PHOTO 5. Front view of the color organ.
5) Connect a line input source and
connect your headphone/capacitor
between the arm of the mic/line
switch and ground. You should hear
the output of the microphone in the
mic position and hear the line input
source in the line position.
Once these checks are successful,
you should have a working color organ.
Conclusions
I would say this color organ project was successful. The color organ
performs the function it was designed
to do and illustrates what can be done
using DSP techniques on a very small
μC Is the software perfect? Probably
not, but it works. Does the color organ
look cool in operation? Yes, it does.
The experience using the TI development tools was a very pleasant one.
The $20 development kit and the provided software worked without a hitch
and proves that TI has indeed brought
μC development to the masses.
I do hope some of you build the
color organ. It may not be the ‘60s any
longer, but it is still fun to watch lights
flashing to your favorite music. NV
FIGURE 5. Color organ
controller schematic.
January 2008 57
