nicholassagan

This is working towards my 2nd big installation.

I would like to be able to control a board of 16 or so LEDs of various colors with a patch.

To start I need to figure out how to get Max to detect an inserted USB device, maybe a USB keyboard light of some sort.

Eventually I would like to be able to control each individual LED through Max (and later with automated sequences). Both on/off functions and intensity controls are a pretty high priority.

Do I need a separate interface? Or what are some good starting points if anyone has tried this?

I've come across a USB lighting and output controller (

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=239

). Has anyone investigated this at all? It looks to be the perfect device if only Max could control it.

Hi all,
This is working towards my 2nd big installation.

Do I need a separate interface?  Or what are some good starting points if anyone has tried this?

I've come across a USB lighting and output controller (http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=239
).  Has anyone investigated this at all?  It looks to be the perfect device if only Max could control it.


usb-controlled-led-board

If you can get your hands on the formatting that's needed to be sent over the USB, you might be able to use [serial] to talk to it. I did something similar awhile back with a Durand DMX box, it was kind of tricky to figure out at first, but that was mainly my lack of experience in dealing with serial formatting.

If the company has some sort of details about how you can manually tell each channel to be a specific brightness, or save presets etc. (basically, what series of channel values to send, and how they're sent) then you should be all set.

For the formatting, since you need some [sprintf] and [spell] on the Max side (it's not just "spew letters and numbers to [serial]", you might look at the Durand thread I posted while figuring all this out:

https://cycling74.com/forums/index.php?t=msg&goto=172931&rid=0&srch=durand#msg_172931

It shows how to deal with sending a command like "W 50 88 255 127", which for the Durand would set ("Write") the first 4 channels to those 8-bit brightness levels. So if the commands are similar for this device, you could modify to suit. It deals with converting values to hex, sending the spaces between channel values, and the start/end codes.

That's a really good price for the device, though only 48 levels of fade is kind of limited, but that depends on what you want out of it.

Interested to hear if you get this working, good luck!

hey thanks! i'll look into it. 512 channels is a bit overkill. I really might only need 24 at most.

hey thanks!  i'll look into it.  512 channels is a bit overkill.  I really might only need 24 at most.  

here's some links that Nick Rothwell sent to me. I haven't started on this yet, so I don't know what's involved or how tricky it might be. But it's cheaper than buying a lanbox and a load of par cans!

http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDuemilanove

LED lights:  http://thingm.com/products/blinkm.html

Arduino board: http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardDuemilanove

thanks! LEDs are the light source of choice for me!

I ran a workshop the other month on an Arduino as a DMX controller, or in conjunction with Texas Instruments' TLC5940 to drive many LEDs. I included a Max control patch on the documentation page as well.

If you're comfortable with some simple electronics, it could be a good way to go.

I ran a workshop the other month on an Arduino as a DMX controller, or in conjunction with Texas Instruments' TLC5940 to drive many LEDs.  I included a Max control patch on the documentation page as well.  

Arduino is looking to be the best intermediary between the LEDs and Max. Ideally, I would like to develop a Max patch that controls each individual LEDs "fading", or at least smaller arrays of them within a larger group.

Thanks for the link, Scott! I will definitely be looking into it further once I pick up an Arduino!

Arduino is looking to be the best intermediary between the LEDs and Max.  Ideally, I would like to develop a Max patch that controls each individual LEDs "fading", or at least smaller arrays of them within a larger group.

Thanks for the link, Scott!  I will definitely be looking into it further once I pick up an Arduino!


USB controlled LED board