It's time for a modernized prop blaster! This guide is an overhaul of the Lucio Blaster project from 2017 (The original was a three part guide here, here, and here.) You can also use this as a leaping off point for any prop or cosplay element that requires lights, music, and triggered sound effects.

A lot has changed in three years, and the project has been greatly simplified, thanks to advances in hardware and software! We'll now use the Feather M4 Express running CircuitPython and a Prop-Maker FeatherWing.

Thanks to dual-stream, native .mp3 playback in CircuitPython, we can eliminate the need for multiple pieces of hardware previously required to play music and sound effects at the same time, and the power, amplification, and NeoPixel driving circuits have been similarly simplified.

And speaking of NeoPixels -- the LED animation library makes it astonishingly simpler to create highly awesome lighting effects!

This guide shows how to connect all the electronics you need to make your own Sonic Amplifier, or modify them to any prop need.

A future update will show all of the guts fit into a new 808-themed 3D printed blaster! Download the model files here to make your own.

Here's some demo video of the original version to get a feel for the project:

Parts