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@Spy

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Making Light Dance to the Music ................................................................

In This Chapter

Taking a peek at the schematic

Checking off the parts list

Breadboarding the circuit

Calibrating your frequencies

Lighting up to music

M

usic hath charms to soothe the savage breast, as the saying goes.

Whether you feel particularly savage or not, if you enjoy listening to

all kinds of music, you’ll enjoy this project. Here, we combine light and sound

in an interesting way: We show you how to set up two rows of lights that illu-

minate to different frequencies of sound. When you put on a rowdy piece of

music — say, swing or reggae — the lights dance all around. Every piece of

music has its own, unique effect.

We chose to arrange our lights like notes on a music staff, but you could put

them in any arrangement you like. By working through this fun project, you

get to know more about frequency filters, operational amplifiers, and how

music can make things light up and get your toes tapping.

The Big Picture: Project Overview...............................................................

After you complete this project, you’ll have a display of LEDs that light up in

response to high- or low-frequency sounds. You can see our LED musical

notes arrangement in the finished display in Figure 5-1.