App News — The Light DJ Blog

Hey there,

Kevin from Light DJ here. It’s been a while since my last post but that’s because I’ve been plugging away at something brand new and I’m finally ready to share it with all of you, but some back story first.

Light DJ blew up a bit during COVID when lots of people where bored at home and streaming concerts were on the rise. I watched a few of those while controlling my lights by hand but couldn't help but wish there were a better way to sync them to the video. After 8 years of developing light apps I understood many of the technical challenges in making that happen and have seen various attempts at a solution:

  • You can use a Hue Sync box, but then you're limited to HDMI, only Hue products, and only screen mirroring effects.
  • You can use a Nanoleaf 4D camera, but then you're limited to Nanoleaf and screen mirroring effects.
  • You can use the Hue Sync TV app, but then you're limited to Hue on certain TVs.
  • SYFY tried something called SYFY Sync. It was a bit ahead of its time but only worked on certain shows with Hue and has since been decommissioned.
  • LIFX users are left out in the cold.

So I sought to create a system that could work with any brand of light and that didn't need any extra hardware. TL;DR after 10 months of research and development I'm finally ready share my creation with the world.

I call it LYTVOX (pronounced "light-vocks") and it's an entire light show authoring pipeline that allows content producers to easily create ambient lighting experiences that sync with their video content and enables streaming media providers to deliver those experiences to users.

You can see a demo here:

Flying Lotus - Zodiac Shit [LYTVOX Demo]

Some of the benefits of our solution include:

  • Fully customizable 4K surround lighting video presentations streamed directly to users.
  • Creators have full control of the light show authoring process and are not just limited to screen mirroring; they have the ability colorize the entire 3D space frame-by-frame.
  • It can support any combination of lighting hardware & any number of lights.
  • Adapts to your room based on light placement for the full surround lighting experience.
  • tvOS and Google TV apps for accessing content directly from TVs and streaming devices like Apple TV 4K and Chromecast.
  • iOS and Android mobile apps for broad compatibility, including Airplay and Google Cast support.
  • Light hardware agnostic - we can support any light that can be controlled on the local network at a certain rate (currently Hue, LIFX, and Nanoleaf).
  • No additional cameras or boxes needed; runs on devices most users already own.

So how can you help us?

We're currently seeking Early Access beta testers who would like to try our client app and give us feedback. We have over 5 hours of content for you to enjoy and about 30 different types of videos available, including music videos, concerts, anime, ambiences, and more. Beta access is completely free. To access the beta you must have an iOS/tvOS or Android device and supported smart lighting:

  • Hue (v2 bridge required)
  • Nanoleaf (all panel types)
  • LIFX (all devices)

If this sounds like something you're interested in, head over to our website and submit your email address for early access: www.lytvox.com

What about Light DJ?

Don’t worry - Light DJ is here to stay! And as a bonus, a lot of the work I did preparing LYTVOX for production will flow down to all Light DJ apps for iOS and Android. Some notable improvements include:

  • All entertainment effects work with LIFX lights.
  • Hue Gradient Strip / Entertainment v2 support.
  • All light brands can be now mixed freely using entertainment effects.
    • (Legacy Hue lights are still limited)
  • Nanoleaf panels can be controlled as a positionable light for spatial effects

and more, coming to you via an app update in the not so distant future so stay tuned!

Nanoleaf Lines & Other Improvements

In case you missed the last post, Light DJ now supports more types of Nanoleaf lights than ever before, including Nanoleaf Lines and Nanoleaf Elements Wood Look Hexagons. The latest releases added a number of backend improvements that will improve sync and responsiveness for all users, especially for those controlling multiple Nanoleaf controllers simultaneously.

Android Cloud Support

The Android version now fully supports and syncs with the Light DJ Network cloud service. This means that all of your patterns, playlists, and color palettes are fully backed up to the cloud and usable across the universe of iOS and Android devices. Cross-platform access continues to be available for all subscribers and full purchase users through your Light DJ Network account.

Android Command Items & Automations

New command items are now available for your playlists. These instruct the app to perform some simple commands when they're triggered during playback. They can tell the app to change brightness or tempo, switch to a different playlist, or apply a color palette. Brightness and tempo commands can include automations that will slowly increase and decrease the value over time or in a wave pattern. Brightness and tempo automations can also be started manually through the SceneMaker Options page.

iOS Community Sharing Features

On iOS, the community content sharing feature has been removed. My original plan was for users to upload their custom content to a community library so that other users could download it for their own use. It seemed that many users didn't understand this feature and it ended up being a dumping ground of sorts with a lot of duplicate and poorly named content, so as of today this section will feature all the official content available in the app. For iPad users, this is particularly useful for downloading different sheet sizes other than your native device. In a future update I'd like to add select community content from approved creators - email me if you have something you'd like to share!

iOS Promotional Offers

If you previously subscribed to the app but cancelled for some reason, check the latest update to find your limited-time, personal promotional offer. These are unique for every user and change periodically so if you've been thinking about re-subscribing look for your offer in the app and you could save up to 50%.

Sunsetting Bonus Effects

Finally, after much consideration and after creating almost 5 years worth of bonus effects for the app, I've decided to finally sunset the development of new effects with the final 2 bonus effects being unlocked April 2023. While it was a rewarding challenge to create over 100 unique configurable effects for the app it's also been limiting with respect to the expansion of Light DJ and my business as a whole. For example I'd love to make updates to the Visualizer and to the Light DJ Studio app (as well as port it to Android). I've also got a top-secret project I'm working on that should add a few more effects to Light DJ's library once it's complete. Light DJ will continue to receive updates as new lighting hardware becomes available as well as periodic updates based on new effects and controllers from other products I create.

As always, if you have any suggestions or feedback on the app feel free to reach out at kevin@nrthrnlights.com.

Happy Lighting!

Kevin

Light DJ: The Next Generation

First and foremost, let’s talk about what’s new in Light DJ v8.0 and how we got here.

When I first started making light apps back in 2014, my very first app was called HouseParty and it let users create simple tempo-based strobing patterns. At the time, only LIFX lights were fast enough to support this effect (it would quickly crash Hue bridges), so when the first official “Light DJ” app was released, my focus was on creating built-in effects where I could have better control over the rate that the lights change.

By mid-2016 the app had grown enough that I decided it was time to re-integrate the effect builder into the app. This time it had bulb-level control of the lights so that users could create custom effects that could run on both LIFX & Hue without crashing the bridge. Though it’s received various updates over the past few years to support Hue Entertainment and Nanoleaf, it’s otherwise played a minor role. It’s a complex tool and usually only the most adventurous of users will try their hand at making one. I hope to change that today with the introduction of the Community Content update - now users can share their custom creations with other Light DJ users around the world.

Now with v8.0 you can:

  • Easily manage & share your local custom effects, sheets, and playlists through the new Content Manager,
  • Browse community content and download it into your config
  • Preview & play community content right from the Content Browser
  • Assign and Generate icons for your sheets & playlists

If you've created a custom effect or sick playlist, I invite you to share it with the community to help grow the network of global light show content.

I hope you all have a fun & safe New Years Eve and wish you all the best for 2020!

This year was another blockbuster year for the app with many significant updates that will help set the course for the future of the app. Major updates included:

  • SceneMaker refresh, including custom playlist support and other advanced options
  • iPad UI & performance improvements
  • Nanoleaf support for square Canvas tiles
  • Custom configurable color palettes
  • iCloud sharing for playlists, sheets, & custom effects
  • And of course, 2 bonus effects each month!

Thank you to all of my users. I’m grateful for your support over the years. The app turns 5 years old next month and I couldn’t have done it without you. I still can’t believe I’m able to continue to grow it with new effects and other fun things for you to show off your lights with. As always, if you have suggestions or feedback email me at kevin@nrthrnlights.com and I will reply.

I wish you all a Happy New Year. Best of luck in 2020!

-Kevin