Do you want to learn and test cheaply before diving in?

[AussiePhil]

Since pixels came on the seen it has been common to recommend Pixel nodes (strings) and Pixel strip to newbies to start playing with.
However both have a minimum power supply requirement to power them and really in this day and age of being able to power stuff from USB the advice is outdated.

Better to get some USB power-able seed pixels that are 2811 protocol based.
A link to the little seed pixels is below.
Highly recommend that you buy 10M to get 100 pixels to play with as well as the controller that plugs into a USB charger power bank

WS2812B LED String Party Christmas Lights Decoration BT Music Control Room Birthday Decor Led Light Outdoor Waterproof IP67 - AliExpress 39

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This gets you 100 pixels that are 5v and 2811 protocol based, so the same as strip or nodes but can be run from a USB port. The supplied controller can be used if you then want to use these stand alone.

I'll let the controller specialists suggest some options in replies for then interfacing back to a computer for playing with actually controlling them
Couple already suggested
Just an example link - https://forkineye.com/espixelstick-v3/

QuinLED-Dig-Uno: The Compact ESP32 Controller for WLED

An ESP32-based addressable LED controller for WS2812B, SK6812 and more. Two data outputs, onboard fuse, reverse-polarity protection and level-shifters. DIY or pre-assembled, WLED-ready.

quinled.info

Cheers
Phil

 

[Indigogyre]

This is very nearly how I started out about 18 months ago. Bought a couple Esp8266 chips and a simple led strip and did some testing. Once satisfied, I moved up to a Dig-Uno and some pixels for more playing around. Was able to test the Dig-Uno in xLights, played around with it and liked it. Bought a few more Dig-Unos and some Dig-Quads and moved up another step. Eventually, I bought a dedicated controller and a bunch more pixels.

The flavor of what controls the ESP chipset is not as important as just getting something you can use, test and learn with.

It's all in the steps and learning the basics. Yes, you can jump in head first but usually smaller steps are easier to learn and build upon.

Dean

 

[merryoncherry]

Maybe it depends what you're trying to do, and what part of the hobby you want to spend your time on.

If you're trying to learn to do pixels the way they were done 10 years ago when you needed to know stuff about things and build your own controller? Or just trying to make a show with ready-to-run kit? Or maybe you love your existing stuff but want to add music.

If you really want to make a show, and experiment without spending money, it may be better to:
1. Take a picture of your house
2. Put it in xLights
3. Draw in a few props (maybe based on someone else's display that you liked)
4. Sequence them and watch the preview window
5. Make some changes, go back to step 3
6. Figure out what you'd need to build that show. Where does the controller go? How many lights and cables? How much time will it take you?
7. If you can't do it all at once, prioritize

If you already own a lot of stuff and just want to set it all to music for a couple hundred bucks, go Light-o-Rama.