This project involved constructing and programming a 6,000-LED ceiling lighting system with individual pixel control, capable of synchronizing animations to party music in real time. On the electro-mechanical side, I mounted over 300 feet of metal channels and diffusers, installed and wired four 600W power supplies and all 6,000 LEDs, and designed the system architecture to handle heavy current loads and long wire runs with proper power injection, managing 10 SPI data lines across controllers, all sourced within a $2,000 budget. The system runs 34 DMX universes (17,000 channels at 44Hz) over Art-Net.

On the software side, I developed Python scripts for low-latency audio analysis (beat detection and spectral analysis) and generated visual effects in TouchDesigner, which get processed into DMX data for the ceiling display. I also integrated MIDI cues from DJ software to trigger specific light sequences. As part of this, I built my own lighting control desk inside TouchDesigner: a custom node-based interface for triggering and blending scenes and effects live, rather than relying on an off-the-shelf lighting console. Next up, I'm planning to implement a multi-resolution transformer for real-time audio-driven state estimation, to predict song sections (build-ups, breakdowns, choruses) and modulate the lighting accordingly.