Thunderflash Disco Lights for Hercules DJ Controller

My kids saw a Hercules mixing console on Printables and wanted to buy it immediately. But instead of purchasing it right away, we decided to try winning it first. To come up with a great idea, we conducted a classroom survey to see what would be best. The winning idea? Flashing disco lights, of course!

We chose to use a WS2812B Neopixel LED strip, with the option of controlling it using either a Raspberry Pi Pico or an ESP32 WROOM. The lights can be pre-programmed, or we can use the WLED project (https://kno.wled.ge/), allowing others to control them as well.

Around 50 LEDs will be placed around the holder, meaning we need approximately 1 meter of a WS2812B LED strip (60 LEDs/m, 10mm width, 5VDC). All can be powered with a powerbank.

The holder is assembled using dowels, which can either be glued in place or simply press-fitted. Instead of gluing the front logo, two holes for dowel pins were added for easy attachment.

Below is a code example for controlling the lights, similar to the video demonstration.

Hope someone will find it useful. 

Example code using Arduino IDE with ESP32-WROOM-DA Module:

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>

#define LED_PIN 13       // Pin connected to the LED strip
#define NUM_LEDS 51      // Number of LEDs in the strip
#define BRIGHTNESS 127   // Set brightness (0-255). Lower it to half if USB power is poor.

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip(NUM_LEDS, LED_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);

void setup() {
    strip.begin();
    strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
    strip.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS);
}

void loop() {
    masterpieceDiscoShow(30000);  // Disco show for 30 seconds
}

void masterpieceDiscoShow(int duration) {
    unsigned long startTime = millis();
    while (millis() - startTime < duration) {
        int effect = random(1, 7); // Choose a random effect
        switch (effect) {
            case 1:
                stereoBlast(); // Stereo synchronized blast
                break;
            case 2:
                randomBeatBlasts(); // Aggressive random beat flashes
                break;
            case 3:
                policeStrobe(3000);  // Chaotic police-style strobe
                break;
            case 4:
                waveEffect();  // Flowing wave pattern
                break;
            case 5:
                bassDropExplosion(); // Epic bass drop flashes
                break;
            case 6:
                lightningStorm(); // Unpredictable lightning effect
                break;
        }
    }
}

void stereoBlast() {
    for (int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS / 2; i++) {
        strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(255, 0, 0)); // Left half Red
        strip.setPixelColor(NUM_LEDS - 1 - i, strip.Color(0, 0, 255)); // Right half Blue
        strip.show();
        delay(10);
    }
    delay(80);
    strip.clear();
    strip.show();
    delay(120);
}

void randomBeatBlasts() {
    for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
        strip.clear();
        for (int j = 0; j < NUM_LEDS; j++) {
            if (random(0, 5) > 2) { // Randomized spread
                strip.setPixelColor(j, strip.Color(random(100, 255), random(100, 255), random(100, 255)));
            }
        }
        strip.show();
        delay(60);
        strip.clear();
        strip.show();
        delay(200);
    }
}

void policeStrobe(int duration) {
    unsigned long startTime = millis();
    while (millis() - startTime < duration) {
        for (int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) {
            strip.setPixelColor(i, (random(0, 3) > 1) ? strip.Color(255, 0, 0) : strip.Color(0, 0, 255));
        }
        strip.show();
        delay(50);
        strip.clear();
        strip.show();
        delay(50);
    }
}

void waveEffect() {
    for (int j = 0; j < 256; j += 30) {
        for (int i = 0; i < NUM_LEDS; i++) {
            int colorVal = (i * 256 / NUM_LEDS + j) & 255;
            strip.setPixelColor(i, strip.Color(colorVal, 255 - colorVal, colorVal / 2));
        }
        strip.show();
        delay(50);
    }
}

void bassDropExplosion() {
    for (int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
        for (int j = 0; j < NUM_LEDS; j++) {
            strip.setPixelColor(j, strip.Color(255, 255, 255));
        }
        strip.show();
        delay(30);
        strip.clear();
        strip.show();
        delay(400);
    }
}

void lightningStorm() {
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        int flashCount = random(2, 6);
        for (int j = 0; j < flashCount; j++) {
            for (int k = 0; k < NUM_LEDS; k++) {
                strip.setPixelColor(k, strip.Color(255, 255, 255));
            }
            strip.show();
            delay(random(30, 100));
            strip.clear();
            strip.show();
            delay(random(100, 250));
        }
        delay(500);
    }
}