Small Wi-Fi stage displays for AbleSet: they show the current song, the current section in its AbleSet colour, and what's coming next, so the band doesn't have to look at the laptop.
They use the ESP32-C5, the first ESP32 with 5 GHz Wi-Fi, so they keep working on crowded stages where 2.4 GHz is saturated.
Two versions:
| ESP32-C5-LCD-1.47 | ESP32-C5-Touch-LCD-3.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Screen | 1.47" 320×172 | 3.5" 480×320, touch, in a case |
| Shows | Song, section with progress strip, next section / next song, loop counter, laptop power state | Same, plus song descriptions and the setlist with time left |
| Board | Waveshare ESP32-C5-LCD-1.47 | Waveshare ESP32-C5-Touch-LCD-3.5 |
Board: Waveshare ESP32-C5-Touch-LCD-3.5.
Playing, then inside a 4-bar loop. Song descriptions sit under the names, dimmer than the name:
Song descriptions on (default), then off with SHOW_SONG_DESCRIPTIONS = false, which fits 9 songs in the setlist:
Laptop power state in the status bar:
Retry screen, after AbleSet or the Wi-Fi could not be found:
Board: Waveshare ESP32-C5-LCD-1.47.
Shown at actual pixel size. Playing, inside a loop with the laptop on battery, stopped on an outro with the next song, and the retry screen:
The display joins your Wi-Fi, finds AbleSet on the network on its own (no IP address to type), and subscribes to AbleSet's OSC updates. It needs AbleSet Standard or Pro, with the display and the AbleSet computer on the same network.
- Several networks: list as many as you like (rehearsal room, venue, home). If AbleSet isn't found on one, it tries the next.
- Section colours come straight from AbleSet, made more vivid for stage lighting.
- Loops: the next-section cell turns into a loop counter (
LOOP 2 / 4). - Self-healing: if an update is missed, the display re-syncs with AbleSet every few seconds. OSC is received in a background task, so redrawing the screen never makes it miss packets.
- Section progress bar: one segment per bar, filling beat by beat, so you can see where you are in a loop.
- Laptop power warning: a red
ON BATTERYbadge if the AbleSet computer gets unplugged. - Retry screen: after two passes through all networks without finding AbleSet, it stops and waits. Press BOOT (or tap the screen on the 3.5") to try again.
- Clean names: tags in braces such as
{Drop}are hidden.
- Setlist on the right, with the time left in the set.
- Song descriptions from AbleSet, in a smaller dim font under the song name and under each setlist entry (
SHOW_SONG_DESCRIPTIONS = falseto hide them and fit 9 songs instead of 5). - Accented names display as-is (the 1.47" uses a built-in font, so
éshows asE).
- Boards Manager: esp32 by Espressif Systems, version 3.3.10. Waveshare tested these boards on 3.3.10; other versions may fail to flash.
- Library Manager:
- GFX Library for Arduino (moononournation), 1.6.x
- U8g2 (olikraus), 3.5" version only, for its fonts
In the sketch folder, copy secrets.example.h to secrets.h and fill in your networks. secrets.h is in .gitignore, so your passwords stay on your machine.
| Setting | 1.47" | 3.5" |
|---|---|---|
| Board | ESP32C5 Dev Module | ESP32C5 Dev Module |
| USB CDC On Boot | Enabled | Enabled |
| PSRAM | — | Enabled |
| Partition Scheme | Default | Huge APP (or Minimal SPIFFS) |
If the upload can't connect, put the board in download mode: hold BOOT, press and release RST (or unplug and replug), then release BOOT.
If it still can't connect, plug the board into a port on the computer itself or a simple hub. Deep chains of USB hubs (monitor hubs, some docks) can prevent flashing over the ESP32-C5's built-in USB.
Each sketch has a config block at the top. The most useful settings:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
ABLESET_HOST |
Leave empty for auto-discovery, or set AbleSet's IP address |
DEVICE_NAME |
Name shown in AbleSet's device list |
LOOP_COUNTER_OFFSET |
Set to 1 if the first pass of a loop shows LOOP 0 |
BAND_SATURATION, BAND_BRIGHTNESS |
How vivid the section colours are |
ROTATION |
3.5" only: screen orientation (1 or 3) |
PROGRESS_BY_BEAT |
false lights whole bars instead of filling beat by beat |
SHOW_PROGRESS |
1.47" only: false hides the progress strip |
WIFI_ROUNDS |
Passes through the network list before showing Retry |
USE_RGB_LED |
1.47" only: status colour on the on-board LED |
SHOW_SONG_DESCRIPTIONS |
3.5" only: false hides song descriptions, so the setlist shows 9 songs instead of 5 |
LEFT_FONT, SIDE_FONT |
3.5" only: text sizes |
Open the Serial Monitor at 115200 baud. The display logs the networks it sees, which one it joined, when it finds AbleSet, and the setlist it received.
CLAUDE.md has the architecture notes, hardware details and build commands, for people and for coding assistants like Claude Code.
- AbleSet by Léo Bernard: the setlist manager this talks to
- GFX Library for Arduino by moononournation
- U8g2 by olikraus: fonts (Logisoso)
- Waveshare's example code for the 3.5" board's I/O expander sequence
This project isn't affiliated with AbleSet.