Controlling electricity flow via MIDI to power lamps

arduinomidiswitches

I'm looking to build an interesting lighting rig comprised of lampshades for my band. Here's an image of what I want to achieve:

Image Of Design Idea where arduino receives control signals from a midi stream

I have Logic pro running in my Macbook pro. I want to create MIDI tracks that control each lampshade.

I'm looking to map each lampshade with a corresponding note. So that when I play a MIDI track, each lampshade will light up when a note in the MIDI track is played.

Here are some things that I want to achieve as well:

  1. Accept MIDI velocity parameters (0 – 128) to determine lampshade brightness and fade-ins/outs
  2. Allow combinations of notes (e.g. playing C#1 and E#2 at the same time will trigger two lampshade simultaneously).

Here are my questions:

  • Is this feasible?
  • What's the best way to get started?
  • Is there a concern for blowing any fuses with this setup? (We plan to play in several clubs)
  • Are there any methods I should consider, or things I should be concerned about?
  • Do you have any ideas to make this lighting rig much more interesting?

I have some previous experience with Arduino. It's mostly lost to me now, but I'm willing to get back to it.

Best Answer

This is certainly feasible (which does not imply that it is feasible for YOU, that's your own judgment!).

There are two or three 'major' parts of your project:

  • driving the lamps. You did not state voltage or power, I assume you want mains powered lamps? If so and you don't have much electronics experience I'd advise to buy something ready made, with for instance 0-5V (isolated!!) or DMX input (is always isolated).

  • programming the Arduino to interpret MIDI. This is not a big deal, but I am a programmer. If your programming is rusty this will be the interesting part.

  • programming the Arduino for driving the output to the lamps. This depends on the hardware interface to the lamps.

Blowing a fuse: switching a cold lamp on draws a short current peak. You might consider keeping the lamps always on at at least a minimum level. This will reduce peaks and extend your lamp's life. You did not specify the lamps you want to use, so I can't comment on possible fuse problems at the location.

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