Board lineup
RFX Effects runs the same engine — and the same show.json — on every board
below. Pick by what your build needs: LED count, a screen, sound, or just the
smallest thing that fits inside the prop.
Not sure where to start? Read Choose your board for a guided pick.
Comparison
Section titled “Comparison”| Board | Chip | Max LEDs | Audio | Display | Storage | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waveshare ESP32-S3-Zero | ESP32-S3 | 256 | ✔ | — | On-chip FAT (USB drive) | ✔ |
| LilyGo T-QT Pro | ESP32-S3 | 256 | — | 0.85" 128x128 GC9107 IPS LCD (SPI) | On-chip FAT (USB drive) | ✔ |
| Waveshare ESP32-S3-LCD-1.47 | ESP32-S3 | 256 | ✔ | 1.47" 172x320 ST7789 IPS LCD (SPI) | microSD card | ✔ |
| Espressif ESP32-S3-DevKitC-1 | ESP32-S3 | 2048 | ✔ | — | On-chip FAT (USB drive) | ✔ |
| LilyGo T-Display-S3 | ESP32-S3 | 256 | ✔ | 1.9" 170x320 ST7789 IPS LCD (8-bit parallel i8080) | On-chip FAT (USB drive) | ✔ |
| LilyGo T-Display AMOLED 1.64 | ESP32-S3 (S3R8) | 256 | ✔ | 1.64" 280x456 ICNA3311/CO5300 AMOLED (QSPI) | On-chip FAT (USB drive) | ✔ |
| ESP32-S3-CAM | ESP32-S3 | 256 | — | — | On-chip FAT (USB drive) | ✔ |
| Espressif ESP32-WROOM-32 DevKit | ESP32 | 512 | — | — | On-chip FAT (web UI only; no USB drive) | ✔ |
| M5Stack Core2 | ESP32 | 512 | ✔ | 2" 320x240 ILI9342C IPS LCD (SPI) | On-chip FAT (web UI only; no USB drive) | ✔ |
| Lonely Binary ESP32-C3 OLED | ESP32-C3 (RISC-V) | 256 | — | 0.42" 72x40 SSD1306 monochrome OLED (I2C) | On-chip FAT (web UI only; no USB drive) | ✔ |
| Arduino Uno R3 | ATmega328P (AVR) | 60 | — | — | None | — |
| Desktop (Win/Linux/macOS/Pi) | — | 65535 | ✔ | — | Local filesystem | ✔ |
| Browser (WASM) | — | 65535 | ✔ | — | Virtual in-memory filesystem | — |
Reading the table
Section titled “Reading the table”- Max LEDs is the firmware’s per-board ceiling for addressable LED pixels.
- Audio means the firmware already arms an I2S output on that board, on its
house-standard pins — plug in an amp and sound works. A no is not “silent
forever”: any board with free pins can drive a MAX98357A-class amp once you
name the three pins in an
audiobus inconfig.json. It just isn’t wired for you. - Storage is how your
show.jsonand assets get onto the device — an on-chip flash drive that shows up over USB, or a microSD card you load on your computer. - Network means WiFi: the live web dashboard and over-the-air updates.
The Desktop and Browser targets aren’t hardware at all — they run the same engine on your computer so you can preview a show before wiring anything.