What's a good way to examine audio with python and split it between high, mid and low pitches for visualizaton?

Question

So, I'm planning on trying out making a light organ with an Arduino and Python, communicating over serial to control the brightness of several LEDs. The computer will use the microphone or a playing MP3 to generate the data.

I'm not so sure how to handle the audio processing. What's a good option for python that can take either a playing audio file or microphone data (I'd prefer the microphone), and then split it into different frequency ranges and write the intensity to variables? Do I need to worry about overtones if I use the microphone?

Answer 1

If you're not committed to using Python, you should also look at using PureData (PD) to handle the audio analysis. Interfacing PD to the Arduino is already a solved problem, and there are a lot of pre-existing components that make working with audio easy.