How do you sync Christmas Lights with music

[Fardin]

How do you sync Christmas Lights with music?
Does anyone know how?
Is it a fairly easy task?

[CharlesA]

Not really a support question - bumped over to the Cafe.

[undecim]

AFAIK, most light shows like that are produced beforehand. I.e. someone programmed each circuit of lights to be on or off at certain times during the song. (There are a few ways to do this, but I don't know the specifics) Then it's just a matter of starting the music and the light show at the same time.

I'll bet there is special hardware/software that lets you do this easily on a computer

[cariboo]

Have a look here (http://computerchristmas.com/), I just had a quick look, I've bookmarked the site so I can have a look at it when I have more time.

[nice_like_rice]

Not a simple way to do it but you could use an arduino!

[Fardin]

This site seems to have a through instruction of how to build a system from scratch:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Christmas-Lights-Flash-to-Music

:popcorn:

[tnseditor]

I've been looking at doing a Christmas light show with music for Christmas 2011. A good resource for general decorating and light show information is www.planetchristmas.com. They have a good forum with many knowledgeable users. I am looking at getting a controller, FM transmitter, and software from www.lightorama.com. It's fairly expensive to get into, but they usually have a sale in February and then again in the summer. If you are looking at the Light O Rama (often times abbreviated LOR), you can try out a demo of their software for free. Free LOR sequences can be found at http://lightoramasequences.com/.

As a side note, this year I had 10,370 lights up inside and outside combined. Not a huge amount compared to a lot of the displays, but still not too bad.

[Fardin]

The outdoor Christmas light sync seems to be slightly complicated.
Is it less difficult to build a small display out of Christmas lights "indoor" for the purpose of entertainment?
It would be nice to have colorful lights dancing with different musics at home.

[MisterGaribaldi]

Light-o-rama, it seems...

Here's one guy's setup: http://holdman.com/christmas/projects.asp

[Windows Nerd]

Apparently doing something like splicing them into speaker wire does it (the electricity going through the wire lights up the bulb when data goes through the wire). I wouldn't imagine this type of thing being too complicated, as I've seen tons of people who have a sound activated light of some sort inside a computer case on Youtube.

[Sandii]

Hi,
I saw a video from my uncle where the christmas lights synch to music i have seen it before that but now that he sent me the video and i have seen a house around my neighborhood like that i was like awesome i need to try it lol anyway, i use a macbook laptop and was wondering how it works thru that do i need certain programs since its a mac also? will the other programs work with a mac? and also can you buy the lightorama program in stores or is it only online? im not exactly sure where to start but if i can convince my dad to help me out we r gonna do it this year :) thanks for the help!!

[Austin25]

Not a simple way to do it but you could use an arduino!

I was going to suggest that and some relays.

[jukingeo]

Hello All,

I am one of those guys that sets up lights and syncs them to music. However, I don't use any of the systems described thus-far. I based my system on a community project called, "Do It Yourself Christmas".

Here is the forum:

http://doityourselfchristmas.com/forums/forum.php

Here is another site on the topic:

http://www.christmasinshirley.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Basically the system needs to be based on a Windows computer and it uses a lighting control program called "Vixen".

The other part you need is the lighting controller itself or light control interface. This is a multi channel light box that hooks up to the serial (or USB) port on your computer and in turn you hook up your individual light channels to the box.

Since this is called "Do It Yourself Christmas", the community is based on many individuals (or groups) that construct the boxes themselves. This WILL require a working knowledge of electronics and a good ability to solder. The upside is that it is a helluva lot cheaper than buying something from LOR (Light O Rama), which is one of the more expensive systems on the market today.

If DIY is not your thing, Vixen is adaptable to DMX controllers too.

Here is my first year doing a Christmas Light show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOcAoYvhhkY

Enjoy!

[jukingeo]

Ok,

Now that I responded to this thread with introducing my method of controlling Christmas lights, I am going to throw a related question out there as well.

First off, since this IS a Linux forum, I am looking to see if there is a program that would allow me to do what I am doing with Vixen with Windows, BUT rather to do it in Linux.

Next, since Vixen cannot do videos (it can only sync lights to music), that puts me between a rock and hard place for a future light sync project I am planning in which I would like lights to sync to video.

What I would like to know is if there is a program (Linux based) that would allow me to sync trigger events to a music VIDEO.

Thank You,

Geo

[jukingeo]

I am curious that after all the time that has past since I created this thread, if there is some kind of Linux based sequencing program that 'talks' to Renard based controllers.

In the very least I would be interested in a program that can convert Midi sequences to Renard.

Thank You,

Geo

[mips]

Maybe have a look at the music generated with tesla coils.

[jukingeo]

Maybe have a look at the music generated with tesla coils.

Yes, I have seen that done, but how does that tie in with synchronizing lights with a Renard based controller?

[HermanAB]

Howdy,

You can hack a light dimmer to do music:
Basically, replace the light dimmer potentiometer with a cadmium sulphide photo resistor, then hook a red LED to an audio amplifier with a series resistor and get it to flash nicely, then glue the LED to the photo resistor.

[jukingeo]

Howdy,

You can hack a light dimmer to do music:
Basically, replace the light dimmer potentiometer with a cadmium sulphide photo resistor, then hook a red LED to an audio amplifier with a series resistor and get it to flash nicely, then glue the LED to the photo resistor.

LOL! I think I was looking for something a bit more advanced, something like the aforementioned Light-O-Rama and Vixen systems. In these systems each light has a 'channel'. These channels can be put in groups as well. Much like you would do in a Midi piano roll sequencer, you just fill in the spaces where you want the channel(s)s to turn on/off, fade, etc.

These channels have the spaces you fill out in relation to an audio track. Thus when you play the entire sequence back, your lights flash in time with the music.

The best thing to do is look the systems I mentioned up in You Tube. There would be many examples of what I am talking about.

Geo