Simple color organ

[Todd Jetzer]

I'm looking for help to create a simple color organ.  I've been experimenting with Lightjams and can't seem to get it to do what I want.  I've used Lightjams in the past and was never pleased with the results, that is clearly commentary on my understanding of Lightjams and not a reflection of the software!

I'm running eight strings of 100 count RGB LEDs connected to an sACN controller.  The LED strings are setup in a large matrix that will be used for an elementary school fund raiser.  There will be a DJ playing music which is what we'd like Lightjams to react to. 

My current configuration is quite basic.  Lightjams reacts to the audio but the only colors I get are red and white.  It works, but in my mind it's very bland.  Can anyone offer suggestions to spice this up a bit?   I have attached the project file for reference.

Thank you

Todd

[Mathieu]

Well, thanks for your honesty. Creating nice music reactive effects takes time and your goal needs to be well defined. After a quick look at your project file, using the source's range like this is problematic. If a LED doesn't receive power, it will be off. Also, saturation at 0% is gray and 100% intensity is full white. Another thing, if the hue isn't specified because no sources send it power, it will also be gray (at least from v498).

I've modified your project to create a simple wave triggered by the beats. The color is changing following the most active music frequency. There are many things to learn, but it's essential to understand the hue, saturation and intensity (or lightness) color model used in Lightjams. Check the HSL color model here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV.

Lightjams version  499 needed - https://www.lightjams.com/history.html

After that, you can look at the sample projects (https://www.lightjams.com/tutorial.html#projectsSection). and check this forum as it contains many examples.

[Mathieu]

And here's a simple project with one RGB LED showing how to determine a final hue based on the activation level of the music frequencies. 

- Edit the colors by going in the view/color palette menu. There are 7 colors linked to 7 frequency ranges.

- You can set the min&max music frequencies by going in the view/configuration and editing the lower/higher freq boxes.

- You can change how colors are assigned to frequencies by editing the "Hue Activation Based On Freq Band" grid.