DiscoLitez is a Winamp plugin that allows you to control lighting equipment from your computer. This is done using the printer port and some external switching/driving circuitry. At the moment, you’ll have to build the circuits yourself, but they are not complicated
http://www.discolitez.com/
DiscoLitez development stalled some time ago and someone else has picked up the ball with Lightning…
Lightning is an interactive signal processing application. It is a freeware program with the purpose of controlling disco lighting equipment on a PC. Currently Lightning is in beta.
http://www.sools.com/index.php?menu=lig … -faq&edit=
It would be nice to have the hardware ready made to buy…
Links to hardware here…
http://www.discolitez.com/pmwiki/pmwiki … z.Hardware
Would love to see what one could do with a bunch of high watt LEDs…
Or lasers … 
Motors… Servos Oh my! Anywho…
What do ya think… ???
I did build the hardware for a friend in New Zealand.
I also have sold hardware to a guy in Claifornia.
James L
Do you still offer them for sale?
I looked into that software a while back…too bad it doesn’t support a generic serial port output, just LPT. At least with serial, you could use a USB-RS232 converter on most computers.
I ended up hacking a custom Winamp plugin to output spectrum and waveform information on the serial port, which was interpreted by a microcontroller and then used to control [ShiftBrite RGB modules. I’m now moving the project away from Winamp to a microcontroller with an analog input filtering and processing stage.
The Winamp plugin method really isn’t as nice for this application as DiscLites or Lightning would be if they could support some other types of interfaces beyond LPT.
Maybe something like [PureData(free) or Max/MSP(expensive) with a serial MIDI output could get close to this functionality.](http://puredata.info/)](ShiftBrite RGB LED Module | macetech.com)
unmanagedtn:
Do you still offer them for sale?
Yes I still have boards that I sell.
I only place the SMT parts on and leave the through hole parts to the buyer.
The boards work well…and have had no failures.
There are quite a few parts to put on the boards, so be prepared to do some soldering if you want them.
James L
I am ok with that… do you have a BOM you can send email me?
unmanagedtn:
I am ok with that… do you have a BOM you can send email me?
Yes, I have a BOM at Digikey which is available online.
There are some specifics about how the boards are setup (one board is the master the others are slaves).
You can email me about the specifics.
support at lil-brother.com (convert the "at’ to the @ symbol)
James L
What I would really like help with… is a way to control the shiftbrite via Audio in a standalone way… I am just getting into the Arduino world.
My idea is to use the Sparkfun Wee, http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=8737
or the STAMP, http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=8164
and the 100X MIC, http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=8669 , from sparkfun…
So we have a tiny micro and a way to get telemertry in to change the Shiftbrites…
Would it be doable on such a basic scale?
unmanaged aka Gavin…
macegr:
I looked into that software a while back…too bad it doesn’t support a generic serial port output, just LPT. At least with serial, you could use a USB-RS232 converter on most computers.
I ended up hacking a custom Winamp plugin to output spectrum and waveform information on the serial port, which was interpreted by a microcontroller and then used to control [ShiftBrite RGB modules. I’m now moving the project away from Winamp to a microcontroller with an analog input filtering and processing stage.
The Winamp plugin method really isn’t as nice for this application as DiscLites or Lightning would be if they could support some other types of interfaces beyond LPT.
Maybe something like [PureData(free) or Max/MSP(expensive) with a serial MIDI output could get close to this functionality.[/quote]](http://puredata.info/)](ShiftBrite RGB LED Module | macetech.com)
See this post about useing DL or Lighting with the FT245RL USB to FIFO
http://discolitez.com/phpbb/viewtopic.p … 6c52a60bcc
with this… (Breakout Board for FT245RL USB to FIFO)
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/produc … ts_id=7841
Seems pretty cool…