Smallest LED controller?

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Aortucre

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Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum so allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adrian and I have a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering. I will share as much knowledge as I can with the rest of the forum.

I am trying to control a small strip of SMD LEDs (7 or 8) to raise and drop with the level of the music. I intend the signal to come from an audio cable and provide any additional power with a small battery. I would like the controller for the LEDs to be as small as possible

Thanks in advance for any help
 

An LM3915 IC is used to drive up to 10 LEDs as a music level indicator. It is in a normal size 18 pins package that is not tiny.
Circuits with it are on its datasheet.

EDIT: An LM3914 is a linear voltmeter, not a logarithmic audio level indicator (which is an LM3915).
 
Thank you peeyushsigma and Audioguru for your fast answers.

Audioguru: Unfortunately that chip is too large for what I'm trying to do, is there anything smaller (smallest) that you have heard of? Thanks

Peeyushsigma: Although I could use something smaller that approaches a little more the size I'm looking for. Do you know if I could find that as surface mounted? Also, pardon my ignorance but how would I go about connecting it? Can I get the signal from the audio cable and use that directly without affecting the audio quality? If so, would I be able to connect LEDs of very small current and voltage? (Small SMD leds)

Thanks a lot to both for your anawers
 

There is a small LM3914 package available but it might be too small to solder to.
Because it is a linear voltmeter then loud sounds will have their levels crammed together and soft sounds will have their levels spread far apart.

It might need a preamp if your audio signal levels are not high enough. It does not affect audio quality. It can be set to drive SMD LEDs safely.
 

I was also thinking of the possibility of using a microcontroller with analog input, but that goes way beyond my knowledge. Dp you have any thoughts on that?
 

Car accessory stores have very small LED gadgets that have a tiny microcontroller as their brain. I do not know if there is one with a microphone that picks up music.
 

if you are thinking to build it with microcontroller you might require a signal conditioning circuit before feeding into an analog channel of uC.
 

Another option that has been brought to my attention is to design the circuit and have it packaged by a company. Is this viable? Or should I keep looking for something already designed?
 

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