How Can I Build a Christmas Light Controller That Syncs with Music?

[famousken]

I was just thinking with christmas right around the corner I wanted to do something a little different than the usual lights on the eves. I would like to build a light controller that cues different sections of my lights to music, kind of like this but Ill probably tone it back a little bit, probably around 8 channels I am thinking <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TD4g0gmQSLk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TD4g0gmQSLk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
One idea I had was to use a basic stamp to control the light driver, but that means that I would have to spend days programming it to get the timing just right. Another idea I had was to make a mono copy of what ever song it was and then use the other channel to record the program for the light control using a serial signal that can be decoded in real-time (decade counter?) then I could just set my media player to loop and it would repeat itself. I want something as simple as possible and easy to set up as I only have around a month do complete it. Any ideas?

 

[noumed]

you'd need some sort of PLC to do this.. what if you take the sample of the song, pass it through an ADC, and based on the bits that the ADC spits out, control a section of the lights? here's something that i found on google, that should be able to get you started...

http://zedomax.com/blog/zedomax-diy119-make-christmas-light-controller-in-5-minutes/"