Yet Another Daft Punk Coffee Table (5x5 LED Matrix)

Yes, I know this has been done before, but I wanted to build my own, using as few parts as possible.  I built this as a table top or wall mount model, but it can be scaled up to make a coffee table.  I built it as a study for a more ambitious project, which will be an 8x8 RGB coffee table.  In designing this project, I wanted to keep the part count and cost as low as possible, and also to design the software for speed and minimal memory usage.

The code I used in the Arduino sketch demonstrates direct port manipulation, which is a fast and powerful alternative to digitalWrite().

Update 3/10/2011 : Finished adding the Music Synchronization section of this Instructable.
Update 3/20/2011:  I decided to build Lampduino instead of the coffee table.

Note that the flickering in the video below was caused by my video camera. When viewed with the naked eye, no scanning is perceived, and the lights do not flicker.

Music Sync Mode:
Arvid "Try (fenomenon remix)"

Syncing to Daft Punk's "Around the World:
 

 

Free-running mode (without music synchronization):

Step 1 Acquire the Parts

Parts List

25 LED's - I used warm white 5mm LED's purchased on eBay
5 resistors - I used 100 ohm, but the exact value will depend on what LED's you use. I will explain how to calculate in the Wiring step. 
NOTE: You may need also need 10 diodes and different resistors, especially if you are using white LED's... please the Troubleshooting section in step 3 for details.
Arduino - I used a Duemilanove clone - in Step 7, I switch to a much cheaper alternative.
wire
white foam board
.005" thick matte drafting film - I bought a sheet from a local artist's supply store.  The smallest sheet they had was way more than I needed - 24x36"

If you want to implement music synchronization capabilities, you will also need some more parts, as discussed in the Music Synchronization step.

Tools Needed

hot glue gun
mat knife
soldering iron
solder
pliers/wire cutters

The LED's I used were point source water clear.  If you don't want to deal with hotspots in your display, diffused would be better.  I had to put blobs of hot glue on mine to diffuse them.  The photo below only shows bits of the foam board, because I forgot to photograph the parts before I started.  The piece I used was about 16x20" to start with.

Comments

[newdos]

Hey Sam - its me again!!! my daftpunk table is working great but I have just one query to ask you on this. I have added to your code, my AGC code, to deal with using different volume levels, and to refine it I need to print out various variables using serial.print() but as sonn as I add this line anywhere in the code the whole thing seems to crash or not run. Any ideas ?

Cheers Kev

[lincomatic]

Hmm. Sorry, I have no idea what's going on. I don't do anything with the serial pins. Maybe you could debug your AGC code separately.. perhaps just blink an LED until you get it right, and then put it back into my sketch.

[newdos]

I have debuugged the code and it runs fine on a separate mood lamp that morphs when noa audio input but sync when a signal is there I just want to be able to refine the variables a bit for the daftpunk table but just by puttin in the serial print anywhere in your sjetch it then doesnt run - try it and you will see!! I'm guessing it something to do with the timerone.h lib but I am too new to this to know what yet. Any help would begreatly appreciated.

Cheers Kev

[gmnnn]

Hello,
I have a problem. I created a 3x3 matrix and I connected columns and rows to 10,9,8 and 6,5,4. When I enable the test mode it works fine, but when i disable it none of the leds turn on (even if I try to turn on middle ones).

[gmnnn]

Edit: When I use your frames it works, but when I create my own frames by your frame creator, it doesn't work. I even tried to add my frames into your frames.h but the part that I added doesn't make any led turn on, when it's your frames it works.

[lincomatic]

Sorry for the delayed reply. I was out of the country. Maybe in your tests, you are only turning on the bits that aren't connected? What happens when you add a frame that turns on the whole matrix (all 1's). Also, if you add your frames to frames.h, you need to make sure you update FRAMECNT accordingly.

[moiguille]

please, I need help with my 5x5 matrix, when installing the program on the Arduino and connect (correctly to the matrix) does the sequence just programmed LED lights a while in order by rows. could help me to know that I'm doing wrong.

[lincomatic]

Sounds like you have TESTMODE turned on. Just comment out the line like so:

//#define TESTMODE

to turn it off.

[Foreverhex]

Does anyone know if you could use this circuit (or slightly modify it) to power a matrix of relays, such as SSRs? That way I could power a lamp or a ton of LEDs instead of just 1 per square.

I could just get a ssr that has a low input rating.

[coil1002]

Most ssr's have a control voltage of 3-32vdc you could probably get away with replacing the leds with the ssr's and not run into problem

[jeffrey_mackie]

lincomatic -
thanks for your detailed instructions set. I'm keen to get this project going.
I downloaded the code as well as the TimerOne library from the arduino website. I try to compile the code and keep getting the error: "daftpunk.cpp:11:22: error: TimerOne.h: No such file or directory"
I'm pretty sure I put the TimerOne file in the right folder. I have tried putting it in a few different folders but can't seem to get this error to go away.
any help you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[lincomatic]

From the Arduino UI, find your sketchbook folder ... File->Preferences. Say the folder is c:\sketchbook. Then you would put them in:
c:\sketchbook\libraries\TimerOne\TimerOne.h
c:\sketchbook\libraries\TimerOne\TimerOne.cpp

[jeffrey_mackie]

Thanks for helping an Arduino beginner!

[bostondrummer1]

So the only time I can get this thing working is when I have the threshold set to about 884. Then it doesn't even follow the music much, and changing the music usually leads to a need for a new threshold. Any ideas?

[lincomatic]

Sounds like the circuit isn't right. Try hooking up the output of the filter to headphones ... you should hear mostly bass, and no distortion. try to adjust the volume so there's no distortion. Do your songs have a bass beat? It tracks the bass beats. Also, if your songs vary a lot in volume you'll have to readjust often. Use a program like MP3gain to level the volume if there's a lot of variation. It shouldn't require a lot of tweaking.

[psychodot5415]

I am setting up a Christmas light show similar to that shown in Arduino Christmas Light Controller instructable. That one gives a sketch for Joy To The World. I like what you have done in step 7, using an audio source to drive the Daft Punk show. If I copy what you have done for that step, and use analog pin 0 as an input, do you think it would work with the Christmas light show? Looks like I would need to share the 5V power source between the light controller and the audio source.

[lincomatic]

Yes, you just have to add code to your sketch to sample the input and do the appropriate action when the threshold is met. You can use the code from my sketch as a template.

[psychodot5415]

I finished my project and published. http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Christmas-Light-With-Music-Sync/ Thanks for use of your code.

[fostersfriend]

Can you help me modify the code for a 8 by 8 matrix ?

[fostersfriend]

(removed by author or community request)

[lincomatic]

Most likely, you didn't install the TimerOne library correctly. What's the error you're getting?

[fostersfriend]

Timer3.initialize(1000);

it says this was never declared

[lincomatic]

There's no Timer3 in daftpunk.pde.. what file is causing that error?

[fostersfriend]

Dunno i must have played with it and forgot

[tretarsch]

@lincomatic: awesome job on the table and the instructions! thanks to you it only took me 2 days to build this. i decided to solder the wires directly to the I/O pins for stability reasons.
thanks so much for sharing your elegant code! would have taken me ages to figure that stuff out.
you sir are a legend :)

one more thing: im an idiot and assumed your wiring to the arduino was show from the backside and so i wired it that way. of course all the letters i added to frames.h showed inverted on the matrix. since i hotglued all the wires already i just changed the code of the frames, which totally did the job. you might want to point that out in your instructions.

[Win Guy]

I can't view the video, and I'm using Google Chrome. Could you possibly re-post the vid?
Thanks,
Win Guy

[lincomatic]

Which video? What happens?

[Win Guy]

Video #1 and #2, it says "This video contains content from EMI, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds."
Win Guy

[lincomatic]

Sorry, can you try IE? They play OK w/ IE9. I can't find any music that doesn't cause copyright problems. In IE, instead of blocking it, they say you can buy an MP3 of it. Go figure.

[jayeshshinai]

My first arduino project! DONE!
Real good instructable...keep up d work.

[holmez]

hello there,

ive added two buttons to the program which are ment to display two different patterns depending on which button is pushed. currently i have it so when a button is pushed it displays the first frame and when it is pushed again it shows next frame, though i want it to display the full sequence. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Many Thanks,
holmez

p.s. great post!

[lincomatic]

the Frames[] variable in Frames.h is what contains the frames. You could make two separate variables, one for each sequence, say Frames1[] and Frames2[] and then change the code to switch between them. depending on the button press

[holmez]

Thank you brother, worked it out in the end just had to concentrate a bit more. Got that working and a tempo gauge cause couldnt get my hand on a jack plug!

Brilliant project!

[lincomatic]

Glad you go it working. Sorry it took me so long to reply.. the message was in my spam folder

[holmez]

No Bother!

thanks again!

[burgergarnish]

Hi there!

I want to make something similar but would like to use 64 led's in an 8"x8" matrix. Would I have to change anything to use so many? Like some kind of interface between the lights and the Arduino?

Thank you so much.

[lincomatic]

You can do it this way: http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Main/DirectDriveLEDMatrix
But bear in mind that you must select the current limiting resistors so that when all 8 LED's in a row are lit the maximum allowable current draw isn't exceeded.

[lnijs]

hi, good instructable, i'm in the process of making my own one at the moment.

anyways, under "parts needed", you say you need 25 resistors, but you only use 5.

I understand why you only used 5, but it had me a little bit confused as I didn't know why you said to get 25 if you only need 5..


anywho, I'm liking the instructable, will be doing the wiring tomorrow :)

[lincomatic]

Sorry, that was a typo. You're right.. only 5 resistors are needed

[umarthebeast]

can you show me a diagranm of the led panels and how they are soddered?