Hardware for Audio Reactive Matrix?

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sunbake
 
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Hardware for Audio Reactive Matrix?

Post by sunbake »

Looking to buy the '64x32 RGB LED Matrix - 4mm pitch' to set up a panel display that plays short animations reactive to sound, but don't know which hardware to get for it. Want at least 3 buttons on it to play different animations and toggle power.

Have looked into the related tutorials, but a lot of the hardware that are linked are either discontinued or out of stock or just have too many variations to choose from.
Any suggestions on which items to purchase that are currently in stock that are appropriate for the above project?
Want to make sure I have all the right hardware before starting.

Thank you for your time!

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Hardware for Audio Reactive Matrix?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

You'll probably need a RasPi to handle animation for the LED matrix. That tends to require a lot of RAM.

For sound reactivity, you'll need to decide exactly what that means: tracking overall volume isn't too hard, while frequency response involves using FFTs.

You'll also need to decide how you want to handle the audio. A RasPi doesn't have any GPIO that can handle analog signals, so you'd need an external ADC to track environmental sound. If the RasPi will be generating the sound, you have the option of processing the data in memory.

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sunbake
 
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Re: Hardware for Audio Reactive Matrix?

Post by sunbake »

Thank you for your swift response!
The project would be detecting environmental sound.
A frequency response would be ideal but if I must, a non 'analog' output from the mic is fine too.

Would the following be a good base set up?
- 64x32 RGB LED Matrix
- RGB Matrix FeatherWing Kit
- Feather nRF52840 Sense

Ideally though, would love to replace the 'nRF52840 Sense' for something with an extended mic, and as I won't be using the other Sense features.
Would it be possible to have the Kit work with a 'nRF52840 Express' with an 'Electret Microphone Amplifier - MAX4466'?
And is it possible to attach extra buttons to the set up?

Thank you again for your time!

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Hardware for Audio Reactive Matrix?

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The nRF52840 should be able to keep up with a 64x32 matrix. Its core runs at 64MHz, and the Feather Sense has an onboard microphone.

I'm not sure how well it will be able to calculate FFTs while running a matrix that size, but that's something you can tune. The processing load is depends on the number of bins (frequency bands) you use.
sunbake wrote:Would it be possible to have the Kit work with a 'nRF52840 Express' with an 'Electret Microphone Amplifier - MAX4466'?
Yeah, the nRF52840 can read a MAX4466's output with its ADC pins. It will be roughly comparable to using the onboard PDM mic.

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