Color music with hands using garland patterns. How to make your Christmas lights sparkle with music. Color music with RGB tape

This simplest light music has only one element. Yes, absolutely alone and nothing but: no resistors, no transistors... It is quite possible to assemble such a light and music installation in 30 minutes. All you need is one solid state relay.
Solid-state relays appeared on the market relatively recently and have already confidently conquered the radio electronics market. It’s understandable, I’ll give you the main advantages.

• - Performance.
• - Galvanic voltage isolation.
• - Quiet compared to a conventional relay.
• - Zero crossing detector.

There are many more advantages, I have cited only a few.
A solid-state relay, in essence, apart from the name, has nothing in common with a mechanical relay, which everyone usually imagines when hearing this name for the first time. This is a regular triac switch, with control and decoupling circuits.
This miracle is quite inexpensive and can be easily bought on our favorite Aliexpress.com

There are many different versions of relays on the radio market: small and large, powerful and low-power. I took this:
Firstly, it has screw terminals for connection. Secondly, it can switch a load with a voltage of 24-380 V and a current of up to 60 A. Of course, I took it overkill for other purposes. To control a garland, it is enough to take from 2 A. Thirdly, the control voltage is from 3 to 32 volts, pulsed. Just what we need, since we will control the relay directly with the sound supplied from the output of the low-frequency amplifier.

Light and music circuit

A solid-state relay is connected to the open circuit of a lamp or garland. And the sound from the solid state relay is supplied to the input speaker. The scheme couldn't be simpler. The main thing is not to confuse the conclusions. Now, as soon as the music starts playing in the speaker, the garland will immediately start blinking in time with the music.
We take the output from the amplifier from any channel, left or right. You can connect between the outputs so that the garland flashes with a stereo effect. If there is a subwoofer output, you can connect it to it. Or you can take two garlands and two relays and connect to different channels. There are a lot of options, choose any one you like.

I added a park of toggle switches to the circuit for switching. The first toggle switch in the diagram is so that you can simply turn on the garland in normal mode. And the second is to turn off the influence of music on her.
Thanks to galvanic isolation, high mains voltage is reliably isolated and will not pass through the speaker and amplifier.
I took a plastic container and placed sockets there to connect the load. I made holes for the toggle switches and connected the entire system.

Color music from a garland

Color music from a garland will add a good mood not only at home or in a bar where parties and discos are held. A motorist also needs it so as not to fall asleep while driving in many kilometers of traffic jams, and simply - the color music flashing in time evokes only admiration. From this article you will learn how to make color music from a garland without spending a lot of time and effort.
If you are a motorist and have decided that color music is very necessary in the car, then discard the idea of ​​​​purchasing it in a store. Of course, you can find everything today, but why spend extra money if you can assemble a completely unique example of color music from ordinary garlands according to the scheme.

The figure below shows a diagram of a color and music installation that works with 3 different lamps. At the same time, the power of the spotlights reaches 100 W each.

Thanks to this simple diagram, you can assemble the installation yourself.
Let's consider the most important provisions of this scheme:

• The main input is for wires going to the amplifier output. The connection is carried out as follows: remove one of the speaker wires (see) and in its place put the wire from the color music or in parallel, leaving everything as is.

Note. With this connection, the lights will blink in time with the music. In this case, lamp VT1 or VL1 will flash on the high frequency, and the other two, respectively, on the mid and low frequencies.

• The lamps themselves are connected by thyristors, which have control electrodes, and these, in turn, are supplied with voltage through filters on resistors and capacitors.

Note. To ensure that lamps or spotlights, as they are also called, operate at full intensity and the thyristors do not burn out, the network voltage is corrected using diodes. They are responsible for converting the voltage value from alternating to pulsating.

• The transformer in this circuit can be used from a single-program radio point. If you couldn’t find one, then an audio output transformer will do. The ideal option is from an old tube TV;
• As for thyristors, they are placed in metal cases. Their anode is brought out to the housing, and the cathode is located on top, and the control electrode is located below. The thyristors are fastened using nuts directly to the board.

Garlands and color music

So, New Year's garlands that decorate the Christmas tree are ideal as light bulbs. They need to be assembled together and then secured with electrical tape. This is what should happen.

To use garlands, you need to purchase or make an adapter. It will be intended to connect light bulbs to a car radio (see). The wire used is a twisted pair of shielded cable.

Operation algorithm

So:

• We take several garlands. Their length should not exceed 1-2 meters;
• An LPT adapter is suitable as an adapter;
• We prepare a shielded twisted pair cable;
• We connect the garlands to the head unit using an adapter and wires;
• Turn on the car radio and go to the menu. We find the “flash zone”, which is responsible for setting color music (in Pioneer car radios).

Note. If the car radio is expensive, then it is possible to connect to the Internet. In this case, it will be easy to download one of the computer programs/players such as ALMP2 or KMPlayer. All that remains is to launch the selected player. The program will allow you to convert the frequency spectrum of a music track in the form of a data array.

• This array is processed and sent via USB port on . What happens is the following: the pulses of the music track travel through the channels to the garlands, and they begin to blink and real color music is formed.

Color music made of plexiglass

You can make color music in a car from plexiglass.
To do this you will need the following materials:

• 12 V adapter or battery;
• Headphone cable;
• Transistor, like KT817;
• 5 mm LEDs of different colors;
• Plexiglas;
• Fine skin;
• Electrical wire;
• Hot glue gun.

Let's get started:

• First of all, we make a box. We mark its diagram on paper;

Color music made of plexiglass

• We pass the cable from the headphones into the hole on the back wall of the box;
• We also insert the power plug and fix it with a hot-melt adhesive gun.

It will be possible to make an unlimited number of such boxes, where LEDs of various colors will be installed: red, green, blue. All these boxes can be placed around the entire circumference of the cabin ceiling or in another place. It will be very beautiful and the lights will start blinking to the beat of the music.

In the process of creating and connecting color music from garlands or other material, it will be useful to watch a video review on how this is done. Instructions, step by step photos, diagrams - all this is very important when working with your own hands.
Thus, the price of high-quality and reliably assembled color music will be minimal. Only consumables are purchased.

It's hard to find a person who doesn't like listening to music. To satisfy this desire, high-quality music centers, speakers and other devices are purchased. To get even more pleasure, many people think about creating special color effects that can decorate any sound and create a romantic atmosphere on a date or a fun mood when organizing a holiday party. Color music, like music centers, can be purchased, or you can make it yourself. The best option is to make color music using LEDs according to one of the proposed schemes.

Advantages of LED products

The modern electronics market presents a wide variety of LED strips that have a wide variety of color effects. With their help, you can create high-quality spot lighting; it is possible to create color music with flashing or blurry effects.

Unlike conventional light bulbs, LEDs are characterized by a large number of positive characteristics. Among the main advantages of LED strips are:

• wide and varied range of colors;
• rendering rich colors;
• different design options - rulers, modules, discrete elements, RGB strips;
• high response speed;
• minimum amount of energy consumed.

The ribbons can be used at home, in clubs and cafes, and can be used to effectively illuminate shop windows. This article will describe in more detail the option of LED color music for ordinary home use.

Simple circuit with one lamp

To begin with, it is worth studying simple diagram color music. This is a device that consists of one LED, transistor and resistor. Power for such color music can be supplied from a constant current source with a voltage of 6-12 volts. The device operates on the principle of an amplification stage with a common emitter. The impact in the form of a signal varying in frequency and amplitude arrives at the main base. As soon as the oscillation frequency exceeds a certain threshold value, the transistor opens and the LED immediately flashes.

This scheme has one drawback - the blinking rate of the LED depends entirely on the level of production sound signal. In other words, the light effect will only be activated at a certain level of output music center volume. When the sound intensity decreases, the glow will be constant with occasional winks.

Scheme with one-color ribbon

This color music on a transistor is assembled using an LED strip in the load. To organize such color music, you will need to increase the power supply to 12 V, find and install a transistor with a maximum collector current that exceeds the load current, and you will also need to recalculate the total value of the resistor. Such color music is quite simple, made on one single-color LED strip and is ideal for beginner radio amateurs. You can assemble it without any problems at home.

Simple three-channel circuit

To get color music that is free of all the disadvantages listed above, you should use a special three-channel sound converter. Such a circuit is powered by a constant voltage of 9 V and is able to effectively illuminate one or two LEDs in each channel. Among the main structural elements that characterize such a color-musical scheme are:

• three independent amplifier stages, which are assembled using transistors of the KT315 (KT3102) category;
• LEDs of different colors are included in the transistor load;
• For the pre-amplification element, a network small step-down transformer can be used.

The incoming signal is fed to the secondary winding of the transformer, which in turn performs two main functions - it decouples two devices at the galvanic level, and also amplifies the sound from the main linear output. After this, the signal is sent to three parallel and connected filters, assembled on the basis of RC circuits. They operate on an individual frequency band, which directly depends on the value of the capacitor and resistor.

Color music with RGB tape

This attachment circuit operates on 12 volts and is ideal for installation on a car. This color music optimally combines the main functions of the previously discussed schemes and is able to work both in the lamp mode and in the color music mode. The second mode is achieved through special non-contact control of the RGB strip via a microphone. As for the lamp mode, it is based on simultaneous launch green, red and blue LED lights on full power. The mode can be selected using a special switch located on a special board.

To understand how this attachment works, it is worth studying its sequence of actions. The main source of the signal here is a microphone, which converts sound vibrations emanating from the phonogram. The received signal is insignificant and therefore requires amplification. This can be achieved by using a transistor or a special operational amplifier. After this, the automatic AGC level controller starts. It effectively keeps sound fluctuations within reasonable limits and prepares it for subsequent processing. Built-in filters divide the signal into three parts, each of which operates in one specific frequency range. Finally, you just need to amplify the previously prepared current signal. For this purpose, special transistors are used that operate in key mode.

Purchase of a ready-made CMU

If you don’t want to make a color music system for use at home, you can purchase a CMU, that is, a color music installation. This is a ready-made functional solution that includes a controller. It will process the sound, converting it into a light and music visual representation. In the process of reproducing the light, its intensity and color scheme will change, thereby creating the effect of a real disco. The CMU device also includes a panel with built-in diodes.

These devices may be based on a spectral decomposition into frequencies, where each of them will have a specific color scheme or preset adjustments with a variety of effects and their alternation. They can be configured using the included remote control.

Important! Modern CMUs are very simple to install and configure. This is an ideal solution for organizing a home party or disco.

Conclusion

There are quite a lot of schemes for independently performing color music settings. You can choose a fairly simple option, where the color of the RGB tape will simply change, to quite complex ones, which in the process of work will create a large number of different effects, overflows and attenuations. Directly depending on your skills, you can choose and perform suitable option. It is enough to work a little and create something truly unique; it will be lighting equipment that delights with the shimmer of a wide variety of color shades. Also, do not forget that there is always the opportunity to buy ready-made solution color music and fill your home with color shades and joy.

This article was produced by our experienced team of editors and researchers, who reviewed it for accuracy and completeness.

WikiHow carefully monitors the work of its editors to ensure that every article meets our high quality standards.

You've probably already watched a video where New Year's garlands flashed in sync with the music. The single from one of the most viewed videos of all time on YouTube, PSY's "Gangnam Style," also featured a holiday lights extravaganza. (See video below). If you want your lights to twinkle to the beat of your favorite song, make a plan and invest in equipment that will help you impress your friends and create a dazzling display. It will take a lot of time, garlands and tools to realize your plan, but the result will be amazing.

Steps

Decide on the size of your garland show. You can hang the whole house with garlands - both inside and outside - or choose a separate area in your house and in the front garden. Keep the following in mind as you plan your garland display:

• A strip is a section of garlands that can be individually controlled. For example, a single branch in a patio can be a stripe if you hang it with one set of garlands.
• All garlands in a strip work as a single section. Unfortunately, you cannot light a separate string light.
• Strips ranging from 32 to 64 are a great size to start with if you've never programmed lights to match music. Any streaks longer than this will cause you to curse the day you decided to take on the project (or the day your wife forced you to take it on).

1. Stock up. The best time to buy garlands is the day after Christmas. So, you will find garlands for 20 rubles, although they cost 80 rubles. Compare prices at different department stores so you don't make a mistake. Compare prices online.

   Buy a regulator. You will need hardware that connects to your computer. This control can be purchased assembled, as a kit, or as a homemade system.

   • The entire assembled system works right out of the box. It will cost approximately 700 - 800 rubles per strip. This regulator can be purchased in online stores. Go with this choice if you don't want to bother with any electrical work (especially soldering) or have no idea where to start.
   • The kit partly requires control via a keyboard. It costs from 500 rubles per strip, but it is almost the same as the whole control, only without the housing. Since it is very easy to place electronic board into the case, this kit is a great option if you want to save money. Some dealers sell everything you need to assemble a regulator, including the bare circuit board and parts. If you want to do some soldering, check it out.
   • The do-it-yourself system costs from 200 rubles per strip. The price depends on how much you have to do yourself. The system consists of a controller, which is adjacent to the computer, and a semiconductor relay (SPR), which actually lights the garlands. You can buy PPR or make it yourself. If you bought this system, you will have to spend a long time making this equipment, but you save money. You will also have the opportunity to fully customize your equipment, and you can easily troubleshoot problems.

2. Ask for help. This project can be very significant and challenging, so you may be overwhelmed at first. Recruit your friends and family or join the forums below for help.

   • Depending on the level of complexity, give yourself 2 to 6 months of preparation before your garland show is fully completed. It sounds terrifying, but that's exactly how long it will take you.

3. Install software. If you are a low-level specialist technical level, buy software that will help you program the blinking lights. There is also free program for homemade systems (see links section). If you are ambitious and claim to be a technical master, codify this program manually in any major programming language. However, please note that you will not be able to use this option for pre-assembled products, since most of their protocols are closed source.

   • The software you choose will break down the song you want your lights to sync to into very short segments (.10 seconds), allowing you to program each strip of lights to turn on, turn off, sparkle or twinkle. There are three commercial software options.
     • Light-O-Rama is the supplier for most residential string lights displays. However, it is very complicated, so to match a minute of a song with 32-48 strips you will have to spend a whole four hours.
     • Animated Lighting is much more expensive, but easier to use. Some residential garland displays also choose Animated Lighting.
     • D-Lights are the second least expensive option, but you will have to read up on the control systems and electrical engineering.
     • Hinkle's Lighting Sequencer is free software that is easy to use yet powerful for incandescent light bulbs, LEDs and GLC LEDs.

4. Create your own decoration. Create exterior decorations. Common elements to include are:

   • Mini lights or bare garlands that extend throughout the garden area.
   • Light icicles or moon garlands that hang from the roof.
   • Mini trees are two- or three-foot trees made from a tomato cage that is wrapped in garlands of one or more colors. Arranged in a line or in a triangle, they are often used in animated scenery.
   • A mega tree usually consists of a large pillar decorated with garlands that extend from the top to a large ring around the base. Again, it is used in animated scenery.
   • Frames are metal frames decorated with garlands. Pressed forms - plastic glowing sculptures of deer, Santa, etc. They are often placed throughout the yard.
   • C9 garlands are bulbous, convex and multi-colored lights that are usually placed around the perimeter of the yard.

5. Program your show. But here you will have to work hard! Choose the music with which you will synchronize the flickering of the garlands. And then start programming on the timeline. Don't grab everything at once. This will likely take a couple of months, depending on the length of your show and the number of strips available. The show will depend on which software you choose.

6. Let them hear you. Take advantage of the effect that creates great sound that keeps everyone calm. The same music blasting from the speakers over and over again will drive the neighbors crazy, so in most cases you will need to broadcast the music on the FM frequency. Please see the warning section at the end of this article.

   • Be sure to inform your neighbors of your intentions to create an animated display. It is important that your neighbors support you if you want your demonstration to last long enough for other people to see it.
   • Play one show at the top of every hour, and once or twice a night. If your neighbors know that the show is only three minutes long and will air at 8 or 9 pm, they will be more understanding than if you aired it from 6 to 9.