out of my depths - sound to vacuam hoover

[George Woolfe]

I’m out of my depths I was wondering if I could get some advice!

 

I’m a visual artist, I have almost no experience with lighting equipment or software!

 

 I’m working on a project at the moment where I’m trying to control the voltage-input to a vacuum Hoover so that the frequency of its drone alters in sync with an audio recording I’ve made.

 

On the advice of a friend I have brought myself a DMX single channel dimmer:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eurolite-DMX-Dimmer-Pack-2300-Watt-Channel-Lighting-Controller-/251252432155

 

And a USB to DMX cable:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/512-Channel-USB-DMX-Controller-MAC-OSx-PC-Laptop-/151026784451?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:GB:3160

 

I’m hoping to use lightjams sound-to-light function to control the dimmer to sync with the recording. I wanted to check that the two-pieces of equipment above are compatible with lightjams?

 

Also

 

I’m a Mac user and don’t own a pc- I’m looking to buy a small desktop pc to use for the project, id like to get something small so that it doesn’t take up to much room up in the final installation of the work. I was wondering if you could advise me whether this would be suitable to run the lightjams software properly, or do I need to get something with a decent soundcard?

 

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/desktop-pc-monitors/desktop-pcs/refurbished-pcs/lenovo-h520s-refurbished-desktop-pc-19597958-pdt.html

 

 

Any advice would be a great help!

 

Thanks

 

George

[Mathieu]

Hi George,

Very interesting project! I've never seen that before.

The dimmer pack is compatible with Lightjams but not the USB to DMX interface. You need a USB to DMX interface like this one http://dmxking.com/usbdmx/ultradmxmicro for $60. You can also get a Enttec Pro (http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_menu=Products&prod=70304&show=description) but it's $170.

The leveno h520 will do the job very, very easily. 

Your setup will look like: Lightjams->USB to DMX interface->dmx cable->dimmer pack->your vacuum cleaner.

Feel free asking more questions!

Cheers,

Mathieu

[George Woolfe]

Hi Mathieu,

Thank you for the super quick reply and info!

I did wonder whether I had the right cable- I'm going to order the dmx king and computer today

still early days but i will keep you posted as to how i get on..

Also I'm in the process of putting together a website of some previous projects if you interested: georgewoolfe.com

thanks again
Best
George

[George Woolfe]

Hi Mathieu,

 

Sorry there is something else that would be great to run past you!

 

The setup I want to make is slightly more complicated then I explained in my first post- I simplified it a bit because I didn’t want to make it too confusing.

 

The audio I want to use in lightjams to control the dimmer wont be on the computer its self. I want to use audio coming from an external media player. Would it be possible to feed the audio into the computer through the Mic /line-in port and use it in real time with lightjams to control the dimmer.

 

Cheers

George

[Mathieu]

Hi George,

Analyzing music in realtime coming from the mic/line-in port is a Lightjams' specialty! So yes, that's a perfectly valid setup.

Cheers,

Mathieu

[George Woolfe]

Great! everything's on order now, I cant wait for it all to arrive so I can get playing!
Thanks Mathieu