Audio-Reactive Features

Animation Studio lets an uploaded audio track drive visible motion while you author a composition. On export, BeamTracer stores that finished motion as fixed ILDA frames. The .ild file does not contain audio or listen to sound, so cue it with the same track and trim—or with intentionally tempo-matched material—to keep the show synchronized.

Why Pre-Rendered Motion Matters

Traditional live-reactive systems must keep analyzing audio while the show runs. That requires the audio source, analysis software, and hardware output to remain connected throughout the performance.

BeamTracer can instead finish the movement before the show. The exported ILDA sequence plays the same authored frames on compatible hardware without live audio analysis. Start the audio and ILDA sequence from the same cue; the player still owns playback and synchronization.

Audio Upload & Analysis

1. Open Animation Studio
2. Open the AUDIO tab, expand AUDIO CHAIN, then drop a file on 1 SOURCE or click it to choose one
3. Supported formats: MP3, WAV, OGG, M4A (up to 50 MB)
4. BeamTracer analyzes the file for:
   • BPM — detected tempo (see Tempo)
   • Beat grid — beat positions mapped across the timeline
   • Frequency bands — bass, mid, and high energy across the timeline

Loading more than one sound

You can load several sounds at once. They appear as a list, and each timeline layer row gains a numbered button naming which sound that layer listens to — so two mouths can lip-sync to two different voices. A dash means the layer has no sound of its own and follows whatever Layers with no sound says (FOLLOW the timeline sound by default, or STAY STILL).

The first sound in the list is the TIMELINE sound: it owns the beat grid, the trimmer, and the playhead. MAKE TIMELINE on any other sound hands it that job. Every loaded sound plays together on one playhead, and the exported video contains all of them mixed.

Audio Trimmer

The Audio Trim widget under 1 SOURCE shows the timeline sound's waveform with two draggable yellow In / Out handles. Preview the selection with its play button, then press Select to confirm (the header flips to Audio Selection) — or Reset to start over and Edit to adjust it later. The animation is generated to match only the selected region.

Reactive Layer Types

In Animation Studio, vector layers can be made audio-reactive by mapping their properties to an audio source. Exact XY layers use the audio coordinates directly and do not accept these reactions:

Parameter Mapping

Click + ADD REACTION under 3 MODULATION on the AUDIO tab to create a reaction row. Each row connects an audio Source to an animation Target:

Available targets: Scale, Scale X, Scale Y, Rotation, Position X, Position Y, Opacity.

Scale X and Scale Y stretch a single axis, measured along the layer's own axes — a rotated shape stretches with itself instead of shearing against the screen. Opacity dims the beam toward black rather than making it see-through: a laser has no transparency, so fading a shape means turning its light down.

Row Controls

Each mapping row has:

• Drives — which layer the reaction moves. All layers is the default; pick one layer to scope the reaction to it alone
• Min / Max — the output range the audio value is mapped into
• Smoothing — how quickly the parameter responds (low = snappy, high = sluggish but graceful)
• Curve — Linear, Exponential, or Logarithmic response

Drives is how one track moves several shapes differently — a square on the bass, a circle on the mids, a line on the highs — by adding one reaction per band and pointing each at its own layer.

Press Play in the bottom Timeline to preview the shape’s reaction. Preview selection in Audio Trim plays the selected sound and meters without running the composition.

To try the TALK example above:

1. Add a circle and open Properties → TRANSFORMS. Set the linked W / H to 1 so the circle stays in view at its largest size.
2. Open AUDIO → AUDIO CHAIN, load TALK, and add a reaction.
3. Choose RMS → Scale, Drives: All layers, Min: 0.1, Max: 50, Smoothing: 0%, and Curve: Exponential.
4. Choose VIEW, enable Toggle Loop in the Timeline, and press Play.

These values suit the TALK demo and this small starting circle. Adjust the range for other tracks or shapes.

Visualizer Modes

Beyond parameter mapping, a selected vector layer can host a geometry visualizer — stage 4 GEOMETRY on the AUDIO tab offers None, Edge Deform, Radial Bars, Waveform, Loop Wire, and Lip Sync tiles, each with its own intensity, resolution, and smoothing controls:

Edge Deform

The shape's outline pulses with the selected audio band, with Frequency Mapping (Vertical / Angular / Linear), distribution, and noise controls. It works best on smooth closed shapes.

Radial Bars

A ring of bars radiates outward, each bar driven by a different frequency band. Creates spectrum-analyzer effects in laser-native format.

Waveform

The playing waveform redraws the layer as a changing laser path.

Loop Wire

Rebuilds the shape as a circle from its center and displaces its points radially with the waveform — a reliable pulsing-ring look that works on any layer.

Lip Sync

Changes mouth shapes in sync with a vocal track for talking-character animation, with attack, release, and vowel-threshold controls instead of a band selector.

Edge Deform, Radial Bars, Waveform, and Loop Wire each take a Frequency Band (Full Spectrum / Bass / Mid / High) and a direction (Outward / Inward / Both).

Procedural Generators

In addition to shape layers, Animation Studio includes procedural generators that are inherently audio-reactive:

Lissajous

Generates classic Lissajous figures using two independent oscillators. The panel's Audio Mode offers None (the default), Stereo, Freq, and FFT. Freq maps a chosen band onto each of X frequency, Y frequency, phase, and amplitude with a modulation-depth control; FFT adds waveform spikes and bass pulse to the figure.

Spirograph

Generates spirograph hypotrochoid patterns. Its Audio Modulation section has a Modulation Mode of Off (the default), Dynamic, or Beat: Dynamic maps a band onto Rotation, Scale (Size), Shape (Inner), and Detail (Pen) with impact and attack/release response controls; Beat pulses or randomizes the figure on each detected beat. Pairs well with oscilloscope music.

Sine Wave

A waveform follower with an Audio Mode of Off (the default), Waveform, or Frequency — Waveform displaces the line with the live signal, with smoothing and gain controls. For a radial spectrum look, use the Radial Bars or Loop Wire visualizer modes above instead.

Oscilloscope Music Integration

For oscilloscope music creators producing stereo XY WAV files, there are two paths:

• Oscilloscope quick tool — click Oscilloscope in QUICK TOOLS to open OSCILLOSCOPE → LAYER. Load a stereo WAV or demo, check the XY Point Rate readout, choose Frame Rate (30 FPS or 60 FPS), trim the segment, and press Add to Canvas. Left channel maps to X and right channel to Y. Frame Rate groups the decoded samples without changing their coordinates or adding detail.
• Lissajous Stereo mode — set a Lissajous layer's Audio Mode to Stereo to use the loaded stereo sound's decoded XY samples. Glow and Trail adjust its phosphor-style presentation. The layer follows the shared audio playhead, including the sound's trim.

Both paths preserve decoded XY samples in source order for preview and export preparation. Position, size, and rotation remain available. Unsupported modifiers or overlapping visible layers produce an error; remove the modifiers and export XY layers separately or at different timeline times.

ILDA export adds beam-off travel, dwell, and shutdown points. Those points and the playback settings can change timing, so an exported file does not guarantee the original audio synchronization. Continuous XY hardware output is currently unavailable in Animation Studio; vector output and the separate Scope workflow remain distinct options. See the Oscilloscope Music to ILDA Recipe for the converter workflow.

Beat Grid Snapping

When audio is loaded, the beat grid appears in the timeline. Enable the Snap checkbox in the timeline controls and choose a subdivision:

• Beat — quarter note
• 1/2 — half-beat (eighth note)
• 1/4 — quarter-beat (sixteenth note)
• 1/8 — eighth-beat (thirty-second note)

Keyframes then snap to the grid when dragging, and a beat overlay appears on the timeline. If the detected BPM locked onto half or double time, correct it with the ÷2 / ×2 buttons in the Audio Panel.

Export

When you export an audio-authored animation:

1. BeamTracer applies the selected audio mappings across the authored timeline.
2. The resulting ILDA sequence stores the finished, fixed motion.
3. A compatible player reproduces the same frame sequence without listening to live audio.

Use the same track and trim for waveform, band-energy, lip-sync, and detailed parameter-mapping looks. For a beat-only look, you can deliberately match the player's playback speed to another track's tempo. Changing speed also changes the timing of every authored movement, so rehearse the cue before projection.

Further Reading