Teensy 3.2 + WS2812 + FFT = OctoWS2811 needed?

[xKiba]

Hello guys,
For a fun project i want to build another Audio Spectrum Analyzer with my Teensy 3.2, but this time with WS2812 LED strips in a matrix configuration.(Size is not determined yet, but less than 200 LEDs)
Now I've already coded it and tested it with a smaller configuration (16x5), to see if it works.
It works, but sadly not as smooth as the Adafruit RGB LED Matrix.
I'm guessing that the Teensy 3.2 just hasn't quite the power needed for this kind of application.
I know that the OctoWS2811 exists, but i want to know if i have any other options.
My idea is, to process the FFT with the Teensy, and pass the data to another controller (I have an arduino uno and mega lying around, plus 2 raspberry pi 2's).

I hope you can give me advice.
If you want to look into the code, i will post it, but i don't think it matters too much.

Greetings.

 

[PaulStoffregen]

In Arduino, click File > Examples > OctoWS2811 > SpectrumAnalyzer.

It works very well with Teensy 3.2 and 1920 LEDs, refreshing the entire display at ~86 Hz (every 512 audio samples).

The key to making this sort of project work is a non-blocking library for the LEDs. For only 200, WS2812Serial should work fine. But do *not* use Adafruit_NeoPixel to drive the LEDs. It hogs CPU time with interrupts disabled, which is the absolute last thing you want for this sort of project.

Teensy 3.2 is plenty fast enough for 1024 point FFTs with 50% overlap, as that example shows.

 

[xKiba]

Thank you very much, i will try that.

So tht example code will work even without the module?