“The night before a Halloween party I thought - wouldn’t it be cool to add a sound-responsive element to my costume?
The Prelude
Preparing for a student “Fancy Dress” party can be a real challenge. I always struggle with finding an original and fun costume, as the majority of my ideas end up too generic, not achievable with my make-up skills, or most likely both.
This Halloween wasn’t an exception. But the night of October 30th it dawned on me: I have an Arduino and a ton of LEDs in my electronics box. Thematic Fairy Lights always improve a party costume, and by adding a little sound sensor we can spice this idea up a little.
After a quick proof-of-concept with a single white LED and a tiny breadboard, I decided to design a shield for my Arduino Uno to make a relatively little and super-wavy festive accessory.
The Solder
The prototyping shield from my Elegoo Starter Kit wasn’t big enough to fit all the components, so I designed a custom one instead. With a soldering iron, a 5X7cm generic PCB and some spare pins, it takes a few minutes to make a shield that sits perfectly on top of the Arduino Uno and connects to D0-D7, A0-A5, GND and 5V pins.”