Visualize Sound Volume

Visualize Sound Volume

Color gradient

• In this unit we will make a colored bar, to represent the volume of the sound. The Neopixel strip will light up from green to red, passing through yellow.

• One way to do this would be to check the LED number and assign it a specific color, but it is an inefficient and not a very scalable method.

• It is possible to get a color (or rather, the RGB values ​​of it) from a single value using a block available in the library Graphics > HSV Colors.

HSV to RGB

• This block allows us to obtain a color by specifying the hue (hue), saturation (saturation) and brightness or value (value).

• If we set the saturation and brightness values ​​to the maximum (100) we only need to vary the hue (H) from 0 to 360 to obtain any color.

• The result we get is a list with the RGB values ​​of the color. The saturation and brightness values ​​will respectively define the minimum and maximum value that these can obtain.

Challenge 1: Find the range of values ​​to go from red to green

Solution to challenge 1

Green

Yellow

Red

Get color from RGB values

Once we have the list of RGB values ​​of a color we will have to extract them one by one using the element _ of _ block that we have in Data.

Then we will use the block that allows us to get the numerical value of a color using its RGB values.

Creation of custom blocks

• Although the block we formed earlier can be placed inside the one that turns on the NeoPíxel, visually it is a bit bulky.

• To solve this we can try to create a block where this process of obtaining the color is hidden by going to My blocks and clicking on Create a reporting block.

• After giving it a name (for example “color with tint _”) we will see that the block appears under the previous button in addition to its definition. The underscore is used to indicate that a parameter is required.

• We will click on the name of the args variable to change its name, and then click on the arrow next to it to configure the type of data it will receive (number/text, boolean or color)

• Now we will put below the definition the block we formed earlier to obtain the color. We will need the return _ block that we have in the Control category.

• Then we will drag the variable to the first slot of the RGB of hue _ blocks to pass the value we will enter.

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Application of the new block

• All that remains is to use this block in the program of the previous unit, in order to obtain the color gradient.

• Since the range we want is from 0 to 120 and we have 10 LEDs, we will have to use a factor of 12.

• But is the order of the colors correct?

Challenge 2: Reverse the order of the gradient so it starts in green and ends in red

Solution to challenge 1

Microphone

• Now we will change the potentiometer for a microphone, so that the volume of the sound it receives will be reflected in the number of illuminated NeoPixels.

• To use the microphone we will have to open the Sensing > Microphone library.

Last steps

• Finally, you just need to use the loudness block to capture the level of the sound that the microphone receives.

• We can "control" the sensitivity level of this by reducing the division factor of 1023 to a smaller value, for example half.