Blinking lights is something that I guess I’ve been enamored with for a while – see 2001 dorm (with awesome work from Brad on visualizations), 2007 bike, and 2015 trumpet. When I got a last minute opportunity to play sousaphone at this year’s HONK fest with Brassterisk I figured I needed something to dress up my otherwise rather drab horn.

It is just a Teensy 4.0 I had lying around, together with an audio board, a basic lav mic, and a spare 74XX245 from my grab bag held together with hot glue and proto wire. It drives a cheapo 300 LED RGB strip that is VHB’d to the bell. I think the LEDs will only last a few more transport sessions, but with any luck I’ll make a slightly more polished revision with better longevity in the not too distant future.

Behold, lights: