Now that we've got writing to the LED strip fast, and accessible from python running as root from anywhere, it's time to install the fantastic xmas light orchestration software, and update it to control the LED strip.

Once you download the code from bitbucket, follow the instructions to get it installed. I recommend installing to /home/pi/lightshowpi to avoid some installation issues. You can also change the INSTALL_DIR inside install.sh if you wish.

Before running sudo ./install.sh, you should edit the file and change the INSTALL_DIR. Then run:

sudo ./install.sh

The end of the bash script sets up some environment variables in /etc/environment, but I also added it to my .bashrc at the end like so:

export SYNCHRONIZED_LIGHTS_HOME="/home/pi/lightshowpi"
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/home/pi/RPi-LPD8806-master

that second line is for the LEDs. Make sure sudoers also has this line so that the environment variable sticks around when you run things as sudo. This should already be there from a previous step.

Defaults env_keep=SYNCHRONIZED_LIGHTS_HOME

As a first step, try to run a song and see if the code throws any errors:

sudo py/synchronized_lights.py --file /home/pi/some_random_music_file.mp3

Don't hear any sound? I had to change my audio out from the default HDMI to the onboard 1/8" jack:

amixer cset numid=3 1

I also had to turn up the volume

amixer set PCM 1