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DiscoLux

Dual_LightWalls

Real-time LED wall controller with a touch-friendly UI, built for Raspberry Pi.

DiscoLux drives addressable LED matrices (WS2812 / WS2814 / SK6812) via WLED controllers over Ethernet or Wi-Fi. It features a pattern engine with modulation, a patch recall system, audio reactivity, and an 800 × 480 touchscreen interface designed for live performance.

Authors: P. Gaskell & AI assistants

This software was written specifically for a custom LED matrix display and a modified Govee LightWall.

The complete parts needed to build a modified LightWall are available on Amazon.

Item Supplier QTY Price Total Link
Govee Lightwall Amazon 1 449.99 449.99 Link
GLEDOPTO Elite 4 Channel ESP32 WLED LED Strip Light Controller Amazon 1 30.59 30.59 Link
USB 2.0 Mini Microphone Amazon 1 9.59 9.59 Link
7 Inch Touchscreen IPS DSI Display Amazon 1 38.99 38.99 Link
CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 4GB Basic Kit Amazon 1 124.99 124.99 Link
Ethernet Cord, Black Amazon 1 15.99 15.99 Link
Sandisk Ultra microSD 64 GB Amazon 1 23.91 23.91 Link
Total (1 wall): 694.05
Item Supplier QTY Price Total Link
Govee Lightwall Amazon 2 449.99 899.98 Link
GLEDOPTO Elite 4 Channel ESP32 WLED LED Strip Light Controller Amazon 2 30.59 61.18 Link
USB 2.0 Mini Microphone Amazon 1 9.59 9.59 Link
7 Inch Touchscreen IPS DSI Display Amazon 1 38.99 38.99 Link
CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 4GB Basic Kit Amazon 1 124.99 124.99 Link
5 Port Gigabit Unmanaged Ethernet Switch Amazon 1 12.11 12.11 Link
Ethernet Cord, Black Amazon 1 15.99 15.99 Link
Sandisk Ultra microSD 64 GB Amazon 1 23.91 23.91 Link
Total (2 walls): 1186.74
Item Supplier QTY Price Total Link
Govee Lightwall Amazon 3 449.99 1349.97 Link
GLEDOPTO Elite 4 Channel ESP32 WLED LED Strip Light Controller Amazon 3 30.59 91.77 Link
USB 2.0 Mini Microphone Amazon 1 9.59 9.59 Link
7 Inch Touchscreen IPS DSI Display Amazon 1 38.99 38.99 Link
CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 4GB Basic Kit Amazon 1 124.99 124.99 Link
5 Port Gigabit Unmanaged Ethernet Switch Amazon 1 12.11 12.11 Link
Ethernet Cord, Black Amazon 1 15.99 15.99 Link
Sandisk Ultra microSD 64 GB Amazon 1 23.91 23.91 Link
Total (3 walls): 1667.32
GoveeLightWall_Gledopto_Wiring Dual_LightWalls Discolux_Interface

Features

  • 43 built-in patterns — plasma, fire, kaleidoscope, VU meter, starfield, spirals, particle systems, cellular automata, and more
  • Real-time simulator — three display modes (Fill, Grid, Point) preview the matrix on-screen
  • 7 output protocols — DRGB, DRGBW, DNRGB, WARLS, E1.31 (sACN), Art-Net, and HTTP JSON
  • LFO modulation — two independent LFOs (sine / triangle / saw / square / random) with free-running or beat-synced rates
  • Audio-envelope modulation — low-band and high-band RMS envelopes from a USB microphone, with configurable threshold, gain, attack, and release
  • Patch system — 8 banks × 64 slots; each patch stores the pattern, parameters, modulation routing, LFO config, and envelope config
  • Random cycling — automatically step through saved patches every N beats (1 – 32), scoped to the current bank or all banks
  • Sprite overlays — static PNGs or animated GIFs composited on top of patterns (64 included)
  • Gamma & white-balance calibration for RGBW LED strips
  • Auto-BPM detection from the microphone input
  • Tap-tempo with immediate downbeat reset
  • Kiosk boot — custom Plymouth splash screen, silent boot, auto-login, and fullscreen launch with no desktop visible
  • All patches cached in RAM — instant switching with zero disk I/O at runtime

Hardware

Tested with

Component Description
Single-board computer Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB) and Raspberry Pi 4B
Display 800 × 480 DSI touchscreen (e.g. official Pi 7″ or Hosyond 7")
LED controller Gledopto Elite 4D-EXMU running WLED
LED matrix 40 × 12 WS2814 RGBW (480 pixels, column-major wiring)
Govee LightWall 3 x 16 x 32 WS2812 RGB (1536 pixels, 3 output column major)
Audio input Cheap USB microphone
Network Ethernet Switch for up to 3 LightWalls

Project Structure

discolux_ctrl/
├── discolux.py          # Main entry point
├── touch_ui.py          # 800×480 Pygame touch UI (EDIT / VIEW / PATCH / CONFIG tabs)
├── wall.py              # LED output — 7 protocols, column-major remap
├── config.py            # YAML-backed configuration
├── lfo.py               # Dual LFO engine (beat-sync + free-run)
├── audio_env.py         # Audio envelope follower + BPM detector
├── gamma.py             # Per-channel gamma / white-balance correction
├── colormaps.py         # Colour look-up tables for patterns
├── start_discolux.sh    # Boot launcher (called by labwc autostart)
├── launch_remote.py     # Launch/kill from a remote SSH session
├── install.sh           # Full deployment script for a fresh Pi
├── discolux_settings.yaml
├── requirements.txt
├── patterns/            # 43 pattern modules (drop in a .py to add more)
├── patches/             # Saved patch JSON files (8 banks × 64 slots)
└── sprites/             # PNG / GIF sprite overlays

Installation

Prerequisites

  • Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm or Trixie (64-bit)
  • labwc Wayland compositor + LightDM (default on current Pi OS Desktop)
  • Python 3.11+

Automated install

Clone or copy the project to /home/rpi/discolux_ctrl, then:

cd /home/rpi/discolux_ctrl
sudo ./install.sh

The install script:

  1. Installs system packages (SDL2, PortAudio, Plymouth, LightDM, PipeWire, fonts)
  2. Installs Python packages (pygame, numpy, sounddevice, Pillow, PyYAML, scipy)
  3. Configures LightDM autologin with labwc
  4. Sets up labwc kiosk mode (no desktop, no taskbar — just DiscoLux)
  5. Installs the custom Plymouth boot splash theme
  6. Configures silent boot (no Pi logo, no kernel messages, no cursor)
  7. Sets file permissions
  8. Rebuilds initramfs to include the splash theme

After install, reboot and DiscoLux will launch automatically.

Manual launch (from SSH)

cd /home/rpi/discolux_ctrl
python3 launch_remote.py          # start on the Pi's display
python3 launch_remote.py --kill   # stop

Configuration

Edit discolux_settings.yaml (or use the CONFIG tab in the UI):

matrix_width: 40          # LED columns
matrix_height: 12         # LED rows
wled_host: 10.0.0.2       # WLED controller IP (blank = simulator only)
wled_timeout: 0.5         # HTTP timeout (only for HTTP JSON protocol)
led_protocol: DRGB        # DRGB / DRGBW / DNRGB / WARLS / E1.31 / Art-Net / HTTP JSON
frame_rate: 30            # Target FPS
cycle_beats: 16           # Beats per random patch change
auto_bpm: true            # Auto-detect BPM from microphone
brightness: 1.0           # Master brightness (0.0 – 1.0)
mic_sensitivity: 1.55     # Microphone gain multiplier

WLED setup

On your WLED controller:

  1. Set Segment 0 to cover all your pixels (e.g. 0 – 479 for 480 LEDs)
  2. Ensure the segment is not frozen
  3. Under Sync Interfaces → Realtime:
    • Enable Receive UDP realtime
    • Set type to match your chosen protocol (e.g. "WARLS/Hyperion/DRGB")
    • For E1.31 / Art-Net: configure the matching universe range

User Interface

The UI has four tabs along the bottom of the 800 × 480 touchscreen:

EDIT tab

  • Pattern dropdown — select from 43 patterns
  • Colormap dropdown — choose a colour look-up table
  • Sprite dropdown — overlay a PNG or animated GIF sprite
  • 4 parameter sliders — each pattern exposes up to 4 adjustable parameters
  • Modulation checkboxes — route LFO1, LFO2, ENV_L, or ENV_H to any modulatable parameter
  • LFO panels — waveform, depth, offset, beat-sync or free-run rate
  • Envelope panels — threshold, gain, attack, release, mode
  • Live simulator preview in the centre

VIEW tab

  • Full-screen simulator preview of the current pattern
  • Rendering style controlled by the Display mode selector on the CONFIG tab (Fill / Grid / Point)

PATCH tab

  • 8 × 8 patch grid with live thumbnails
  • Save / Delete buttons for the selected slot
  • Tap-tempo button with BPM display
  • RND toggle for random patch cycling + Global / Bank scope selector
  • Bank navigation (◀ Bank N ▶) across 8 banks
  • Live preview thumbnail

CONFIG tab

  • Beat count buttons (1 / 2 / 4 / 8 / 16 / 32) — beats per random cycle
  • BPM Sync toggle with live BPM readout
  • Brightness slider (0 – 100%)
  • Mic Sensitivity slider with live level meter
  • Matrix Width / Height dropdowns (4 – 64)
  • Protocol selector (DRGB, DRGBW, DNRGB, WARLS, E1.31, Art-Net, HTTP JSON)
  • Display mode selector (Fill, Grid, Point)
  • Save and Quit buttons

Writing a Pattern

Drop a .py file into patterns/ and it appears in the UI automatically. Each pattern module must define:

PARAMS = {
    "speed": {
        "default": 1.0, "min": 0.1, "max": 5.0, "step": 0.1,
        "modulatable": True,
    },
    "scale": {
        "default": 1.0, "min": 0.5, "max": 4.0, "step": 0.1,
    },
    # Up to 4 parameters
}

class Pattern:
    def __init__(self, width, height, params=None):
        self.width = width
        self.height = height
        self.params = params or {k: v["default"] for k, v in PARAMS.items()}
        self.param_meta = PARAMS

    def update_params(self, params):
        self.params = params

    def render(self, lfo_signals=None):
        """Return a list of (R, G, B, W) tuples, length = width * height."""
        frame = []
        # ... your rendering logic ...
        return frame

The lfo_signals dict contains "lfo1", "lfo2", "envl", "envh" as floats in the range [−1, 1]. Modulatable parameters are automatically blended with these signals when routed via the modulation checkboxes on the EDIT tab.

Pixel Mapping

The software supports:

  • column-major wiring: the data line runs down column 0, then down column 1 etc.
  • column-serpentine wiring: the data line runs down column 0, then up column 1, then down column 2 etc.
  • row-major wiring: the data line runs along row 0, then along row 1 etc.
  • row-serpentine wiring: the data line runs along row 0, then back row 1 , then along row 2 etc.
  • N panel column-major used for Govee LightWall
  • N panel column-serpentine
  • N panel row-major
  • N panel row-serpentine used for my custom 5 panel 40x24 LED wall

Patches calculate rows and wall.py automatically remaps the row-major frame buffer to the configured wiring before transmission.

Protocols

Protocol Port Notes
DRGB 21324 3 bytes/pixel, single packet, max 489 pixels
DRGBW 21324 4 bytes/pixel for RGBW strips, max 367 pixels
DNRGB 21324 Chunked with pixel offset, unlimited size (not tested)
WARLS 21324 Per-pixel index addressing (not tested)
E1.31 sACN 5568 Multi-universe, 170 pixels/universe working, good for high pixel count
Art-Net 6454 Multi-universe, 170 pixels/universe (not tested)
HTTP JSON 80 WLED /json/state API (higher latency) (not tested)

Boot Sequence

When deployed with install.sh, the boot sequence is:

  1. Plymouth splash — dark screen with "DiscoLux" title
  2. LightDM autologin — logs in as the target user with labwc
  3. labwc autostart — launches start_discolux.sh

License

MIT

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Discolux: touch screen enabled visual synthesizer for LED matrix displays by DJ Pjotr

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