Three questions hiding inside “make it sync”.
When a DJ asks for a visual to hit with the music, they may mean three different things. They might want a surface to open with low-frequency energy, a laser pulse on each quarter note, or a picture that reaches a projector at the same moment as sound reaches the audience. Those are related creative decisions, but they are not interchangeable measurements.
- Measured signal
What do the current bands and audio hits contain?
- Selected pulse
Which transient, manual clock or file grid should drive the beat?
- Output chain
When do the actual speakers and screen reach the audience?
In PHASE//VOID, LOW / MID / HIGH show source analysis. Pulse source selects a different decision: Audio transients, a manual BPM grid or Track sync for a reviewed file grid. A moving meter establishes neither the musical downbeat nor the moment a physical screen illuminates.
Audio reactivity describes the signal you measured.
Frequency analysis helps describe where energy sits in the sound. Time-domain data describes the signal over time. The Web Audio AnalyserNode specification defines these analysis outputs; it does not make a frequency bin a musical bar marker. PHASE//VOID turns observed bands and audio hits into visual controls, while its tempo and beat-one decisions remain separate.
A bass-heavy sustained note can keep a band high. A sharp hi-hat may be a strong event without being the beat you wanted a large shape to follow. A quiet breakdown may produce little measured energy while a deliberate manual pulse continues. None of those observations alone proves that the input or visual is broken.
Start by comparing the intended passage with the meters. If they stay quiet, use the input checks. If they move but the picture ignores them, inspect response, motion, Freeze/Blackout and the scope of the surface or effect you are changing. Adding gain to the wrong signal is not beat alignment.
A beat grid predicts a phase; it does not hear the room.
| Choice | What it follows | What still needs your decision |
|---|---|---|
| Audio transients | Events detected in the captured signal. | Whether those hits are the musical pulse you want. |
| Manual Beat sync | The entered/tapped tempo and phase. | BPM, alignment and changes in a live DJ set. |
| Track sync | A loaded file and its reviewed beat-grid origin. | A useful BPM, beat one and whether later passages drift. |
For a local track, use file-grid alignment: review a tempo candidate, place beat one and inspect a later passage before applying it. A constant grid can drift against a variable-tempo recording. It is not a full downbeat map, automatic live beat matching or audio time stretching.
For a live input, Tap or enter the intended BPM and use Resync when working with the manual grid. Recheck when the DJ changes tempo. Choosing a manual clock does not make the captured sound follow it, and increasing Motion does not turn every continuous animation into a beat-locked loop.
An early picture and a late picture need different responses.
Sound → Get the timing right adds a device-local 0–250 ms delay to the reacted bands and selected pulse. It can hold an early picture back. It cannot know a future microphone hit or remove time already spent in an input or display chain. Begin at zero for a new setup and compare the actual speakers and screen.
The separate Visual timing adjustment can shift the predicted manual/file-grid pulse. That is different from advancing unknown live bands. Keep that distinction clear when a pulse looks better but the spectrum still feels late.
The room-timing instructions explain what reaches Studio, the projector and live recording. Standalone File render ignores this device-local correction because it uses its own soundtrack timeline. A new audio route, wireless speaker or projector setting deserves a new physical check.
Choose one observation to improve next.
- If the wrong musical events drive the picture, review the measured band and selected pulse source.
- If a steady file grid drifts, review its BPM/origin and later passages before applying another offset.
- If the room is late or early, examine the actual input, speaker and display chain separately.
Next, understand where the resulting picture goes: one projector with different visuals. If you are making a film, continue with preview versus rendered video. The operational live guide remains the owner of setup instructions.
TRY THE IDEA
Review the timing controls.
Opening this task starts no audio, selects no file and grants no input permissions. Review the controls before changing the show.
Review the timing controls
