The Islands of the Fraternal Order of Moai

Hello all,
I have read a number of posts, internet articles, traveled to friends and even had a small travelling tiki bar that fit into a duffel bag for going to parties and such..
But it's time that I finally build the proper basement Lounge. Not a 'Tiki Bar' but heavily Tiki inspired.

I will be documenting the path and process and such for prosperity and for future generations.
I know a fair number of people in here have done such a thing already and I will be asking 1000 questions. I'm like that

So far we have the layout planned. But we are needing to work on the floor (very uneven concrete) so... long story short...

While we are working on the floor/walls, I am planning/designing the lighting and sound elements.

I saw a fellow on the Tiki Ohio FB group with an amazing lights/sound show. Similar elements to what I've seen in Trad'r Sams down in Disney and a bar I've forgotten the name of in San Fran (from the early 2000). And I want to do the same.

In a nutshell, I need to control Lights synced with music on command.

So... my plan/goal is to have numerous things happening as well as numerous options such as;
- Lighting flashes, with thunder, rain sounds etc...
- explosion sfx with lighting to match - leading to say a volcano erupting on a screen or something
- general lighting control
- etc...

I started looking into using Xmas light controllers since they basically do exactly these things, but the cost is quite dear... for the set up that I would like, to purchase from HolidayCoro or LOR is upwards of $800. which is pretty steep for me at the moment.
So. I've been fiddling with Rasp Pi and Arduino and Xlights, I use to be a developer in a past life so I am not afraid to get my hands into some code and have to solder parts/pieces together in a true DIY manner.

Eventually I plan to have something like the volcano erupting like in Trader Sams (https://www.undercovertourist.com/blog/ ... isneyland/ - goto about :50 sec in)

So again. Long story short...

Who has done something like this, or has any experience with the Xlights/Pi/Arduino path, or some general comments on building your bar/lounge?


Phew.

The HandsomeDevil

Why home brew when the DMX standard is established, has tools, has interface modules, and is cheap?

If you want an exercise in industrial ladder logic, a PLC implementation is an option.

I see so many people building temperature controllers from a Arduino, when they can buy a C-100 PID controller, TC and SSR for 5bux.

Here's a DMX controller:
https://smile.amazon.com/GIDERWEL-Decoder-Controller-DC12V-24V-Channel/dp/B07BVLXWD9/

and a USB interface:
https://smile.amazon.com/Lixada-Interface-Computer-Lighting-Controller/dp/B07TM2W6GJ/

and software:
http://www.freestylerdmx.be/

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Set a course for the Foc's'le Lounge!

Excrementus Cadaemus

I looked into the DMX controlled lighting, (I didn't go super deep since I found the arduino stuff and happened to have a drawer of Arduino/Pi here) but I didn't find much on using WS2182/NeoPixel led strips since I need the LEDs to be controlled individually other than just flashing and chasing the whole strip and such.
There is also a chance I will have a 8x256 LED matrix board within a piece of art that will be part of the over all lighting setup.

I'll dig into the DMX stuff a bit more, but do know of examples of something please let me know!

Thanks

We used a ton of hue lights in my mermaid lounge and with an app that can make it do all sorts of stuff including dance with music, appear like a wave or fire etc.

I have plans in my mind to make it even more dramatic but I uh...well... I move on island time with such dreams!

Good luck! Cant wait to see your posts for inspiration!

This was posted in The Atlanta Tiki Revival Society Facebook group. This is way beyond my skill set but this guy set up a rain storm in his home tiki bar. I thought it looked and sounded pretty awesome!

https://youtu.be/p3vChfajRV8

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1226084 ... 423095636/

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Poop jokes are always funny.

Loving this thread! I've wanted to do a programmed rain strorm and volcano eruption in my own bar, but never got far into the planning stage. I found some old school keyframe based christmas light software, but there's probably something better now. Subscribed!

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Look at Light-o-Rama.

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Set a course for the Foc's'le Lounge!

Excrementus Cadaemus

This is awesome, I've seen similar and I hope to be this cool too!
Thanks

Yea, I'm using Xlights (opensource) which is the free standard for designing Christmas light shows. There are MANY other as well as down the path I went for about a week of designing by hand then coding into the Arduino, but since I want many effects I've had to go a but deeper.

As Foredeckape noted; HolidayCoro.com and Light-O-Rama both have systems you can buy to plug into and has some pre made sequences (mostly Christmas based, dome Halloween), but they ain't cheap. But like a wise man once said to me, either you have time or you have money, let that be your decider.
I talked at length with a fella from HolidayCoro and explained what I wanted to do and helped me build out the concept and the parts I would need, Ended up at a starting point of about $900. But that covered all the nonsense I've been fighting with (my linux coding is slowly coming back to me) and was very very expandable.

It's a fun thing to work toward. I finally got a good lava flow led light sequence worked out. And the lighting is pretty good synced up with the audio.

Pic and vid to come!


Look at Light-o-Rama.

Sound like you are already well on it! I am happy to follow this thread for some great ideas and tips! Keep em coming!

There are also excellent, affordable Pixel Tape controllers out there... this one is one example and covers a wide variety of pixel tape codecs and can easily be driven by an ArtNet/sACN console:

DMXking LeDMX4 PRO (12-24V) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D728IMO/re ... vFbPHC3RMA

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You can be whatever you want, just make sure you want to be whatever you are!

Then for a PC based console, I would recommend Onyx. You get 4 free universes of ArtNet/sACN and it is expandable up to 128 universes...

https://support.obsidiancontrol.com/Con ... nloads.htm


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You can be whatever you want, just make sure you want to be whatever you are!

Coolio

I went with xLights on a Pi and converted a Arduino to be a DMX controller (of sorts). Took a bit to get my head around the overall set up, but it works. It's cheap and I'm pretty excited.

Side note. If you wanna go down a rabbit hole. Search into the people who do the really big home Christmas displays. They (as of last week) have a FB chat that is open 24/7 and have recently created a 24/7 zoom meeting you can join in for assistance. Pretty awesome, but who knew?!