Proffie

Proffie is the enthusiast soundboard: open-source, fully programmable, and only ever paired with a Neopixel blade. Every board is installed and tested by our UK technicians and covered by a 12-month warranty. If you would rather not tinker, Xenopixel does most of this out of the box.

Proffie is a soundboard, not a blade format

Two things get muddled constantly, so it is worth separating them. Base Lit and Neopixel are blade formats. RGBx, Xenopixel and Proffie are soundboards. RGBx pairs with Base Lit only; Xenopixel and Proffie pair with Neopixel only. So a Proffie saber is always a Neopixel saber, and there is no such thing as a Base Lit Proffie. The board we fit is the Proffie V2.2, described on our own product pages as the open-source, fully programmable board for saberists who want complete control.

Proffie or Xenopixel: the honest answer

For most buyers, Xenopixel is the better saber. Both boards drive the same Neopixel blade, both sound excellent, and the real difference is who does the work afterwards. Xenopixel is ready out of the box. Proffie is a platform, and it rewards you in proportion to the time you put into it — if you never open the configuration, you have paid for headroom you will not use. Our Proffie vs Xenopixel guide puts them side by side. Buy Proffie because you want to tinker, not because it sits at the top of the price list.

What the extra work buys you

Proffie's advantage is that almost nothing is fixed. Our Proffie cores and kits ship ready for custom blade styles, ignitions and fonts, and the board's firmware is open source, so the configuration itself is editable rather than locked.

  • Per-preset blade styles. Each preset carries its own blade style, ignition and font, so a font is a whole look rather than just a sound.
  • Your own fonts. Fonts load from the microSD card, so how many you can carry is a question of card capacity. Browse all fonts for what we stock.
  • Colour is a setting, not a spec. Colour change mode lives on the button, so no Proffie saber is "a red saber" — it is whatever you configure that preset to be.
  • An editable config. Because the firmware is open source, an owner who wants to can rewrite behaviour rather than pick from a menu.

Living with one

Day to day, the button does the work. Our Proffie manual covers the gesture set: stepping through presets while the blade is off, blaster blocks, lockup, drag, melt, lightning block, force effects and colour change mode, plus a muted start for when the house is asleep.

Two cautions worth reading before you buy. Reflashing the board yourself is owner-side work and it is genuinely fiddly — our own FAQ has said for years that programming a Proffieboard can be challenging for beginners, and we would rather tell you that now than after checkout. And our Proffie cores carry a hard charging warning: use a 5V 1A charger or smaller, because anything larger can damage the battery or the core.

Duelling and blades

Proffie does not decide whether a saber can be duelled; the hilt and blade do. Our own comparison guide makes the same point — check that the specific saber is built for combat before you commit, and see duelling lightsabers for the range that is. Flat and thin blades are fine for light clashing but are not for full-out duelling.

Buying from us

Every board is installed and tested in the UK by our in-house technicians before it ships, and comes with a 12-month warranty. Shipping is free to the UK, EU and US on all lightsabers, and free on other orders over £60. If something goes wrong afterwards, write to repairs@padawanoutpost.com and a technician will pick it up. Our sabers are inspired by the films and replica-style, not official or licensed products. For the full range of hilts that take this board, including cores and kits, see every Proffie-ready saber.

Proffie questions

What is a Proffie lightsaber?

A saber running the Proffieboard soundboard behind a Neopixel blade. The board is the open-source, fully programmable option in our range; the blade format it drives is always Neopixel.

Can I add my own sound fonts?

Yes. Fonts sit on the microSD card, so the practical limit is the capacity of the card rather than the board. We stock a growing library in all fonts.

Can I change the blade styles and colour?

Yes, and this is the main reason people choose Proffie. Colour change mode is on the button, and each preset can hold a different blade style, so colour is something you set rather than something the saber is.

What is smooth swing?

Motion-driven sound: the hum shifts as you move the hilt instead of triggering fixed swing samples, which is why a Proffie saber sounds continuous rather than clipped.

Is the board difficult to programme?

Honestly, yes, if you intend to rewrite the configuration yourself — our long-standing answer is that it can be challenging for beginners. Your saber arrives installed, tested and working, so programming is optional; but if you never plan to do it, Xenopixel is the better buy.

Can I duel with a Proffie saber?

That depends on the hilt and blade rather than the board. Check the individual product page, or start from duelling lightsabers.