Addressable RGB LED ring for pedalboard foot buttons

I am passionate musician and engineer and this project allows me to combine both of these passions by building an open source pedalboard platform.

When playing in live situations its crucial to get quick information about the state of the pedal. An RGB color led can be used with different colours to represent the state. But a whole ring of LEDs around the button not only looks very cool, but can but can certainly present more information.

The 12 LEDs can be addressed individually and each LED can have its own color. This makes it perfect for use cases like presenting the loudness of signal or the intensity of a parameter value.

The design is based around tiny SMD components that are located in a 2mm ring around the usual 12 mm foot button hole:

Features

• Each of the 12 LEDs on the ring can get an individual color.
• The led rings can be cascaded and addressed via a single serial line.
• Optional solution to drive the 5V powered LED ring directly from 3.3V data pin
• Multiple connector options: 2 x SMD Sockets (2mm, 4 Pins) in the center line and in the corner:

Words to PCBway

The PCBs and the stencil that were produced by PCBway were just perfect. With the use of a small hot plate and low temperature solder paste the produced LED rings worked perfectly.

After doing some prototype myself I would like to try PCBway's assembly service. But I am a one man shop, and therefore would like to apply for some sponsorship.