How to control LED lights with the LED Music Controller

1. That thing looks funky! What can it do?

This thing can do SO many things. It is without a doubt one of the most impressive pieces of LED technology we sell in my opinion. The controller uses a microphone in order to pick up on the sounds and music near it. Once the controller "hears" what's going on, it can adjust the strips to match the rhythm and tone of the music or sounds, it'll even animate the strip to normal speech and conversation! It doesn't just stop at music and speech though, any sounds that are picked up by the microphone can animate the strips, such as video games, beatboxing, or TV shows and movies! In addition to these animations, the controller also allows for static colors, and simple strobe and flash animations. Not to mention that the controller has a state of the art on/off functionality!

2. What are the actual music animations?

Currently there are two musical animations the controllers are capable of using. Both share some similarities, changing their colors when they detect a beat or a change in sound, however the manner in which the animations go about this are different. The first animation is like the "strobe" animation in that it is always lit and will cycle through all the colors of the strip, leaving the LEDs lit up even during lulls in sound or pauses in the beat. This animation will continue cycling its colors when the beat resumes or the sounds around it change. The second animation will only light up the diodes when it hears the beat or sound effects, leaving the strips dark during periods of silence. This second animation can utilize a single color, or cycle through all the options just like the first animation. Whether it uses a single color or cycles is up to you and your project!

3. Can I use a direct auxiliary input for the controller?

Unfortunately you can only use the built in microphone, so no plugging it straight into your music just yet. However, the sensitivity knob is an exceptional stand in for an auxiliary input. If you have a little patience it's possible to tune your music controller's microphone in to perfectly match the sounds or music you're playing, even without direct input into your music device, television, instrument or what have you. So don't give up just because the controller doesn't match your tunes straight out of the box!

4. How do you use the sensitivity adjustment dial?

Just like any other dial or knob! Grip the dial with your thumb and forefinger, then gently twist it one way or the other, in literally no time at all the dial will be moving the direction you've decided to turn it! Once you've mastered turning the dial, you'll realize that with the sensitivity turned up, the controller will be picking up a lot of sounds and will animate more frequently. This means that your controller will be capable of animating to the music from across the party, and possibly the conversation happening next to it. With the sensitivity turned down, it will only react to louder sounds like drums and bass beats, so depending on your situation you may need to do a little fiddling, but you'll have it animating like a pro in no time!

5. How many strips can the music controller output?

It's time for Trouble Shooting Series #8's variable, multi-part answer! The music controller has two outputs, and each of these outputs can power and control two Regular Density SMD 5050 LED strip lights OR one High Density SMD 5050 LED strip light. That means you can use four Regular Density strips, or you could use two High Density strips, OR if you want to get fancy you could even use two Regular Density strips and one High Density strip. So you've got a lot of options here for how many strips you can power and control, leaving you a lot of wiggle room if budget's a concern. If money's a bit tighter, you can go with two HDs, but if you've got a little bit of walking around money, then four Regular Density's might be more your speed.

6. Can I use more strips with an RGB amplifier?

You better believe it! Using an 5050 - MULTICOLOR 4-PIN AMPLIFIER can take over some of the work of your controller and allow for more strips to be connected and controlled from one music controller. You'll pardon me if I don't do any more strip math here, as amplifiers can get those number up to much more than 2-4 strips.

7. Is there a warranty for the controller?

Two straight answers in a row! What have a become, a politician? To answer your question, yes it absolutely does. Your music controller comes with a whole year's worth of warranty, fifty two weeks, three hundred and sixty-five days (sixty-six in a leap year,) eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours, over half a million minutes. That is an awful lot of warranty.