Color Organ | Visual Tour & Demo

[@blanebrinkley8333]

I had to take a second look at this because I made a color organ for a high school project and it was just about exactly the same size as this one with a cabinet also just about exactly like this. It used incandescent bulbs but larger ones like you might find in a ceiling light fixture. A band used it in a club and it worked fantastic. I feel that LED's have too fast a rise and decay to be good in a color organ and that the incandescent bulbs have a better effect and are more attractive and interesting to watch plus are more in "tune" with the music than LED's. Older technology sometimes works better.

[@thesoundtree]

If that wasn’t psychedelic enough, you threw in a lava lamp I am freaking out. I’ve got that same circuit kicking around in my museum. I’ve got a dig it out and fired up again. You are such a groovy chick .

[@visualist6x6]

When I was a kid, my Dad built a 6 foot color organ Christmas tree. He placed it on our front porch and piped in Christmas carols. Dad also built a Leslie style speaker for my brother's keyboard. A couple of times we ran my guitar amp thru the Leslie just to see what it would sound like. Dad was a big fan of magazines like Popular Science, Science & Mechanics, and Popular Electronics. Oh yeah, Dad also built my first Fuzz Box and guitar amp. He always supported us when it came to music! BTW, I think he built the Christmas tree color organ in the 60s.

[@MrIHADANACCOUNT]

Your Dad was COOOOOL Bro!

[@donaldrai5306]

@@MrIHADANACCOUNT That he was!

[@alexstewart839]

Total Rad Dad material right there.

[@brownmonkeybananayellow]

Wow cool do you still have the fuzz pedal? I'd love to see it!

[@visualist6x6]

@@brownmonkeybananayellow I wish I did! My Mom moved into a nursing home and most of what Dad built is gone. Dad passed away in 2014. I have a picture of the amp head that he built before my sister sold it. I was able to get a number of things from his stash of parts and stuff. I have his Ohmite Little Devils resistor drawers with some of his carbon resistors. I was lucky enough to get his old Rolleicord 6x6 and Nikon S rangefinder cameras.

[@danwilson9530]

When I was 12 in 1980 I got a beautiful mid 50s RCA WO-91A Oscilloscope for $25 at an odd Honeywell parking lot yard sale. Made a probe for it, connected the alligator clips to the raw wire entering my speaker connectors and used it as a light organ in my bedroom. A sine wave & Ultravox Vienna made beautiful visual art on that old CRT.

[@bulkvanderhuge9006]

I found a bunch of old 1960s popular Science magazines when I was in my teens and HEAVILY into electronics. They had a DIY color organ schematic and project in one of the magazines, that you could connect to your stereo so it would trigger the different color lights based on the frequency of the sounds. Of course I went ahead and built it. I used to build my own guitar effects too.

[@FazioElectric]

Love it!! Those old popular science mags are the best

[@f.k.burnham8491]

Back in the early 70's I bought the Popular Electronics kit and built my color organ. I put it in a huge old speaker box and used the light defusing panel I made from plastic. It used speaker output transformers, and C106B SCR's to fire the bulbs. I still have it in my garage . That and my old ST2 Hickok scope I rebuilt showing patterns was quite entertaining.

[@alfonsodelafreg259]

I had a bunch of these things way back in the early 70s. Even made a few DIY ones. Many nights laying on the floor in my room blasting music, stoned out of my mind. Ah, the good old days.

[@dennismullins4930]

This brings back a lot of good memories of being a teenager in the early ‘70’s. ☮️

[@danabiondo9243]

Very Cool. Like a Christmas Tree in A Box !

[@2dazetake]

My brother and I made our own light box,they use to sell just the controller which worked by making the speaker signal pulse to the music thru a set of lights, each channel was connected to a different set of lights in the box,created a dancing lights effect that was great for our old stoner daze.

[@FazioElectric]

That’s awesome 😎

[@DanHoskins529]

I think that must’ve been what my dad used to control the lighting rig for his band in the 80’s. It would pulse to the music from the PA.

[@brownmonkeybananayellow]

loved the ending and using the light box with the ad haha

[@thomasconnatser2478]

In the late 70's a cafeteria in Knoxville had a Christmas tree in the dining room with lights that just varied seemingly randomly in intensity instead of flashing on and off. I noticed that the cords for the light strings went into one of the fake Christmas presents under the tree and an extension cord came out of the present to go to the wall outlet. I later noticed a small gray cord coming out of the present going into the cashier's booth. Then I understood what was going on; the Christmas present box contained color organ electronics and the gray cord was connected to the background music amplifier in the cashier's stand. Looked good.

[@chriswareham]

That diffuser plastic you put on front of the organ brings back memories. The first electronic project I ever built at school was a light box with that plastic on it. It had a photo sensitive resistor on a flying lead that would turn the light box on when daylight faded. Such a simple circuit, but it kick started my love of making electronic gadgets.

[@davejones6130]

I have fun memories of building a Color organ in high school grade 11 electronics class ! It was three bands , used SCRs to drive the light bulbs. I built it in a mahogany cabinet which eventually turned into a speaker. One Christmas I ran our outside Xmas lights off of the control board, freaked out the neighbors they thought our house power was wonky haha ! One prob though I blew the scrs one by one as the current draw was too high lol.

[@tiki_trash]

I had one in the 70s that had a microphone in it, so you didn't have to hook it to the speaker jacks. Mine was much smaller than the one in the video, about the size of a bookshelf speaker, and had a rat's nest of Christmas lights in it instead of the fixed positions of the bulbs in this one. It also had a sensitivity knob. I don't remember where I got it from, it might have been Radio Shack or Spencer's Gifts, maybe someone gave it to me, but more than likely I found it in the trash because I remember the light diffuser screen was broken and I too had to cut a new one. Those plastic panels were sold as covers for fluorescent tube ceiling lights. I experimented with various textures and patterns of diffusers for different effects. I miss the 70s.

[@ИльяПлеханов-е6ъ]

A toy that was widely known in its time. In our country, it was called "color music" in those years and, like you, we made it ourselves using diagrams from magazines, using plywood boxes from old black-and-white and color TVs with a 24-inch screen, only the bulbs had to be painted in different colors with enamel, instead of buying multi-colored ones. And the big problem was the powerful high-voltage transistors that work here like keys - they quickly burned out and there were cases when they were re-soldered right during dances. For such cases, we tried to have a spare "color music".

[@BobSebring]

Awesome! I had a few back in the 70s. Thanks

[@vanessamonster5038]

This is so 70's thanks for posting

[@that_thing_I_do]

We used 8mm leader and drew color sqiggles on a loop and let it run through a projector when we played. Psychedelic!😢

[@riverbard8287]

Had one in the late 70’s while in high school 😂 what blast from the past, Groovey. I dig it. I took mine apart and put it inside the kick drum so it lit up with each kick 🎉

[@cheeze_pizza]

Great job Colleen! Loved the intro video. I spotted the My Cousin Vinny VHS and thought to myself.... two yoots 😆 Fun times! keep up the great work.

[@stevehart4311]

I worked some concerts back in the day when there was a guy called a"squirter" . He shot dye into a clear glass pan filled with water and oil. This got projected onto a large movie screen behind the band. Pretty old school, but a lot of bands did this.

[@williammiller9584]

Boy, that takes me back. I built a bunch of those back in high school and college. Some of the ones I made had dozens of neon lamps driven by ring counters, which gave an entirely different but equally entertaining experience.

[@jefffree6990]

Groovy! - always wanted one of those. I like the way it works with the tremolo

[@75YBA]

More 70’s culture please! Great video!👍🙂🌎🌍🌏

[@jlore6344]

Wow that came out amazing. Such a cool thing too. Love that you used it with your ad at the end :)

[@allisonholmesmusic97]

My first record player in the late 70s/early 80s had a (much smaller) light box like this built into it. I haven’t thought about it in years. Thank you for triggering a happy memory 😃

[@sailinstyle]

I haven't seen anyone mention the use of the driver circuit to power flood lights or spot lights hung around a room. This was a popular effect in dance bars in the late 70s / early 80s, and I built a four channel kit from Southwest Technical Products (anyone remember them?) that could drive several hundred watts (maybe 100W/channel? IDK). I hung some aimable light fixtures on the high ceiling in my living room with colored floodlights in them. Instant dance floor! Everyone loved it.

[@lostreb]

I most definitely remember these, but never was interested in purchasing one, so, obviously was oblivious as to what they were called. Thank you for that bit of education. See? I don't care what anyone says, I'm not too old to learn (only when it's convenient for me to be too old to learn) new tricks. I really liked how your best friend came in to inspect it and was like..."This is new." Great video, Colleen. Please keep them coming!!

[@uhclem50]

I got one of the Radio Shack ones for a Xmas present. It was entertaining for a while.

[@justingarretson]

OMG that's what those boxes were in the back storage of so many dive bars in the 80's! I never knew what they were.

[@ak2112]

big ol hell yeah for that intro

[@Jefferson_Primera]

I did not know about these devices, how interesting, funny, the dog prying, watching it work!

[@x1625]

Hank's all like, Cool Man! Check out all the Groovy flashy grey lights. 🐶

[@FazioElectric]

Hank’s first psychedelic experience 😂

[@firstnamelastname6635]

Absolutely love the intro!

[@KeritechElectronics]

Same here :)

[@FazioElectric]

Thank you!! I’ve been playing around with that :)

[@75YBA]

@@FazioElectric It’s so rad! 👍👍👍🙂

[@eatmarth]

That's great! It's interesting that we don't see this sort of thing anymore considering the fact that you can buy lights that are more reliable than those old filament bulbs

[@nellayema2455]

My older brother had one of the Radio Shack color organs. I don't remember if her got the Archer kit or if it was assembled when he got it. I thought it was really cool!

[@giulioluzzardi7632]

I can imagine how hearing " Whole lotta love" played loud with that box on must have blown peoples bulbs!

[@rooftoppete]

the final product looks incredible !

[@jimp.7286]

They were sold virtually anywhere that sold stereos or tv's. Montgomery wards, sears, and virtually every small-town local department store had them along with 8 track stereo systems. Sometimes the speakers and color organ were one device. I seem to recall organs that had them built into the console bottom. 🙄Instrument organ. Not one hundred percent on that. Never saw one that big though. Yes, it looks homemade. Perhaps for a band doing gigs? Groovy.

[@marshallohio5512]

Too Funny.... I made light boxes for my music room back in the 70s during my teen years ... As a teen with pretty much NO money LoL, l took my old stereo floor speaker's backs off. I took my parent's stupidly large blinking Xmas 🎄 lights , and strung the lights throughout the inside of speaker boxes. Outline the funky privacy plastic sheet to fit back of stereo speaker box. Turn the stereo speakers towards the wall, and placed Pink Floyd on the turn table... Light up a tad of weed, and enjoyed life !!!! Parents didn't approve of taking the Xmas lights, but let me enjoyed until Xmas 🎄 came in the door... 😅 3:48 3:48

[@ericwilson2585]

Why's that so groovy man??? Hey man is that freedom rock???😂😅 Yur cool girl, and ya always come up with the coolest most interesting stuff. Give Hank a pat on head for me please.

[@markeike]

Wish I still had mine!

[@jmo1366]

I love it

[@jjcollins]

That is absolutely awesome!

[@williambain2646]

Girl, this rocks !!!!!!!!

[@garycoates4987]

My cousin had a big console jukebox looking record play that this kind of thing built in on both sides, it was pretty cheesy thinking about it now but back then us kids thought it was great

[@PracticalCat]

Very cool. It would be interesting making a controller with a bunch of lm567 tone decoder ics. The more ics and lamp channels tuned to different frequencies the better!

[@Earthshaker1965]

Hank definitely approves!!!💜 I'm wondering if those particular units came from The Partridge Family touring rig? That would be an absolutely perfect addition for any 60's-70's garage band.

[@oldspiced]

That's super cool, I didn't even know this existed. But why didn't you add bulbs to the empty sockets??

[@spacemonkey1053]

Fazio Electric is great inspiration for young engineers. Actual color organs predate the 70s by 60 years: see clavier à lumières.

[@faunoram]

Sweet !!

[@kc0lif]

cool item.

[@schreds8882]

OMG! I had one of those back in the day. I haven't thought about it in years. I wonder what happened to it. I do have a working lava lamp though, and a bunch of tie dye, some fuzzy dice. I'm afraid the old VW bus rusted to death in the midwestern winters.

[@jordangordan8980]

i didnt know i needed one

[@BasicDrumming]

Great video.

[@AlanKinsella-nu4gm]

Hank looks like such a good listener.😊

[@airshipband8788]

What is the music that starts around 5:20? Thank You.

[@waynemasters8673]

Had that with two fluorescent diffusers moving against each other with bulbs driven by triacs. Then slide projectors driven by triacs. Then motion picture sound technician making optical sound tracks. Then a grant turning visuals into sound. Then LEDs from their day one to..... The 4D Political Analysis Monitor/Total Recall Enhancer/Music apparitions, Yeah its just a fad from the 60s, black light and candles.

[@resynthesizer4565]

Never had one of those. I IDID have a strobe light though. Built from a kit.

[@timmooney7528]

I have a Radio Shack project book which shows how to make a color organ with op amps used in filter circuits.

[@FazioElectric]

Woah, that’s cool! Could you email me a photo of that? I’ve been looking around for different schematics :) [e-mail]

[@santiplaying5825]

Heey your videos are amazing! Would you please make one with the Laney vc30 or the Vox ac30? (Oh, and I loved the intro)

[@someoneoutthere7512]

I see a few Sound Technology analyzers in the background. Do they work?

[@burmesecolourneedles4680]

GROOVY! 😎

[@deanmarkham6655]

Groovy! 😂Hank like it? Speaking of organs! I have a old portable organ that it super vintage! You think you’d be interested in bringing it back to life?

[@TeslaTales59]

Funny, I built a few of them in HS! If possible keep them as incandescent VS LEDs

[@andyevans2336]

During my lost decade, we built a stereo light show display after blocking the front window of the apartment. Hung 6 strands of lights to two Radio Shack color organ controllers. Hung sheer curtains in front and did what stoners do best, enjoy the show!

[@doubleeagleaudio]

You just gave me an idea! 😊

[@madDadMusic]

I had the radio shack one when I was an early teen

[@FoulOwl2112]

Whoa that's like far out and groovy man! Ya dig?

[@iVenge]

My god… a girl who is an electrician, knows how to make things, and is pretty! Be still my heart.

[@KeritechElectronics]

Looks nice - I bet even Fran doesn't have one! :)

[@goodun2974]

I don't know if Fran has sufficient *room* for one of these!

[@tomfoolery2082]

What happened to radio shack anyway there are none in Indiana.

[@Anson120]

I am not gonna even google "Color organ LED". Oh, the possibilities. LOLOLOL

[@eternaldoorman5228]

Hank approval, ... It matters.

[@zwarst]

Is that a frenzel lens screen on the front or similar?

[@PurposefulPorpoise]

Roll that beautiful bulb footage

[@oldspiced]

lmao you random af :D

[@zombiemontage]

Hank!

[@pedraw]

Grooooovy

[@unixd0rk]

EICO has a few models.

[@robbergin9586]

.....you need a Ricky 331 with the light show to match!

[@rchavez2112]

Hank approves after a dog-zamination.🐶

[@Timothy-remembers]

That thing is very groovy--

[@OscillationOverdrive]

HEY! THe dog likes it!

[@zdenkokovac2896]

🤗🥰🥰

[@jerrymckenzie1858]

I believe you may have been born a few decades later than you should have been!

[@goodun2974]

There's enough masonite in that thing to build a half dozen Silvertone/Danelectro amps!

[@FazioElectric]

LOL so true 😂

[@TumbleweedRancher]

Aren't many of the guitars made from masonite?

[@goodun2974]

@@TumbleweedRancher , Masonite and poplar, yes, bound together with "lipstick"; it's why they're so "poplar" ! 😉

[@MikeMara]

it's like a way, way cooler Lite Brite

[@TrevorsBench]

I was more of a strobe box guy

[@Expedition18]

1st like yay

[@TheDrunkenScoundrel]

This doesn't strike me as something which would be too expensive to build from scratch...am I wrong on that? Because I could see a market for some intrepid person....

[@dalelacuna4299]

Im so inlove with you

[@Jah_Rastafari_ORIG]

Arrrggghhh... I gotta call a little BS here; I was a teenager in the 70s and those things were tacky then.

[@FazioElectric]

They are delightfully tacky. I dig them!

[@ross3818]

You're wrecking the buzz, dude.

[@75YBA]

Pssst, that’s why we like them. Plus, it makes the Squares angry. 🙂😂😂😂😂