Zip Tie Tuning Lights Up the Apollo M-1 LED Matrix (Plus What's Coming Next)

There are few things more fun than watching someone else discover what the M-1 can do. This week, Zip Tie Tuning put the Apollo M-1 LED Matrix on screen and showed off exactly why we love this little panel so much.

Go watch it: https://youtu.be/0aIyXjpHA64

Thank you, seriously. Seeing the M-1 in someone else's hands, doing things we did not think of, is the entire reason we build open hardware.

Congratulations on a year of videos

While we are here, there is something else worth celebrating. Zip Tie Tuning just hit a year of making videos, and the growth has been genuinely fun to watch. We got a firsthand look back in February when we visited their new shop, and even in the months since, the jump in quality, scale, and ambition is obvious.

That visit also happens to be one of our favorite trips. Our little Apollo mascot came along, as he does, and got the full private tour with photos to prove it. He has been insufferable about it ever since.

Also, and we are saying this publicly now so there is a record of it: we are still trying to get them out to Kentucky. There is a Corvette Museum with our name on it, and the Tail of the Dragon is a short drive away. The invitation stands. We will bring the mascot.

So what exactly is the M-1 LED Matrix?

If the video sold you and you want the details, here they are.

The M-1 LED Matrix is a 6.3 by 6.3 inch HUB75 panel packing 4,096 pixels at a 2.5mm pitch, driven by our own controller that hides neatly behind the panel so all you see is the display. It runs on 5V, 3A over USB-C or a WAGO connector, so there is no separate power brick cluttering your setup.

It ships pre-flashed with WLED, which means it is fun from the second you plug it in. Animations, effects, colors, scrolling text, pixel art, audio-reactive visuals with the optional digital microphone add-on: all of it is available through a web interface, no coding required.

What people actually use it for:

• Ambient and mood lighting that reacts to music or the room.
• Smart home notifications, a visual cue when the laundry finishes, a door opens, or the mail arrives.
• Live data displays, pulling from Home Assistant to show weather, energy use, or anything else you can pipe over the JSON API.
• Pixel art and animation, because sometimes you just want a tiny glowing screen of something cool.
• Signage, scoreboards, and shop displays, which is exactly the kind of use case we love seeing in a garage.

The M-1 works standalone or as part of your smart home. It plays nicely with Home Assistant, and you can drive it directly through the WLED JSON API for the really creative stuff. Our M-1 wiki has the full setup, and the general tips page covers segments, which is the key to unlocking multi-panel tricks like text scrolling across displays.

What's coming: the WLED 16 update

Here is the part we are excited about. We have been hard at work moving the M-1 firmware to upstream WLED 16.x, and it is a meaningful upgrade.

What that unlocks:

• Much easier GIF support. Getting animations onto the panel becomes far less fiddly. Drop in a GIF, watch it play.
• Draw directly on the matrix. Sketch and paint pixel by pixel right on the display, no external tooling required.
• 2x2 panel setups. This is the big one. Until now, chaining meant going horizontal. With the new firmware, you can arrange four panels in a 2x2 square, which gives you a proper large canvas instead of a long strip. Think a genuine art piece on the wall, not just a ticker.

If you have been holding off on a multi-panel build because a 1x4 strip did not fit your wall, this changes the math. Our multiple panel setup guide walks through the hardware side: you will need the data cables and power modules to chain them.

Keep an eye on our Discord for updates as this rolls out.

Add a BTN-1 and change your art with one press

Here is a combo we cannot recommend enough: pair your M-1 with a BTN-1 Macro Deck.

The BTN-1 is a four-button macro pad with hot-swappable, Cherry MX compatible mechanical switches and an LED in front of every key. Because each button recognizes a single press, double press, triple press, and press-and-hold, you get 16 separate actions out of one small deck.

Point those at your M-1 and you have a physical remote for your matrix. One button cycles presets. Another switches to your clock face. Hold for party mode and the audio-reactive effects kick in. Triple-press for the GIF you only show off when guests are over. No phone, no app, no menu diving, just a real mechanical click and the panel changes.

The BTN-1 runs on ESPHome, works with Home Assistant and Homey, and starts at $34.99. Setup is quick with our BTN-1 blueprint, which maps every press type for you, and the BTN-1 wiki has the rest.

It also runs on USB-C or an optional battery that lasts up to a year at a few presses a day, so you can stick it on the wall next to the matrix and forget about wiring.

Local, open, and yours

Like everything we make, the M-1 and the BTN-1 are built on the values we care about. They run locally with no cloud and no subscription. They are open source, so you can modify, extend, and build on them however you like. And as the second official commercial partner of the Open Home Foundation, we contribute the majority of our profits back to the foundation, funding the future of Home Assistant, ESPHome, and the open home.

We also want to thank the WLED-MM team and the wider WLED community. The M-1 would not be what it is without their work, and open source is exactly why a small company in Kentucky can ship a panel this fun.

Go watch the video

Head over and watch Zip Tie Tuning's video, subscribe while you are there, and congratulate them on a year of building something great. We are lucky to know them.

And if you want to build something with an M-1 of your own, grab one here. Show us what you make in our Discord. This is just the beginning of what this little panel can do.

Apollo Automation designs, engineers, and manufactures privacy-first, locally-controlled smart home sensors in Versailles, Kentucky. Every product features 100% local control with no cloud dependencies or subscriptions required. Apollo is a Works With Home Assistant partner, Made For ESPHome certified, Works With Homey certified, a BBB Accredited Business, and the second official commercial partner of the Open Home Foundation. Learn more at apolloautomation.com.

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