In my last blog, I talked about the overall design of the project as well as the components required. I had used a multicomp SMD RGB LED but I faced certain problems when I tried to simultaneously control more than one color to obtain different colours from the same LED. I switched to the neopixel LED ring with 8 addressable LEDs (WS2812). In this blog, I finish the project by interfacing the neopixel LED with Arduino UNO and by adding music to the "gift box".
The idea was to make a customizable gift box, made with a transparent plexiglass sheet with light effects. The light patterns, colors, and music can be customized and the gift inside the transparent box can be changed depending upon the occasion. For my example, I'm using a pine cone (as I find it aesthetic and a rare thing to find in India except for a few mountainous states making it a good gift for nature lovers like me) there is also another "gift" which I'll disclose at the end of this blog.
The parts required for this build are
2 x Arduino (any model can do)
1 x neopixel ring
1 x buzzer (Since I'm using the grove buzzer, I need a shield to connect it)
The reason I'm using two Arduinos is that an Arduino being an MCU, can only run one program at once. In this project I want to control two things - The neopixel ring and the music (buzzer). A single Arduino can do both but serially i.e., it will play the music at one time and then it will control the LEDs, it cannot do both simultaneously. I'm using a UNO which I already had and an MKR WAN 1300 from the Just Encase design challenge kit. The grove buzzer and the shield are also from the design challenge kit.
Moving on to the build. In the last blog, I showed how plexiglass looks when it's lit up using a single LED. Here, I'll be using a transparent box to enclose the gift.
Controlling the neopixel ring. The code is pretty simple as I'm using the Adafruit NeoPixel Library to control the 8 neopixel ring LEDs.
Here's the code for the same
#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#define PIN 2
#define NUMPIXELS 8
Adafruit_NeoPixel pixels = Adafruit_NeoPixel(NUMPIXELS, PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
void setup()
{
pixels.begin();
}
void loop()
{
for(int i=0;i<NUMPIXELS;i++)
{
pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(190,255,0));
pixels.show();
delay(200);
}
for(int i=0;i<NUMPIXELS;i++)
{
pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(255,70,100));
pixels.show();
delay(200);
}
for(int i=0;i<NUMPIXELS;i++)
{
pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(100,190,55));
pixels.show();
delay(150);
}
}
The PIN in the above code defines the pin on Arduino to which the LED's data line is connected. The NUMPIXELS defines the number of LEDs. In my case, it is 8. The pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(255,70,100)); function is used to generate different colors by varying the values of R,G and B from 0 to 255. I have set these values by experimenting to get fluorescent colors such as fluorescent green and pink.
The next step is to add music. For this, I'm using a buzzer and using the arduino, generating some 8-bit tones. I found a github repo by Robson Couto with many popular songs already written for Arduino. Link to the github repo
Here I'm playing the Happy Birthday song. For some reason, the audio is not clear. Maybe it's due to the noise cancellation effect on my mobile phone.
The final build-
Putting it all together, enclose the gift in the transparent box, stick the LED ring to the box and glue the buzzer.
This is the final build in a dark room.
Code for the Christmas song -
/*
We Wish You a Merry Christmas - Traditional Christmas song
Connect a piezo buzzer or speaker to pin 11 or select a new pin.
More songs available at https://github.com/robsoncouto/arduino-songs
Robson Couto, 2019
*/
#define NOTE_B0 31
#define NOTE_C1 33
#define NOTE_CS1 35
#define NOTE_D1 37
#define NOTE_DS1 39
#define NOTE_E1 41
#define NOTE_F1 44
#define NOTE_FS1 46
#define NOTE_G1 49
#define NOTE_GS1 52
#define NOTE_A1 55
#define NOTE_AS1 58
#define NOTE_B1 62
#define NOTE_C2 65
#define NOTE_CS2 69
#define NOTE_D2 73
#define NOTE_DS2 78
#define NOTE_E2 82
#define NOTE_F2 87
#define NOTE_FS2 93
#define NOTE_G2 98
#define NOTE_GS2 104
#define NOTE_A2 110
#define NOTE_AS2 117
#define NOTE_B2 123
#define NOTE_C3 131
#define NOTE_CS3 139
#define NOTE_D3 147
#define NOTE_DS3 156
#define NOTE_E3 165
#define NOTE_F3 175
#define NOTE_FS3 185
#define NOTE_G3 196
#define NOTE_GS3 208
#define NOTE_A3 220
#define NOTE_AS3 233
#define NOTE_B3 247
#define NOTE_C4 262
#define NOTE_CS4 277
#define NOTE_D4 294
#define NOTE_DS4 311
#define NOTE_E4 330
#define NOTE_F4 349
#define NOTE_FS4 370
#define NOTE_G4 392
#define NOTE_GS4 415
#define NOTE_A4 440
#define NOTE_AS4 466
#define NOTE_B4 494
#define NOTE_C5 523
#define NOTE_CS5 554
#define NOTE_D5 587
#define NOTE_DS5 622
#define NOTE_E5 659
#define NOTE_F5 698
#define NOTE_FS5 740
#define NOTE_G5 784
#define NOTE_GS5 831
#define NOTE_A5 880
#define NOTE_AS5 932
#define NOTE_B5 988
#define NOTE_C6 1047
#define NOTE_CS6 1109
#define NOTE_D6 1175
#define NOTE_DS6 1245
#define NOTE_E6 1319
#define NOTE_F6 1397
#define NOTE_FS6 1480
#define NOTE_G6 1568
#define NOTE_GS6 1661
#define NOTE_A6 1760
#define NOTE_AS6 1865
#define NOTE_B6 1976
#define NOTE_C7 2093
#define NOTE_CS7 2217
#define NOTE_D7 2349
#define NOTE_DS7 2489
#define NOTE_E7 2637
#define NOTE_F7 2794
#define NOTE_FS7 2960
#define NOTE_G7 3136
#define NOTE_GS7 3322
#define NOTE_A7 3520
#define NOTE_AS7 3729
#define NOTE_B7 3951
#define NOTE_C8 4186
#define NOTE_CS8 4435
#define NOTE_D8 4699
#define NOTE_DS8 4978
#define REST 0
// change this to make the song slower or faster
int tempo = 150;
// change this to whichever pin you want to use
int buzzer = 6;
// notes of the moledy followed by the duration.
// a 4 means a quarter note, 8 an eighteenth , 16 sixteenth, so on
// !!negative numbers are used to represent dotted notes,
// so -4 means a dotted quarter note, that is, a quarter plus an eighteenth!!
int melody[] = {
// We Wish You a Merry Christmas
// Score available at https://musescore.com/user/6208766/scores/1497501
NOTE_C5,4, //1
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_E5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4,
NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8,
NOTE_E5,4, NOTE_C5,4, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_A5,4, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_AS5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_C5,8, NOTE_C5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,2, NOTE_C5,4, //8
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_E5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4,
NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8,
NOTE_E5,4, NOTE_C5,4, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_A5,4, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_AS5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_C5,8, NOTE_C5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,2, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,4,//17
NOTE_E5,2, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_E5,4, NOTE_D5,4,
NOTE_C5,2, NOTE_A5,4,
NOTE_AS5,4, NOTE_A5,4, NOTE_G5,4,
NOTE_C6,4, NOTE_C5,4, NOTE_C5,8, NOTE_C5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,2, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_E5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4,
NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8, //27
NOTE_E5,4, NOTE_C5,4, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_A5,4, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_AS5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_C5,8, NOTE_C5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,2, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,4,
NOTE_E5,2, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_E5,4, NOTE_D5,4,
NOTE_C5,2, NOTE_A5,4,//36
NOTE_AS5,4, NOTE_A5,4, NOTE_G5,4,
NOTE_C6,4, NOTE_C5,4, NOTE_C5,8, NOTE_C5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,2, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_E5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4,
NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8,
NOTE_E5,4, NOTE_C5,4, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_A5,4, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_AS5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8,//45
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_C5,8, NOTE_C5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,2, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8, NOTE_E5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_D5,4,
NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8, NOTE_F5,8,
NOTE_E5,4, NOTE_C5,4, NOTE_C5,4,
NOTE_A5,4, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_AS5,8, NOTE_A5,8, NOTE_G5,8, //53
NOTE_F5,4, NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_C5,8, NOTE_C5,8,
NOTE_D5,4, NOTE_G5,4, NOTE_E5,4,
NOTE_F5,2, REST,4
};
// sizeof gives the number of bytes, each int value is composed of two bytes (16 bits)
// there are two values per note (pitch and duration), so for each note there are four bytes
int notes = sizeof(melody) / sizeof(melody[0]) / 2;
// this calculates the duration of a whole note in ms
int wholenote = (60000 * 4) / tempo;
int divider = 0, noteDuration = 0;
void setup() {
pinMode(2,OUTPUT);
pinMode(3,OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(2,HIGH);
digitalWrite(3,HIGH);
// iterate over the notes of the melody.
// Remember, the array is twice the number of notes (notes + durations)
}
void loop() {
delay(100);
digitalWrite(2,LOW);
delay(150);
digitalWrite(3,LOW);
delay(200);
digitalWrite(2,HIGH);
delay(100);
for (int thisNote = 0; thisNote < notes * 2; thisNote = thisNote + 2) {
// calculates the duration of each note
divider = melody[thisNote + 1];
if (divider > 0) {
// regular note, just proceed
noteDuration = (wholenote) / divider;
} else if (divider < 0) {
// dotted notes are represented with negative durations!!
noteDuration = (wholenote) / abs(divider);
noteDuration *= 1.5; // increases the duration in half for dotted notes
}
// we only play the note for 90% of the duration, leaving 10% as a pause
tone(buzzer, melody[thisNote], noteDuration * 0.9);
// Wait for the specief duration before playing the next note.
delay(noteDuration);
// stop the waveform generation before the next note.
noTone(buzzer);
}
}
And finally, a small gift to the e14 community- Our e14 robot dancing to the lights and the audio.
This box can be further customized. One can add a push button to change the color patterns, fading effects, etc. The music can also be changed using a button. I'm planning to extend this project by adding an RTC to it and it will play various music depending upon the calendar dates. For example, if it's your friend's birthday, it will play Happy Birthday every year on birthday and Christmas song on every Christmas day.
I'm a little late to wish - A Happy New Year to everyone. I hope your Christmas holidays were great!
