A "light organ" is a device that controls the brightness of a light according to sound levels. The louder the sound, the brighter the light. The softer the sound, the dimmer the light.
A "color organ" is a slightly more sophisticated device with several channels, each one sensitive to a different part of the audio spectrum. So low notes might flash a blue light, mid notes might light up yellow, and high notes might flash a red light. For each channel, the louder the sound in the that rance of pitch, the brighter the light.
There are numerous haunt applications for a device that synchronizes light to sound. The most obvious, and my favorite, is simulating lightning: you play a nice loud tape or CD with the sounds of a thunderstorm, and pipe the sounds into the color organ, which is also attached to a big light bulb. When the sound of the thunder crash is heard, the increased volume will cause the lamp to light up brightly. When the sound dies away, the lamp goes out.
Here's another idea: as you walk down the corridor, you hear a heartbeat that grows louder and louder. The corridor is lit by a red glow that pulses with the heartbeat, growing brighter and brighter with each beat. Get the idea?
Color organs are useful for more than just flickering light. The light is made by electricity, so the true function of the color organ is to use sound to control electricity. As such, it can animate a skull by using a solenoid attached to the jaw. In fact, the popular Douglas Fir, often hacked to make Halloween animations, is essentially a color organ circuit.
We have a list of some commercial color organs and kits.
If you can't find a suitable color organ ready to use, you might have to build one yourself.
Your general choices are:
Unfortunately, building a color organ from scratch is probably the most expensive way to get one! You have to drive all over town, shopping for the bits and pieces, all at marked up prices.
Frankly, I recommend some sort of electronic kit. They are easy to build, educational, and often save money (over shopping for the individual parts). Take the money that you save and buy more props! You can never have enough Bucky skeletons!
We have a list of some commercial color organ kits.
If you insist on building from scratch, please see making a color organ.
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