Week Two

Week Two: Color Music

Research Goals

We managed to break down the required research into three major categories: color psychology/theories, music psychology/theories, and analysis of different genres of music as they appear through equalizers. 

We each took on a focus for research as follows:

• Music psychology - Craig
• Color psychology - Donna
• Equalizer Analysis - Joseph

Parts List

• Arduino Uno
• Spectrum Shield
• Breadboard
• RGB LED lights
• Wires/Resistors/USB cables etc...

Suppliers

• SparkFun
• Mouser

         The main objective for week two was to ensure that all the equipment needed to complete the project had been purchased to be able to get them on time and begin work on the project as soon as possible.The team also researched on the psychology of music and light to know how best to program the LED lights to make the color changes both therapeutic and entertaining.

        The team purchased a SunFounder Basic Starter Kit (which includes a breadboard, jumper wires, color LED's, resistors, and a buzzer for the Arduino), for $19.99 , and  a Spectrum Shield and an Arduino Leonardo at $24.95 each, bringing the sum total of all purchases, including taxes and shipping, to $78.57. 

         With all purchases completed, the team proceeded to research on how to connect the Arduino and LED lights to the breadboard and most importantly how to code the Arduino. The team also researched on the viability of the idea of changing the color of LED lights with changes in the music, to make the light 'look like the music' . 

         The most useful sources of information were YouTube and scholarly research on the internet. From these sources the team discovered that the height of the bars in the equalizer, showed the frequencies which were dominant and those which were not. Equalizer settings were therefore put in place to avoid distortion and to ensure that ample amounts of each frequency were heard to make the music sound good. The team intends to incorporate this idea into the project by 'equalizing' the LED lights to not just display low frequency light colors when low frequency music is being played, but rather display a blend of all colors across the light spectrum.

         In relation to the Arduino, the team researched mainly on YouTube and the Arduino website (www.arduino.cc). The links below are Youtube videos which offer tutorials on programming the Arduino in Arduino IDE; the Arduino programming interface which the team is considering alongside Matlab, as well as tutorials on how to connect the Arduino and LED's to the breadboard

Introduction to Arduino and LEDs

Arduino, LEDs, and breadboards

         In week 2, the team purchased all equipment needed for the project, refined our ideas on how the LED lights would be programmed and also, Learnt how to set up the Arduino, LED's and the breadboard. The next step for the team would be to select one of the two programming environments(Arduino IDE or Matlab) and begin actual work on the project as soon as the purchased parts arrive.