Hey all, I searched around a bit and couldn't really find the information I need. I'm looking for some guidance, or a push in the right direction, or anything really.
So the project I'm working on is a programmable LED lightboard for DJs, bands, or anyone that needs lights. I figure the density will be something like 100 LEDs/sqft, so we aren't talking a full on display here but rather a kind of mood lighting. I want to interface the board with various DAWs such as Ableton Live and Cubase, as well as a standalone interface which I will program. Right now I'm trying to figure out what kind of hardware I will need for this project, and unfortunately this is not very easy.
A more detailed description of the lightboard: While I don't necessarily want the size of the board to be standardized, I imagine that the basic board I will start making will be 1ft by 1ft, with 100 or so RGB LEDs on it. I want to be able to control the color and brightness of each LED over time, with at least 30 updates per second (to ensure smooth lighting effects). At the same time, I want this system to be expandable so that I might be able to hook up a hundred of these boards and cover an entire room in them.
The first thing I'm trying to figure out is what type of micro controller I should use to recieve signals from a PC and activate the lights. My first choice, as you might have guessed, is arduino due to its open source nature and (relative) ease of use. My questions are: How many arduino devices can be controlled by a computer at once? What is the maximum number (if there is one) of LEDs an arduino controller can control? Can arduino boards be hooked up in sequence so that I don't have to attach each board to my computer (and if so, will this cause lag between the first and last board)?
The second thing is what type of cabling I'll be using for this project. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any kind of data on firewire and usb, and I would REALLY like to know what the limits are for these data types (for the project I'm trying to do, that is.) Would one firewire cable be enough to control 10-100 lightboards like such? How about USB? Are there any other alternatives?
I'm also considering using DMX, the standard lighting cabling. This would be really great because then I wouldn't need to worry about lag, or hooking up multiple devices, because DMX is set up for that. Unfortunately, DMX has a very finite limit in terms of data transfer. It can transfer up to 512 values per cable, and the best computer based DMX controller I've seen could control up to 8 of these cables or 4096 values. If I use three values per LED (brightness for each RGB value) that means about 1300 LEDS, which is a disappointingly small number considering I want to be able to (long run) cover entire walls with this system. I could fragment the boards by using groupings of LEDs instead of individuals (2x2 block, or 4x4, or something) but that takes a lot of the functionality out of the lights.
Anyways, if someone could help me figure out the best way to do this, or point me in the right direction for figuring that out, I would much appreciate it!