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Old 08-11-2019, 09:28 AM   #1
onewhodrums
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Default Creating a light show with a projector and Reaper

I'm using reaper for live performances and I'm just getting my next show ready. I've used MusicBeam (musicbeam.org) to create a lightshow using a projector - and it's really cool, but I want to be able to automate it so that certain lighting effects go with certain parts of the song.

How can I do this?

Is there a video plugin in reaper that can do the same thing as MusicBeam? i.e. output video of circles or lines moving to the music on a black background. I know there's the "video processor" plugin, but I'm not sure if that will work.


Is there any way I can run MusicBeam in Reaper as a plug in?
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Old 08-11-2019, 04:25 PM   #2
Philbo King
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I've never used musicbeam so I can't advise on that.

But I have had success using Winamp (get the 'final' 5.58 version).
Set it up using the LineIn input, use loopback cables to feed the stereo mix into the line-in, and start the Milkdrop visualization. Works great. Unlike some other Winamp versions, 5.58 is extremely stable.
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Old 08-11-2019, 04:27 PM   #3
Fergler
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Your probably better off looking at musicbeam's support to determine how it handles information changes. It says it is 'music driven' on the website in that it reacts to music, but perhaps you can also send it MIDI or some other form of data which could be sent from Reaper through a virtual MIDI cable on Windows or the Audio / MIDI setup on Mac.

If I've misunderstood and you just want to get audio to the program while Reaper is taking over your audio card, perhaps you need to look into ASIO4ALL or VoiceMeeter Banana to ensure the program receives audio. It's not terribly hard to set up, I would recommend Banana. There are youtube tutorials to get you started.

Also, thank you for sharing that website I didn't know about it! Might use it for a studio space...
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Old 08-14-2019, 09:48 AM   #4
onewhodrums
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Hey Philbo King, Thanks for the info, I'll try that out.

Fergler, I emailed MusicBeam and they said they were not planning on doing a VST plug in any time soon, but they are working on a MIDI integration so that's good news

In the meantime I think I'm going to try a screen capture while it's running, then I can just insert that video into REAPER wherever I need it
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Old 08-14-2019, 11:31 AM   #5
DVDdoug
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I don't know anything about musicbeam but it appears to be "sound activated", which is pretty common for lighting effects. Of course, the advantage of that is that you don't have to program it, or re-program it if you change the show. "DJ lights" are usually sound activated.

I think the "big shows" have some pre-programmed lighting sequences, but of course they have someone "running the lights", and there may be some sound-activated effects that can be switched in & out.

Typically, stage lights are controlled with DMX. DMX controllers can be operated manually (something like an audio mixer, but for lights), they can be programmed, or some have audio-to-DMX conversion, depending the on the particular lighting effects.


MIDI and DMX are too-different to make any kind of standard conversion but people have built custom hardware (and probably software) to convert specific MIDI commands to specific DMX commands.

Last edited by DVDdoug; 08-14-2019 at 11:42 AM.
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Old 08-14-2019, 10:51 PM   #6
mschnell
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If they do a VST it of course totally depends on the specs they might come up with, but supposedly willl work with any DAW including Reaper.

If they come up with Midi support, in reaper you can easily create Midi tracks to send out any Midi information at any time running the running project you desire. On top of this you can use JSFX scripts to create Midi events automatically based on whatever useful information you can draw from the running project. (e.g. friend of mine created light effects from audio to be converted to DMX by some external hardware device).

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