RGBeatz is an Arduino project that uses RGB LEDs and Piezos to create a light show that moves with the beat of your music. We made a box for our setup so that we could slide our phone in but this could be used in a number of different ways! Let us know if you make something similar, we would love to see what people do with this!!

What you will need:

2 X Piezos

4 X RBG LEDs

1 X Arduino

2 X 1m ohm Resistors

12 X 220k ohm Resistors

Wire

Some epic Music

our code

Step 1: Step 1: Hooking Up Your Piezos

First you will want to hook your Piezos up to the arduino so they are ready for analog input rather than digital output.

We used two Piezos so we could get difference with left and right speaker sounds, but you could also do this with just one.

You want to hook up the Piezo so that one pin goes to the power and the other to ground with the 1M ohm resistor in between. Then connect a wire to the same pin as the ground that will go to an analogue pin in the Arduino. Refer to the Schematic, this will probably make more sense!

You will want to test that you're getting readings from the Piezo this is also good for collaboration purposes as ambient noise and sensitivity will differ from Piezo to Piezo.

The code in the picture above is a simple sketch you can run to test this

Step 2: Step 2: Adding the Lights!

Next you will want to connect your LEDs

Again refer to the Schematic to easily visualise how to do this!

But basically the longest leg is the Anode so this will need to connect to power, and each of the other legs will need to connect to a digital pin in the arduino with a 220k ohm resistor in between.

The way we have set up our LEDs is to have two that respond directly to digital output, so High and Low, these can be connected to any digital pin.

The other two of our LEDs are changing colour based on an analog input so must be connected to the Digital pins with the ~ beside them.

Next Load our sketch onto your Arduino!

The code is here!

Step 3: Step 3: We Built a Box

You could put this configuration into any casing shape etc. that you wish!

We went for a box so that you could slide your phone in and it would sit on the Piezo's in order to get the most dramatic readings, as Piezo's just read vibration this is the best option!

First measure out a top and four sides, including a hole the size of your phone and for the LEDs to come through.
In order for this set up to work we needed to solder a few things to break the LEDs away from the breadboard. As you can see in the second image we taped our legs and wires in place, this makes the soldering process easier.
Once done the top of your box should look a little bit like the third picture.
Reconnect everything and you're done!!!