Are Four 74HC595 Sift-registers in a row too many?

Other Hardware LEDs and Multiplexing
33

Ok, thanks a lot guys!

I took the advice from CrossRoads and send now every 4th byte from Processing, which looks like this:

void loop(){

   if (Serial.available() > 3) {
     
     // shoot off feedback LED
     digitalWrite(feedbackLED,HIGH);
     
    // Register range from 0-3
    // Pins range from 0-7
    int arrivingByte = Serial.read();
    Serial.println(arrivingByte);
    
    int registerByte = 0; // will host the serial from processing
    int pinByte = 0; // will host the serial from processing
    
    // to do! find the right register+pin
    
    sendToRegister(registerByte, pinByte);
    // end and start again, so it doesn't get triggered by the serials used within the sendToRegister() function, which would start the Serial.available() again
    Serial.end();
    Serial.begin(9600);
  }
  
  digitalWrite(feedbackLED,LOW);
  
}