Wave-Pi, Wave-Pi ADC and Prism

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ILDAC-WAV

The ESP32-based laser content generator that started it all.

ILDAC-WAV is an entirely self-contained laser content generator — test patterns, Lumia cues, static beams, ILDA files and animations, and 8-channel 16-bit laser WAV files with stereo audio, all without a computer in sight. It was built to solve a simple problem: sometimes you just want a slow beam through a diffraction grating for a Lumia cue, or a way to bench-test a projector, without firing up a full show-control rig. Wave-Pi is the next generation of that same idea, built on the much more capable Raspberry Pi platform.

Fully self-contained, roughly the size of a Pangolin FB3, with adjustable scan settings, per-color corrections, and support for your own custom ILDA files. Wave-Pi builds on everything ILDAC-WAV proved out, adding Ether Dream networking, live analog passthrough, geometric correction, audio-reactive effects, and a much larger media library on USB storage.

HLR Connectors

ILDA-to-HDMI adapters — because everyone hates ILDA cables and the dreaded fish-hooks.

Standard ILDA DB-25 connectors and cables are bulky, fragile, and infamous for bent "fish-hook" pins. HLR Connectors solve that by repurposing the humble HDMI connector and cable to carry the full analog ILDA signal set instead — X+/X−, Y+/Y−, R+/R−, G+/G−, B+/B−, Intensity+, both interlock lines, Shutter, and Ground. This is not a digital conversion — it's the same analog ILDA signal, just carried over a far more robust, inexpensive, and readily available cable and connector. Field-tested to 400 feet on off-the-shelf HDMI cable with zero measured signal degradation, and already running in laser art exhibits and commercial concert venues.

Every variant includes X and Y invert switches, so you can flip either axis right at the adapter without touching your source or projector settings.

Wave-Pi Setup

From box to first show in a few minutes.

1. Prepare a USB drive. Format it FAT32 and label the volume WAVEPI. Copy your ILDA and/or laser WAV show files onto it (or just use the built-in test patterns to get started).
2. Plug in and power up. Insert the USB drive into either USB port on the Wave-Pi and apply power. The OLED display will show boot status.
3. Connect to the network. Join Wave-Pi to your WiFi network (or connect directly to its own access point) using the on-device WiFi setup flow.
4. Open the control panel. From any phone, tablet, or laptop on the same network, browse to the Wave-Pi's address in a web browser. No app install required.
5. Play something. Browse your USB library, load a test pattern, and start dialing in scan rate, brightness, color, and geometric correction from the control panel.
6. Keep it current. Wave-Pi supports over-the-air firmware updates, so new features and fixes are a couple of clicks away.

About

Laser show hardware, built by HLR.

Wave-Pi started as the next generation of ILDAC-WAV: a self-contained, Raspberry Pi–based laser show controller with a full web control panel, live analog passthrough and Ether Dream network streaming. Wave-Pi ADC and the Prism Light Engine grow it into a family: record any ILDA source, and drive many projectors from one controller.

Questions, ideas or interest in early units: [email protected]. To try the control panel without hardware, open the Wave-Pi Simulator.

What Wave-Pi does

Wave-Pi is a laser show player and router. It can:

• Play shows from a USB drive: WAV laser show files and ILDA (.ild) files, with playlists, shuffle and search.
• Pass a live ILDA signal through from its own ILDA input or from a Prism unit's input, and record it to a WAV file.
• Act as an Ether Dream on your network, so laser show software can send its output to it.
• Drive your projectors through its own ILDA output, through Prism units (two ILDA outputs each, connected by USB), or through a real Ether Dream on the network.
• Adjust the picture: size, position, rotation, brightness, color balance and keystone, saved as profiles. Each Prism output has its own settings.
• Show test patterns, beams and waveforms, and add audio effects.

What can go where

Hover over a cell (or tap it) for how to set that route up.

• Each output plays one input at a time: choosing a new input for an output replaces the old one.
• At most two live streams can go to Prism units and the Ether Dream at the same time.
• The onboard ADC and DAC are only on Wave-Pi boards that have them; turn them on or off on the Settings page.
• The scan rate slider at the top sets the point rate for everything except WAV files, which play at the rate they were made at.

Finding your way around the control panel

Top of the page: playback status, the scan rate slider and presets, and the shutter button. The red E-STOP button (bottom right) stops all outputs at once.

• Test Patterns: images for aligning and checking colors.
• Projector Settings (Projector Settings/DAC while the onboard DAC is on): everything for the onboard output (ILDA OUT) in one place: size, position, rotation, invert, brightness and color shift (saved as profiles), audio volume and balance, and its live preview.
• USB Drive: browse and play files, playlists, shuffle and search. Right-click (or long-press) a file and pick Preview to watch it in the browser without playing it on the laser.
• Onboard ADC/Record (shown when the onboard ADC is turned on in Settings): the onboard ILDA input: start it, oversampling, where to send it, and recording it to a WAV file.
• Laser preview windows on the Projector Settings, USB Drive, Ether Dream and Prism pages draw what each output is sending right now. Click Live Preview for … to open or close one; the button blinks yellow and green while that output is streaming. Right-click (or long-press) a window to invert X or Y or swap X and Y in that window only; the laser itself is not changed. Turn them off on the Settings page if a screen gets slow.
• Prism units (Alpha, Beta, …): one menu entry per unit. Grey = not connected, yellow = connected, green = playing the live output, blue = busy with a Prism ADC route (playing a Prism's ADC input, or sending its own ADC to another unit or the Ether Dream; its button reads ADC), red = its DAC isn't responding. The On/Off button next to a unit sends the live output (files, onboard input, Ether Dream source) to it. Its page has each output's settings, identify, color and geometric profiles, and, on units that have one, its ADC input.
• Ether Dream: the network source and its outputs, recording, which real Ether Dream to send to, and the current routing.
• Beams/Waveforms/Lumia: beam and waveform effects. Mind the hot beam warning.
• Color Correction and Geometric Correction: balance the colors and correct keystone and shear. They can be applied live to a Prism output too.
• Audio FX: sound-reactive effects.
• Settings: onboard DAC/ADC switches, laser preview windows, touchscreen, OLED display, firmware updates, shutdown, and links to the Wave-Pi website.

Credits