Space
Super Black Hole
Super Black Hole is a space-themed audio-reactive scene in BeamTracer Audio Visualizers. Shape its response in your browser with settings, audio modulation, presets, and tips.
Super Black Hole is a space-themed audio-reactive scene in the Space category. Open it from the left visualizer list, start an audio source, and use the settings panel to shape its response.
Open Super Black Hole
Launch the visualizer with its matching left-nav entry selected.
Interesting facts
Supermassive black holes anchor the centers of most large galaxies, with masses running from millions to billions of Suns — including the Milky Way's own Sagittarius A* and the far larger M87*. BeamTracer's Super Black Hole scene turns that scale into a mass-tunable, accretion-disk instrument for the room rather than a model of any one real object.
- Nearly every big galaxy hides one at its core. Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, sits about 27,000 light-years from Earth and weighs roughly 4 million Suns — modest by supermassive standards.
- The first-ever black hole picture took a planet-sized telescope. In 2019 the Event Horizon Telescope, a global network of radio dishes synchronized to act as one Earth-sized instrument, produced humanity's first image of a black hole's shadow: the supermassive black hole in galaxy M87, later measured at billions of solar masses.
- Sgr A got its portrait too, but it fought back harder.* Even though it's much closer to Earth than M87*, Sagittarius A* is smaller and dimmer, and its surrounding gas flickers on an hourly timescale — all of which made it a tougher imaging target than the larger, steadier M87*.
- Tidal disruption is a star being shredded on camera. When a star strays too close, the black hole's tidal gravity stretches and tears it apart; part of the debris streams away while the rest spirals into a hot disk that can briefly outshine the entire host galaxy.
- Pulsars are neutron stars caught by their beam. A pulsar is a spinning, magnetized neutron star whose radiation sweeps across space like a lighthouse beam — if that beam crosses Earth, we register it as a rapid, regular pulse.
These details are summarized from NASA JPL's teachable moment on the first black hole image, and cross-checked against NASA's Webb/Event Horizon Telescope explainer on Sagittarius A* and NASA's report on TESS's first observed star-shredding black hole.
Quick start
- Start the demo track, choose a local audio file, or enable a live input.
- Try a preset or style first, then open the section for the part of the image you want to change.
- On a control with Assign modulation, open the source picker, choose a signal, and watch the slider's live fill.
- Use Reset to Defaults whenever you want to return to the original look.
Presets and styles
Default · Pulsar · Nebula Storm · Event Horizon · Tidal Force · Storm Surge · Electric Blue · Cosmic Violet · Deep Teal
Audio modulation
On a control with Assign modulation, select the activity icon to open Modulate with. Choose a named source, or choose — None to leave the control unmodulated. After you assign one, its name appears below the slider; select that name to edit the route, or use Clear modulation to remove it. The slider track shows the live signal reaching the control.
| Modulated control | Section | What the route changes |
|---|---|---|
| Black Hole Mass | Core | Sets the size of the black hole; higher values give a larger dark center and stronger bending of light around it. |
| Grav. Lensing | Core | Sets how strongly the black hole bends and warps the light and stars behind it; higher values give more dramatic distortion. |
| Doppler Beaming | Core | Sets how much the side of the disk spinning toward you is brightened and the side moving away is dimmed; 0 gives an evenly lit disk. |
| Step Size | Core | Sets the visible step size. |
| Inner Radius | Accretion Disk | Sets the visible inner radius. |
| Outer Radius | Accretion Disk | Sets the visible outer radius. |
| Thickness | Accretion Disk | Sets how dense the accretion disk is, so lower values thin it until the stars behind show through and higher values make it more solid and brighter. |
| Brightness | Accretion Disk | Sets the visible strength of brightness. |
| Peak Temperature (Kk) | Accretion Disk | Sets the temperature, in thousands of kelvin, at the hottest inner edge of the disk; low values glow red-orange and high values glow white-blue. |
| Temperature Falloff | Accretion Disk | Sets how quickly the disk cools and darkens moving outward from its inner edge; higher values confine the bright, hot glow to the inner ring. |
| Inner Softness | Accretion Disk | Sets how gradually the disk fades in at its inner edge, next to the black hole; 0 gives a hard edge. |
| Outer Softness | Accretion Disk | Sets how gradually the disk fades out at its outer edge; 0 gives a hard edge. |
| Rotation Speed | Accretion Disk | Sets how quickly rotation changes or moves. |
| Strength | Bloom | Sets the visible strength of strength. |
| Threshold | Bloom | Sets the level that must be crossed before threshold appears. |
| Scale | Turbulence | Sets the visual scale. |
| Sharpness | Turbulence | Sets how crisp the streaks in the disk are; higher values give a few bright streaks against dark gaps and lower values give a fuller, softer disk. |
| Lacunarity | Turbulence | Sets how much finer each layer of detail in the disk streaks is than the one before; higher values add busier, finer detail. |
| Persistence | Turbulence | Sets how long persistence remains visible. |
| Hue Shift | Animation | Moves the color around the color spectrum. |
| Camera Distance | Animation | Sets how far the camera sits from the subject. |
| Layer 1 Scale | Nebula | Sets the visual layer 1 scale. |
| Layer 1 Density | Nebula | Controls how concentrated the visible elements appear. |
| Brightness | Stars | Sets the visible strength of brightness. |
Settings reference
Core
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH | Chooses the quality mode or style. |
| Black Hole Mass | 0.1–3 | Sets the size of the black hole; higher values give a larger dark center and stronger bending of light around it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Grav. Lensing | 0.5–3 | Sets how strongly the black hole bends and warps the light and stars behind it; higher values give more dramatic distortion. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Doppler Beaming | 0–2 | Sets how much the side of the disk spinning toward you is brightened and the side moving away is dimmed; 0 gives an evenly lit disk. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Step Size | 0.1–2 | Sets the visible step size. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Accretion Disk
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Inner Radius | 2–5 | Sets the visible inner radius. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Outer Radius | 6–20 | Sets the visible outer radius. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Thickness | 0.5–8 | Sets how dense the accretion disk is, so lower values thin it until the stars behind show through and higher values make it more solid and brighter. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Brightness | 0.5–5 | Sets the visible strength of brightness. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Peak Temperature (Kk) | 1–50 | Sets the temperature, in thousands of kelvin, at the hottest inner edge of the disk; low values glow red-orange and high values glow white-blue. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Temperature Falloff | 0.25–15 | Sets how quickly the disk cools and darkens moving outward from its inner edge; higher values confine the bright, hot glow to the inner ring. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Inner Softness | 0–0.5 | Sets how gradually the disk fades in at its inner edge, next to the black hole; 0 gives a hard edge. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Outer Softness | 0–0.5 | Sets how gradually the disk fades out at its outer edge; 0 gives a hard edge. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Rotation Speed | -20–20 | Sets how quickly rotation changes or moves. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Color Tint | Color | Sets the color tint. |
Bloom
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | On / Off | Turns enabled on or off. |
| Strength | 0–3 | Sets the visible strength of strength. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Radius | 0–1 | Sets the visible radius. |
| Threshold | 0–1 | Sets the level that must be crossed before threshold appears. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Audio
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Master Gain | 0x–3x | Sets how strongly the input signal affects master. |
| Bass Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible bass intensity. |
| Mid Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible mid intensity. |
| High Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible high intensity. |
| Smoothing | 0.01–0.5 | Balances immediate audio response against steadier motion. |
Turbulence
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | 0.1–2 | Sets the visual scale. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Arc Stretch | 0.1–10 | Sets how elongated the swirling streaks in the disk are along its rotation; higher values stretch them into long arcs and lower values give short ripples. |
| Sharpness | 0.1–10 | Sets how crisp the streaks in the disk are; higher values give a few bright streaks against dark gaps and lower values give a fuller, softer disk. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Lacunarity | 1–4 | Sets how much finer each layer of detail in the disk streaks is than the one before; higher values add busier, finer detail. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Persistence | 0.1–1 | Sets how long persistence remains visible. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Cycle Time | 5–30 | Sets how many seconds the swirling disk pattern runs before it blends back into its starting arrangement; longer values give a longer unbroken evolution. |
Mouse Interaction
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | On / Off | Turns enabled on or off. |
| Force | 0–20 | Sets how strongly your pointer swirls the light near it as it moves over the black hole; higher values give a stronger swirl. Available when the MOUSE INTERACTION section ENABLED toggle is on. |
| Radius | 1–30 | Sets the visible radius. |
Animation
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Auto Rotation | -2–2 | Sets the auto rotation of the visible composition. |
| Time Scale | 0–3 | Sets the visual time scale. |
| Hue Animation | On / Off | Turns hue animation on or off. |
| Hue Speed | 0.01–1 | Sets how quickly hue changes or moves. |
| Hue Shift | 0–1 | Moves the color around the color spectrum. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Camera Elevation | -80°–5° | Sets the vertical angle of the camera around the black hole in degrees; 0 views the disk edge-on, and values farther from 0 tilt the view toward the face of the disk. |
| Camera Azimuth | -90°–90° | Sets the horizontal angle of the camera around the black hole in degrees; 0 looks from the front, and negative or positive values swing the view to either side. |
| Camera Distance | 10–40 | Sets how far the camera sits from the subject. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Clouds
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | On / Off | Turns enabled on or off. |
| Color | Color | Sets the color. |
| Density | 0–1 | Controls how concentrated the visible elements appear. |
| Opacity | 0–1 | Sets the overall transparency. |
| Scale | 0.2–5 | Sets the visual scale. |
| Thickness | 0.5–8 | Sets the visible thickness. |
| Inner Radius | 1–15 | Sets the visible inner radius. |
| Outer Radius | 5–25 | Sets the visible outer radius. |
| Quality (Steps) | 1–32 | Trades visual detail against performance. |
Nebula
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Enabled | On / Off | Turns enabled on or off. |
| Layer 1 Color | Color | Sets the layer 1 color. |
| Layer 1 Scale | 0.2–12 | Sets the visual layer 1 scale. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Layer 1 Density | 0–1 | Controls how concentrated the visible elements appear. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Layer 1 Brightness | 0–1 | Sets the visible strength of layer 1 brightness. |
| Layer 2 Color | Color | Sets the layer 2 color. |
| Layer 2 Scale | 0.2–12 | Sets the visual layer 2 scale. |
| Layer 2 Density | 0–1 | Controls how concentrated the visible elements appear. |
| Layer 2 Brightness | 0–1 | Sets the visible strength of layer 2 brightness. |
Stars
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Show Stars | On / Off | Shows or hides stars. |
| Background Color | Color | Sets the background color. |
| Density | 0–1 | Controls how concentrated the visible elements appear. |
| Size | 0.2–3 | Sets the visible size. |
| Brightness | 0–1 | Sets the visible strength of brightness. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Some controls appear only after you enable a related mode or style. The settings panel always reflects the options available for the current selection.
Tips for a better audio visualization
- Use bass for the largest orbital or camera motion and highs for stars, sparks, or glow accents.
- Try assigning Bass to Black Hole Mass, then compare Mid, High, and Volume while the demo track plays. The slider's live fill shows the signal reaching that control.