We'll look at determining musical notes in a bit. But for making the NeoPixels respond to the mic data, we can just work in terms of frequency. The idea is pretty simple - we'll set a LOW frequency and a HIGH frequency. The NeoPixels will then light up individually for any frequency in this range.
Here's the complete code:
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2019 Carter Nelson for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
import time
import array
import board
import audiobusio
import simpleio
import neopixel
#---| User Configuration |---------------------------
SAMPLERATE = 16000
SAMPLES = 1024
THRESHOLD = 100
MIN_DELTAS = 5
DELAY = 0.2
FREQ_LOW = 520
FREQ_HIGH = 990
COLORS = (
(0xFF, 0x00, 0x00) , # pixel 0
(0xFF, 0x71, 0x00) , # pixel 1
(0xFF, 0xE2, 0x00) , # pixel 2
(0xAA, 0xFF, 0x00) , # pixel 3
(0x38, 0xFF, 0x00) , # pixel 4
(0x00, 0xFF, 0x38) , # pixel 5
(0x00, 0xFF, 0xA9) , # pixel 6
(0x00, 0xE2, 0xFF) , # pixel 7
(0x00, 0x71, 0xFF) , # pixel 8
(0x00, 0x00, 0xFF) , # pixel 9
)
#----------------------------------------------------
# Create a buffer to record into
samples = array.array('H', [0] * SAMPLES)
# Setup the mic input
mic = audiobusio.PDMIn(board.MICROPHONE_CLOCK,
board.MICROPHONE_DATA,
sample_rate=SAMPLERATE,
bit_depth=16)
# Setup NeoPixels
pixels = neopixel.NeoPixel(board.NEOPIXEL, 10, auto_write=False)
while True:
# Get raw mic data
mic.record(samples, SAMPLES)
# Compute DC offset (mean) and threshold level
mean = int(sum(samples) / len(samples) + 0.5)
threshold = mean + THRESHOLD
# Compute deltas between mean crossing points
# (this bit by Dan Halbert)
deltas = []
last_xing_point = None
crossed_threshold = False
for i in range(SAMPLES-1):
sample = samples[i]
if sample > threshold:
crossed_threshold = True
if crossed_threshold and sample < mean:
if last_xing_point:
deltas.append(i - last_xing_point)
last_xing_point = i
crossed_threshold = False
# Try again if not enough deltas
if len(deltas) < MIN_DELTAS:
continue
# Average the deltas
mean = sum(deltas) / len(deltas)
# Compute frequency
freq = SAMPLERATE / mean
print("crossings: {} mean: {} freq: {} ".format(len(deltas), mean, freq))
# Show on NeoPixels
pixels.fill(0)
pixel = round(simpleio.map_range(freq, FREQ_LOW, FREQ_HIGH, 0, 9))
pixels[pixel] = COLORS[pixel]
pixels.show()
time.sleep(DELAY)
This code is largely the same as the previous example. All that has been added is some NeoPixel output based on frequency. You can set the LOW and HIGH frequency and the NeoPixel COLORS at the top of the code in these lines:
FREQ_LOW = 520
FREQ_HIGH = 990
COLORS = (
(0xFF, 0x00, 0x00) , # pixel 0
(0xFF, 0x71, 0x00) , # pixel 1
(0xFF, 0xE2, 0x00) , # pixel 2
(0xAA, 0xFF, 0x00) , # pixel 3
(0x38, 0xFF, 0x00) , # pixel 4
(0x00, 0xFF, 0x38) , # pixel 5
(0x00, 0xFF, 0xA9) , # pixel 6
(0x00, 0xE2, 0xFF) , # pixel 7
(0x00, 0x71, 0xFF) , # pixel 8
(0x00, 0x00, 0xFF) , # pixel 9
)
The part of the code that does the actual NeoPixel lighting is at the bottom:
# Show on NeoPixels
pixels.fill(0)
pixel = round(simpleio.map_range(freq, FREQ_LOW, FREQ_HIGH, 0, 9))
pixels[pixel] = COLORS[pixel]
pixels.show()
It uses the simpleio.map_range() function to map the computed frequency to the range of NeoPixels. So the LOW frequency will light NeoPixel #0, the HIGH frequency will light NeoPixel #9, and any in between frequencies will light the others.
Circuit Playground-O-Phonor
We can use the above sketch to make our Circuit Playground-O-Phonor. As a substitute for a real holophonor, we'll use a very common flute like instrument called a recorder. They look like this:
These come in different shapes and sizes with corresponding differences in their note ranges. You'll need to figure out what range of notes, and in what octave, your recorder produces. The code above has been setup to run from a 5th octave C (~520Hz) to a 5th octave B (~990Hz). If your recorder is different, change these two lines as needed:
FREQ_LOW = 520 FREQ_HIGH = 990
Once you've got that setup, run the code above and try playing notes on your recorder. You should get the NeoPixels to light up.
Page last edited January 21, 2025
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