Markus Loeffler
How it works
The ESP32 connects to a WiFi network carrying Art-Net or sACN (DMX over IP). Standard protocol, works with any professional lighting console or software that supports wireless DMX output — grandMA, QLC+, whatever the engineer is already running. No custom transmitter hardware needed on the desk side.
BLE is used purely for initial setup — assigning DMX universe and start address to each wristband without needing a laptop or physical access. Once configured it remembers its address and just waits for WiFi.
What carried over from gen2
15 WS2812B NeoPixels, single cell LiPo, 6 hour runtime. The bare electret mic ADC input is still there so it can be an eye-catcher everywhere - if there's no DMX network the wristband drops back to autonomous beat detection. Loud venue required, no op-amp, same trick as before.
Where it stands
PCB is designed, prototype units built and tested at festivals. Moving to injection moulded silicone housing for proper batch production — tooling costs are the bottleneck, which is why there's a Kickstarter pre-launch running right now. Follow the project there if you want to be notified when it goes live.
Schematic, firmware architecture and DMX addressing details in the logs below.
In one of the pics you can see the cpu sandwich of my prototype. I am using some Gen1 PCBs to have a button, power switch and charge controller :)