGB LEDs, use the BLM-X module which makes it straightforward to access single colors / single LEDs in the matrix.

 

A fully detailed description of the project can be found in the Wiki.

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nice job! love the pcb-layout. its has exactly the right size to chain them together horizontally! the design itself with the 595s is kept very simple, so you have only 7 (8) colors per LED, which is enough for most applications and i suppose the software for that is really easy to do on mios32. i have done similar stuff on atmel controllers before. would be nice to have a full-rgb-version similar to that. the tlc5940 is ideal for full-rgb. it would give you 12bit-colors (4096) per led...

 

kind regards,

mOnO

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...forgive me if i was wrong, but have found sources for the blm-x-module and it looks like it works already with pwm. is it possible, that your rgb-module already works in full-rgb ? and if so, which kind of color resolution do you get on the stm32f4 ?

 

kind regards,

mOnO

Edited by mono
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is it possible, that your rgb-module already works in full-rgb ?
 

 

I don't know because I haven't tried. Having a full range of colors was not in my focus - I was interested in getting the basic three colors, which works nicely (the photos don't quite do it justice).

 

I might play around with this if I find the time, or someone else does this (I have some boards left).

Edited by ilmenator
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thanks for clarification! had a look at the wiki and theres nothing said about the color-resolution. furthermore the colors in the provided photos look like full-rgb to me and i wasnt sure if yours is full-rgb or not. presumably the 595s are too slow to do full-rgb, even if the stm32f4 wouldnt be too slow...

 

kind regards,

mOnO

Edited by mono
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In fact, because the BLM-X module seems to mess up the SR handling of SRs up the chain, I am using the BLM-Scalar module for my application. I have to address "normal" SRs up the chain, i.e. SRs which do not operate in matrix mode. Without this constraint, I guess BLM-X provides the perfect driver.

 

With BLM-Scalar, however, I am pretty sure no full RGB can be achieved.  But, one can mix colors already, e.g. yellow by switching on red and green.

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thanks for testing this. the method of "mixing" the colors is exactly, what i mentioned before. it gives you 7 colors + 1, which would be "off". have attached a photo of my prototype for 2 of these rgb-modules using an arduino. its basically the same as yours. i couldnt really believe, that you could do full-rgb with the 595s. they are just too slow to do the pwm. this is why i mentioned the tlc5940 for full-rgb...

 

kind regards,

mOnO

 

5nbuby2o.jpg

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