Sound Reactive LED Stick

Completed: March 2014

This project was for Dr. Dallas’s Technology Start Up Class. So while the project was not as techincally demanding as other projects, I did learn a lot about PCB manufacturing and product design.

Demo Videos

LED Test from Sami Suteria on Vimeo.

PVC Test from Sami Suteria on Vimeo.

Foam Test from Sami Suteria on Vimeo.

Schematic

LEDs

The type of LEDs used for this project are branded as NeoPixels. They are really just WS2812B LEDs with Adafruit’s branding. The nice thing about these LEDs is that they are RGB, individually addressable, and only require 3 pins from your microcontroller.

Microcontroller

I had started with an Arduino Uno because it was what I had on hand when I started the project. Later on I switched to Adafruit’s GEMMA which was much smaller and cheaper. In the final PCB that I made for this project, I used just the bare ATtiny85 and programmed it using Sparkfun’s Pocket AVR Programmer.

The NeoPixel Library had to be modified to fit on to the ATtiny85 along with the code for analyzing the microphone and creating the different patterns.

Microphone

A few different microphones were used but I got the best results with a MEMS ADMP401 Microphone - breakout board can be gotten from Sparkfun.

Case

Originally the design called for a hard plastic case with light diffusing plastic but since the product was going to be used in public, it was eventually decided that a softer foam would be a better choice.

Final Notes

I’m still working on the design for this product and I’ll update this page as I do. I eventually want to make and sell this - but only when I can get the cost and look to something I’m happy with.