Rock Band StageKitPied Adds Up to 256 Full-Color LEDs to Harmonix's Xbox 360 Rhythm Classic
If you've got an Xbox 360, a copy of Rock Band, and you can get your hands on a Stage Kit Light Pod, it's time to rock out in style.
Pseudonymous maker "Blasteroids" has released a project which aims to bring back a near-forgotten accessory for Harmonix's classic rhythm game Rock Band, the PDP Stage Kit — but upgraded to handle 256 LEDs from the original 32.
"The game 'Rock Band' had an external light show called the 'Stage Kit' released by PDP for it. It contains 32 LEDs (8×4 colors), a strobe, and a fog machine," Blasteroids explains. "The game has custom lighting contained within the music files for each song, so it all matches really well. The problem is 32 LEDs isn't a lot, but it still looked good with the fog. Over 10 years ago I built a hardware solution using optoisolators to expand this to 256 single color LEDs, but it was very hardware heavy with large LEDs."
Revisiting the project two years ago, Blasteroids set about making it simpler to build — borrowing techniques used by the Hyperion project to create an open-source alternative to Phillips' Ambilight technology, designed to use LED strips to "extend" an image visually off the edges of a compatible TV. Combined with the GIMX project, which allows a computer to stand in for a controller on a console, Blasteroids had everything required to considerably cut down on the hardware required.
"After a lot of playing around I managed to create the right firmware," Blasteroids explains, "and started to write my own program using the [Raspberry] Pi. There's 220× SK9822 [addressable LED] segments, powered by a 20A PSU, using a FTDI-FT232RL serial adapter, ATmega32U4[-based Arduino-compatible] Pro Micro, and a Raspberry Pi 4. It should work on a basic Raspberry Pi."
Blasteroids has released the schematics and source code for the project under the reciprocal GNU General Public License 3 on GitHub, though it comes with a warning: "You attempt any of this at your own risk," Blasteroids says. "Incorrectly wiring and powering electronics can result in fires or even worse."
You'll also need the pod unit from an original Rock Band Stage Kit, in addition to the Arduino Micro and Raspberry Pi — and, of course, an Xbox 360 with a copy of Rock Band.
