Cool led lights or other visual elements to add to our setup?

[adamcz]

I have this vague idea that I haven't fleshed out very well of adding some visual interest to my keyboard setup. Does anybody do anything (or know of anything) along the lines of colored led lights that react to the music you're playing, or perhaps some cool waveform visualizer sort of thing? When I search for these things I mostly get software that displays something cool on your monitor, but I'm thinking more along the lines of stand alone devices that I'd mount on my keyboard stands or something.

 

Or maybe this is the domain of things that I need to create myself with a Arduino/Raspberri Pi and some cheap LED monitors?

[ElmerJFudd]

Search for strand or tape light, tube light, tree light, etc.  Lots of DJ lighting products as well. 
 

it depends how much and what type of control you want.  Laptop control with software, a hardware controller, simple on/off or fader.   A microphone switching lights off of stage noise (mostly the drums).  

[Baldwin Funster]

I'd add lights to my services for my band, except I don't want to carry the stuff, setup the stuff or pay the $300 it would cost for a minimal color wash system. But if it weren't for all that, yeah lights are cool.

[cphollis]

In addition to too much audio gear, I also own too much lighting gear.

 

I would suggest 3-4 of the Ape Labs Cans and one of their remotes.  It's a small, battery-powered fixture that knows about its neighbors and puts on a better show that typical "sound active" lights.  Put these on the stage around you at the start of a show, select a color scheme, and you're done.  They used to be ridiculously expensive, now they are even more ridiculously expensive.  The fixture is great, the software is awesome.

 

[Adam Burgess]

On 11/21/2022 at 2:36 AM, cphollis said:

In addition to too much audio gear, I also own too much lighting gear.

 

I would suggest 3-4 of the Ape Labs Cans…

Those look lovely 😊 £2000 for 12 in a case is £160 each… actually not too bad for battery powered bright little things if the software is great and they’re reliable. 

 

Wonder if there are any clones around yet… 😈

[cphollis]

12 minutes ago, Adam Burgess said:

Those look lovely 😊 £2000 for 12 in a case is £160 each… actually not too bad for battery powered bright little things if the software is great and they’re reliable. 

 

Wonder if there are any clones around yet… 😈

Well, that's just it.  The 12 cans come in a pro-level custom case with an integrated charger, which makes transport and setup times minimal.  I do keep an eye on the battery fixtures of Chinese origin.  I recently tried one that looked good, and it's not even close to these.  The Ape Labs software is great IMHO, it's a sturdy build and they have been 100% reliable to date, unlike other lighting fixtures I have owned.

[Stokely]

I was just thinking about this, though not so much anything "smart" or reactive...just maybe some lights I could mount on my stand.

Reason this came to mine was that we have a resort gig this weekend (we've done before) where we are outside in the evening on a big stage but it doesn't have lights (and no backdrop, it's on the 5th floor overlooking the ocean so it's basically pitch black behind us).   We are going to bring our small light bars that mount on the PA tops, and I'll bring my own 64-led spot, but I was also thinking of spicing up the stage look.   

[Delaware Dave]

Just as i was going to put lights in my Motion Sound Leslie I started to use the Vent so that never materializied.

[RABid]

There are sound responsive DJ lights that you could mount to your keyboard stand. The trick would be to set them up so they accent you and your keys rather than the rest of the band.

[cphollis]

For those of you wanting to light up your rig, I found this fixture pretty good for what it does: SHEHDS Battery Uplight.   I used it as an uplight, resting on the stage, pointing upward -- nice effect.  The wireless DMX bit did not work reliably enough for a programmed stage show, but if all you want is a simple sound-active battery light, mine worked well enough for that.  In the USA they offer fast, tracked delivery.

 

If you are considering non-battery lights, they were a pain for me -- just more power cables cluttering everything up, plus more setup time, etc.  Then again, you're screwed if you forget to charge them before the gig