Beatseeker

Origin

I wanted a way to dynamically change various parameters of my stage/club lighting system, based upon changes in music. The idea was to make real time changes to color, position and effect, but incremented by musical phrase and kick drum hits, such as every 1/2/4/8/16 beats. I was unable to source a commercial version of this type of system, so I built one. The result was a fun and effective device, so I decided to make a few more, as it is well suited for electronic dance music due to its inherent 4/4 musical structure.

Features

Beatseeker generates USB midi commands from beat detection of analog audio input from audio source or DJ mixer.

Beatseeker outputs four discreet midi commands(on midi channel 16):

  1. Trigger on each beat(midi #7 note on/off, and cc10)
  2. Trigger on each beat, but processed with an algorithm to refine detection(midi cc 11)
  3. Counts four beats, then sends a command(midi cc4)
  4. Counts eight beats, then sends a command(midi cc8)

Example usage scenario:

  1. Trigger strobes or quick cue bumps
  2. Set BPM counter approximation on lighting software, or for cue bumps
  3. Change color every four beats
  4. Change scene every eight beats

Push Buttons for manual trigger, counter reset and midi mapping

  1. Beat trigger control
  2. 4 beat count control
  3. 8 beat count control
  4. Processed beat control

Control threshold

-Rotary encoder controls level of detection.

-Momentarily pushing the rotary encoder button toggles the input to mute(level 0).  Holding the button for half second toggles on the AGC. The AGC adjusts the threshold up/down until a beat is detected. Turning the encoder disables AGC, enabling manually controlled input level.

OLED Display

– Displays the status of each of the two beat counters

– Displays the trigger level

– Displays the AGC status

LEDs

White: indicates beat detection

RGB: indicates when a four or eight beat command is sent.  Blue- 4.  Red-8.  Purple- both 

Usage

-Connect to computer or console via USB cable(supplied).  Device is USB powered. Connect audio from DJ mixer to Beatseeker input with 3mm audio cable(not supplied due to many variations of mixer output connections.)

-Device will be automatically installed as ‘Beatseeker’, a midi device. Beatseeker is class compliant. No driver install is necessary on Windows 10.

-Connect to audio source with 3.5mm cable(not supplied).

-Push the rotary encoder button to mute input. Level should be 0.

-In your lighting software,  use the autolearn functionality.  Toggle autolearn in your software, then click the device’s buttons, one per mapped control, to map each midi trigger to a lighting software function.   Or, manually add the assignments to the mapping using the parameters mentioned above. 

-Once mapped, either engage the AGC, or turn the encoder cw until the system starts detecting beats.   

-Buttons are used to assist with software mapping, and also to manually trigger events.  Buttons ‘2‘ and ‘3’ also reset the beat counters so that you can keep the system ‘on phrase’ with the music.

Troubleshooting

Important: Real-time analogue beat detection is more art than science. The process is not flawless. You can expect some triggers on bass notes and snare hits, but on most of the house and techno music we tested with, the kick drum was the primary trigger. The level control is relatively precise, and you should be able to dial the beat in on many songs. The AGC mechanism works well for this too, but it is an experimental feature.

-Use MIDI OX or the midi watcher utility of your lighting software to display the midi data streams.

-This device is purpose built for Electronic Dance Music, and more specifically, house and techno music.  It will trigger on electronic kick drums and synthesized bass notes.  It won’t work correctly on other types of music.  This is by design.

-If your lighting software doesn’t recognize the device, close the software, disconnect and reconnect the device, and then restart the software. Think of the device as a simple midi controller and troubleshoot from there.

Lighting software compatibility

  1. Madrix (confirmed)
  2. Obsidian Onyx(without Showcockpit)(confirmed)
  3. Obsidian Onyx (with Showcockpit, more mappings available)(confirmed)
  4. Any software which accepts USB midi in. (We’ve only tested what we use, but anything that supports general midi should work).

Updates

System software is user flashable for device software updates.