HELP DFPLAYER + USING LED WS2812 LED ADAFRUIT

Hi, I would LOVE some help with this project. I have a DFPLAYER that is working great. I want to just have some LEDs running in the background. As soon as I add the code for the LEDs in the sketch the LEDs work, but the DFPlayer does not. I am new to this and have no idea what I may be doing wrong.

I have attached the code thank you so much!!

///              MP3 PLAYER PROJECT
/// http://educ8s.tv/arduino-mp3-player/
//////////////////////////////////////////
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#include "SoftwareSerial.h"
SoftwareSerial mySerial(10, 11);
# define Start_Byte 0x7E
# define Version_Byte 0xFF
# define Command_Length 0x06
# define End_Byte 0xEF
# define Acknowledge 0x00 //Returns info with command 0x41 [0x01: info, 0x00: no info]

# define ACTIVATED LOW

#define LEDPIN 6
Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(7, LEDPIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
int buttonNext = 2;
int buttonPause = 3;
int buttonPrevious = 4;
boolean isPlaying = false;


void setup () {

  pinMode(buttonPause, INPUT);
  digitalWrite(buttonPause,HIGH);
  pinMode(buttonNext, INPUT);
  digitalWrite(buttonNext,HIGH);
  pinMode(buttonPrevious, INPUT);
  digitalWrite(buttonPrevious,HIGH);
  
  mySerial.begin (9600);
  delay(1000);
  playFirst();
  isPlaying = true;
  pause();

  strip.begin();
  strip.setBrightness(50);
  strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
}



void loop () { 
//theaterChaseRainbow(50); // This breaks DFPLAYER
 if (digitalRead(buttonPause) == ACTIVATED)
  {
    if(isPlaying)
    {
      pause();
      isPlaying = false;
    }else
    {
      isPlaying = true;
      play();
    }
  }


 if (digitalRead(buttonNext) == ACTIVATED)
  {
    if(isPlaying)
    {
      playNext();
    }
  }

   if (digitalRead(buttonPrevious) == ACTIVATED)
  {
    if(isPlaying)
    {
      playPrevious();
    }
  }
}
//Theatre-style crawling lights with rainbow effecth
void theaterChaseRainbow(uint8_t wait) {
  for (int j=0; j < 256; j++) {     // cycle all 256 colors in the wheel
    for (int q=0; q < 3; q++) {
      for (uint16_t i=0; i < strip.numPixels(); i=i+3) {
        strip.setPixelColor(i+q, Wheel( (i+j) % 255));    //turn every third pixel on
      }
      strip.show();

      delay(wait);

      for (uint16_t i=0; i < strip.numPixels(); i=i+3) {
        strip.setPixelColor(i+q, 0);        //turn every third pixel off
      }
    }
  }
}

// Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value.
// The colours are a transition r - g - b - back to r.
uint32_t Wheel(byte WheelPos) {
  WheelPos = 255 - WheelPos;
  if(WheelPos < 85) {
    return strip.Color(255 - WheelPos * 3, 0, WheelPos * 3);
  }
  if(WheelPos < 170) {
    WheelPos -= 85;
    return strip.Color(0, WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3);
  }
  WheelPos -= 170;
  return strip.Color(WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3, 0);
}
void playFirst()
{
  execute_CMD(0x3F, 0, 0);
  delay(500);
  setVolume(20);
  delay(500);
  execute_CMD(0x11,0,1); 
  delay(500);
}

void pause()
{
  execute_CMD(0x0E,0,0);
  delay(500);
}

void play()
{
  execute_CMD(0x0D,0,1); 
  delay(500);
}

void playNext()
{
  execute_CMD(0x01,0,1);
  delay(500);
}

void playPrevious()
{
  execute_CMD(0x02,0,1);
  delay(500);
}

void setVolume(int volume)
{
  execute_CMD(0x06, 0, volume); // Set the volume (0x00~0x30)
  delay(2000);
}

void execute_CMD(byte CMD, byte Par1, byte Par2)
// Excecute the command and parameters
{
// Calculate the checksum (2 bytes)
word checksum = -(Version_Byte + Command_Length + CMD + Acknowledge + Par1 + Par2);
// Build the command line
byte Command_line[10] = { Start_Byte, Version_Byte, Command_Length, CMD, Acknowledge,
Par1, Par2, highByte(checksum), lowByte(checksum), End_Byte};
//Send the command line to the module
for (byte k=0; k<10; k++)
{
mySerial.write( Command_line[k]);
}
}

If You would use Autoformat in the IDE You would see things. To what piece of code does the boulded code belong? I can tell what will happended.

void theaterChaseRainbow(uint8_t wait) {
  for (int j = 0; j < 256; j++) {   // cycle all 256 colors in the wheel
    for (int q = 0; q < 3; q++) {
      for (uint16_t i = 0; i < strip.numPixels(); i = i + 3) {
        strip.setPixelColor(i + q, Wheel( (i + j) % 255)); //turn every third pixel on
      }
      strip.show();

      delay(wait);

      for (uint16_t i = 0; i < strip.numPixels(); i = i + 3) {
        strip.setPixelColor(i + q, 0);      //turn every third pixel off
      }
    }
  }
}

[b]// Input a value 0 to 255 to get a color value.
// The colours are a transition r - g - b - back to r.
uint32_t Wheel(byte WheelPos) {
  WheelPos = 255 - WheelPos;
  if (WheelPos < 85) {
    return strip.Color(255 - WheelPos * 3, 0, WheelPos * 3);
  }
  if (WheelPos < 170) {
    WheelPos -= 85;
    return strip.Color(0, WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3);
  }
  WheelPos -= 170;
  return strip.Color(WheelPos * 3, 255 - WheelPos * 3, 0);[/b]
}

Sorry, just "saw something".....

You should consider using a DFPlayerMini library (installable via the Arduino IDE's Libraries Manager)

Thank you I will try the dfPlayermini LIbrary and see if that helps. Basically in the code I shared when the theaterChaseRainbow(50); function is called it breaks the DFPlayer Mini... quite odd as I would imagine one should be able to use these two together? Thanks

Please explain "breaks".

one big karma for using code tags

@kiss

KASSIMSAMJI:
one big karma for using code tags

sorry is this something I did wrong and you're attempting to help?