TLDR: WLED has a known bug that prevents the chip from seeing analog inputs on initial boot. Often a power cycle will fix this issue. This is not a problem with the Eternaglo Plus but is instead a problem with WLED and the Espressif driver software that it utilizes to run, and affects all types of analog inputs. Read more below.
The Eternaglo Plus has a built-in 3.5mm analog line-in jack, which can be used to connect an aux chord and make WLED react to a sound input. While this can be a cool feature, there’s a few things to keep in mind when using the Eternaglo Plus for sound reactive:
- This process is recommended for advanced WLED users only, as audio reactive WLED has lots of settings and tweaking that needs to take place for the software to behave in a satisfactory way.
- WLED’s support for analog inputs isn’t great, and the software can be quirky at the best of times when using any analog input source. This is one of the reasons that this process is only recommended for advanced users. Currently, WLED has an unwanted behavior that can often prevent the software from detecting the input during many normal startup procedures. This has been a known bug going back several years now with both analog microphones as well as analog line-in, and is discussed here. More details on addressing this below.
- Analog works quite well once WLED is registering the input, though it does have some quirks. The main one is that there can be unwanted blips in the signal from noise and interference in the circuit. So with any analog input source it’s expected to see the lights occasionally react even when no input is being provided. This can be mitigated to a certain extent with the proper settings. If you’re only needing the lights to react when there’s an input and they’re off otherwise, this is usually a non-issue.
OK, now that you’re aware of some of the quirks and limitations of the marriage of WLED and analog, let’s talk about getting started.
First, once you’re ready to have the lights react to an input, you must enable the audioreactive mode. This is done in Config > Usermods, then under “Audioreactive” checking the box labeled “Enabled”. The version of WLED that comes pre-installed should have all the other pins and settings pre-configured out of the box.
Now you can connect an input to the Eternaglo Plus. We recommend an aux chord. 3.5mm microphones are not recommended nor guaranteed to work. Ensure that the sound signal is on a high or max volume, as analog requires a loud signal. To check whether or not WLED is sensing the input, click the “info” tab at the top of the screen. There you will see “ADC analog” with the level of the input. If WLED isn’t detecting an input it will say “ADC analog – quiet”. Also note that the “info” screen only shows static information. If you want to check the level several times you will have to close then open the info tab again, or click “refresh” at the bottom.
Like mentioned above, it’s not unexpected for “ADC analog – quiet” to show even if a signal is being provided. Many times doing a power cycle will allow WLED to start detecting the input, meaning completely disconnect then reconnect power to the board. Often times this will allow WLED to reboot into a state that properly allows the software to detect the input. This often should fix the issue and the analog should work properly. If, however, trying a few power cycles does not fix the issue, a device reset might work instead. For the easiest way to do this we recommend connecting the board to a computer via USB, then visiting install.eternaglo.com. Connect to the board using this tool, then click “Logs & Console”, then choose “Reset Device”. This won’t erase any settings, it will simply reboot the board. This in our testing works 100% of the time to get WLED to detect the input.
Once WLED is seeing the audio signal, you will see “ADC analog – peak 100%”, or whatever the peak level of the input is. Once you see this, congratulations, your lights are ready to react to the input! If the peak is lower, like 40%, you can turn the gain up in the info panel. Or if it’s always at 100% you can turn the gain down until you’re satisfied with the level. Now you can choose an audioreactive effect and watch the lights react to the input! Effects that are audio reactive will show a music note. A single music note (♪) means that the effect only reacts to the volume/amplitude of the signal. A double music note (♫) means that the effect will react to frequency, usually as well as volume.
Congratulations, your lights are now reacting to a sound input!
Another great resource you can check out for ideas and support is the WLED Discord, which has a dedicated server for audio reactive setups.
For those interested in continued support for aux input, we’re exploring other types of input options for the next iteration of the Plus so we don’t have to deal with WLED’s analog issues in the future. Subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on that project.
