Device to control light with sound invented | Herald Community Newspaper |

       As a freshman at SUNY Potsdam, Dave Deininger, 26, of Sumter, South Carolina, met Tyler Bershad, 20, of Hewlett, during their freshman year of college physics. By the fall of 2013, they were already working on school assignments and extracurriculars, rebuilding the physics and engineering clubs at SUNY Potsdam, when they decided to try a bigger project together. So they created the Lumin8 Pro, a lighting controller that uses red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that use a unidirectional current to illuminate and respond to sound. The plug-and-play device lets users enjoy music-driven lighting without having to program it through a separate computer or device (though that option is available). It has several customizable sound response options. It can make the lights move to music or provide a light display without music. “Tyler came to me around October of 2013 and wanted to tinker with a cool little lighting circuit,” Deininger said. “He knew I had some basic electrical engineering knowledge, so we played around with it and decided to push the idea through Kickstarter. They gave the first prototypes to close friends to review.” Feedback is more about tweaking. They created a new prototype with a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a variety of options to control sound reactions, fading modes, and constant lighting for the user. They didn’t encounter many obstacles in Potsdam until Bershad transferred to Clarkson University to study mechanical and aerospace engineering for the spring 2014 semester. Distance wasn’t an issue, since Clarkson University is located near Potsdam, but scheduling was, he said.
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