ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-DMA VS ESP32-A2DP

I whipped up a quick ESPHome wrapper (as a custom component) for this library: https://github.com/mrfaptastic/ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-DMA

The ESP32 can handle a 64x64 HUB75 display pretty handily. Several of them, even. There’s a solid library out there [0] that just pumps pixels right from memory via the ESP32’s built-in DMA engine. Adafruit_GFX is the supported library for drawing primitives/text/bitmaps/etc., so you can re-use a lot of code that’s out there.

But let’s start with a simple, quick hit of dopamine: There’s a web-based installer [1] (it uses web serial, so Chrome is required) for a couple varieties of clock designed for a 64x64 HUB75 panel and an ESP32. $20 in parts from AliExpress if you already have a suitable 5V power supply.

To use that site, all you need is that aforementioned 5V power supply—4A or more recommended, 10A if you’re planning to drive a full panel of pixels on an outdoor panel at full brightness—a 64x64 HUB75 matrix panel, and an ESP32. Everything except power is run directly to the ESP32. Many panels even come with a 16-pin female IDC connector for the panel, with individual DuPont-style female connectors at the other end that you can just slip over the pins on the ESP32.

The source code for each clock (repo is linked from the web page) is a great starting point for making your own versions.

The panels, as others have mentioned, are shockingly cheap from the usual sources like eBay [2] or AliExpress (search for “HUB75 panel” or “p3 64x64”), but even those in a hurry can get a 64x64 panel for under $40 from Amazon [3].

[0]: https://github.com/mrfaptastic/ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-DMA

I'm about to share the whole project documentation in german. I used ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-DMA with additional 74HC245 to shift the levels up from 3.3 to 5v (as there is a 2m flat cable running through the frame to the display). The Library is based of Adafruit GFX, for which you can find plenty of examples. If you don't want blanking, use two buffers or partially repaint (for the text and image animation I added black filled boxes on each redraw before painting the new position/text). The ESP32 has just enough pins to power the basic functions, but I'm about to order a new PCB with a portexpander, which frees some pins and allows for blinking buttons. Will add a DFPlayer Mini as well, as soon my customer decided, which MP3 files he wants.

will this work? , also im very new to this space but very willing to learn . so far all i have is the freenove starterkit that came with an esp32 because the first one i got from aliexpress wasn't showing up in arduino IDE, but i have a feeling it just wasn't configured properly.

Here's some sample code that does exactly that this is a "HUB75" board, but it looks like a HUB75 is just an ESP32 with an LED matrix attached. The code should work fine for you so long as you change the number of LEDs, and the pin out.

unless someone can help me fix the Arduino Code...

See: https://github.com/mrfaptastic/ESP32-HUB75-MatrixPanel-I2S-DMA#panels-supported

Whole thing is programmed using Arduino library in platformio and for a2dp sink im using pschatzmann library https://github.com/pschatzmann/ESP32-A2DP

The ESP8266 won’t work, since it doesn’t support Bluetooth. You’ll need an ESP32 and an I2S DAC. I built something similar based on this library: https://github.com/pschatzmann/ESP32-A2DP

I want to turn a USB computer keyboard into a musical instrument where i can press a key and a sound is played on my bluetooth speaker. I have played around with https://github.com/pschatzmann/ESP32-A2DP and managed to hardcode a little tune and play it on the speaker. Unfortunately that alone already uses 80% of the esp32 flash memory and I need some more space to read the keyboard input and do a little bit of sound design on top of that. I’m looking for suggestions on a controller (combination of controllers) would be best suited for the job, with the constraint that it should have low power consumption.

Check out arduino-audio-tools and other libraries it can make use of, such as ESP32-A2DP. It's tailored towards ESP32 devices, but also supports the RP2040 and others.

For all other i2s pinouts, I'm leaning on this GitHub-project: https://github.com/pschatzmann/ESP32-A2DP

You can use Bluetooth A2DP. This is the same standard used in Bluetooth headphones. Several implementations are available https://github.com/pschatzmann/ESP32-A2DP

A2DP library: https://github.com/pschatzmann/ESP32-A2DP

I recently discovered that the ESP32 could be used to receive audio via Bluetooth and since I'm using one as part of my build anyway (for controlling peripherals and LED outputs) I was thinking to just use the ESP32's onboard Bluetooth rather than a dedicated chip/module. After looking through some example code and the ESP32-A2DP library, I feel confident that this would work but is anyone able to see any caveats in doing this other than not being able to support aptx?