Thanks Crossroads, that's a great stack of help, I'm sorting through the matrix/multi-plex options, I drifted off into non-LED Arduino projects over the last year and am finding myself rusty now that I'm returning. I have one quick question, im confused when you say
"Only problem is that the count is always decoded, so one outut would be active all the time."
Do you mean that on the arduino or the 4017 side of things? Sorry, just a bit confused on that point.