Big Update! New iPad App, UI Refresh, Effect Programmer and More!

Hey everyone, Kevin from Light DJ here to announce an exciting new update to the app. I've taken all of the suggestions that users sent me over the past 6 months and built a massive, feature-filled update that will benefit all iOS users.

Light DJ Visualizer listens to your music and syncs the your Philips Hue and LIFX lights to create the ultimate music listening experience.

The SceneMaker controller includes 23 special effects that you can customize with your favorite colors.

Use the new color wheels to select any color in the rainbow, available throughout the app.

First, I completely overhauled the UI - no more skeuomorphism! The new version features a sleek, modern UI with lots of nice upgrades. I've added color pickers everywhere, so now you can dial-in any color the lights can produce. I've also added additional controls to the SceneMaker controller, allowing you to pause on a specific lighting effect.

The iPad app is tailored for live performance and home DJ setups, and is the best way to experience the app.

Next, I built a brand new iPad app from scratch. It's tailored for live performance and home DJ setups, and personally I think it's the best way to experience the app. It’s modeled after traditional DJ controllers with a host of buttons that control each of the effects. Users can configure and customize their own sheets of effects that work for their specific setup. Along with all of the SceneMaker, Matrix, and Visualizer effects, I’ve added “Tapper” buttons for your to tap out rhythms and control individual lights.

Program your own special lighting effects with the powerful new Effect Maker.

I also created a first-of-its-kind Effect Programmer that lets you pre-program each of your lights so that you can build your own effects that match your play environment and save them for later. With full control over colors and fading, you can create any effect that you can imagine. This is a powerful tool with a lot of possibilities; I spent about 6 weeks designing and developing this and I think you'll be blown away at how much it can do.

Along with all of the front-end upgrades, I made some serious improvements to the back-end lighting code. I re-engineered many of the effects to better handle large counts of lights. Also, now you can combine Hue and LIFX lights in a single group. The new light engine uses less processing power, which means better battery life so you can keep the show going all night long.

If you don't already have Light DJ you can download it from the App Store today and try all of the effects for free. If you like what you see you can buy the light controllers individually, or purchase the "Pro" Upgrade which unlocks the entire app (for both iPhone and iPad) for $9.99.

As always, I welcome your feedback and suggestions. What else would you like Light DJ to do? Email me at kevin@nrthrnlights.com with your ideas.

Cheers,

Kevin

Light DJ For Android Now Available

Since I began building the iOS version of Light DJ over 2 years ago the #1 question from people has always been “When’s the Android version coming out?”

Well after months of hard work developing and testing the app, I’m happy to report that Light DJ for Android is now available on the Google Play Store!

This initial release includes the top-selling Visualizer controller that uses your Android device's microphone to intelligently analyze music in real-time and changes the effects based on what it's hearing. Check out the live video previews on my (Instagram (@lightdj).

With the Android release comes a clean new UI that will be carried over to the iOS version in the coming months when I start work on refreshing the iPad controllers.

As always, I welcome your feedback and suggestions. What else would you like Light DJ to do? Email me at kevin@mangobee.co with your ideas.

Level Up with the new live music Visualizer

You've never seen anything like this before

One of my users emailed me recently asking for his lights to react to music, like some other light show apps. After downloading these other apps, I was SHOCKED to find out that they don't really do anything interesting. No matter though; I made something way cooler that blows these other guys out of the water!

A video posted by Kevin Kolasinski (@lightdj) on Mar 21, 2016 at 6:05pm PDT

Introducing the Light DJ Visualizer, a Sound-Reactive controller that looks fantastic on both LIFX and Philips Hue systems.

The Visualizer contains a powerful Intelligent Music Analyzer that actively listens to your music and changes the effects based on what it's hearing. The effects are smooth and flowy during softer melodies and energetic during louder parts. You can even sing into it!

Of course, the new controller includes plenty of effect customization options so you can make your light show look how you want it to. Select up to 3 colors, or let the app decide the theme for you; it's smart enough to know when to magically change the colors at just the right time for maximum impact. It also makes sure you're never left sitting in the dark!

Don't Miss A Beat

Along with the Visualizer, the latest update includes another popular request: Background Mode. Now you can switch between apps without affecting the light show. Background Mode can be enabled via Settings.

The update is available NOW in the App Store. Download Light DJ now and transform your room into the ultimate audio/visual experience!

What else would you like Light DJ to do? Have any suggestions? Email me at kevin@mangobee.co or follow me on Instagram (@lightdj).

New Effects Pack, and Loads of New Features

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Light DJ will detect the beat of your music automatically.

I love receiving email from fans of the app and most of the new features that I add come from user suggestions. This latest app update includes the most demanded features that you, the users, have requested.

First up is Microphone Tempo Control - the app can now listen to your music and analyze the tempo on-the-fly! This has been the most requested feature by-far, and I'm glad that I can provide it to you now. Onset beat detection (the technical term) is actually a pretty difficult thing for a machine to do. While our human ears have a built-in sense of rhythm, machines must take a best guess based on the frequencies of the incoming sound. For the best results, I recommend activating the feature when there a solid beat in the background.

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The Big Room Effects Pack includes six new effects, including Groove Wave, Soft Strobe, and Cross Fade.

Next is the new Big Room Effects Pack - 6 new effects for the SceneMaker controller. This pack was built for big rooms and are perfect for rooms with lots of bulbs. I've also added Light Ordering to the app so you can control the play order of the lights. With this you can setup the lights so that they, say, flow nicely in a ring around your room, or from left-to-right on a stage, or any other order that you can dream. Light ordering can be set from within the Group Configuration screen under the Settings panel.

Lastly, I've added a Blackout Button to the controls panel - instantly turn off all the lights with the press of a single button!

What else would you like Light DJ to do? Have any suggestions? Email me at kevin@mangobee.co, or post on our Facebook page!

Cheers,

Kevin

Engineered for Fun

The problem with most smart bulb apps is that they're just not that fun. You open the app, change your lights, and then ... that's usually it. Even apps that are designed for "Entertainment" often just do the same repetitive effects over and over. I built Light DJ because I wanted to make an app that could actually impress your friends.

That's why here at Light DJ HQ, I spend lots of time testing the app to make sure that it's actually fun to use. New features generally go through 2-4 iterations where I build a complete feature and then test it to make sure that the controls are intuitive, and that the app is just fun and easy to use. Inspiration for new features comes from many sources: friends and family, loyal Light DJ fans, music festivals, etc. Sometimes ideas work great, other times not. I've written tons of unused code from various prototypes I've done. Only the best effects make it into the App Store, which is why Light DJ is quickly advancing up the iTunes charts.

For example, my latest controller, SceneMaker, plays through a list of effects automatically. I originally intended users to use the list of effects as a checklist, so you could choose which effects you wanted to include or not include in the show. The problem I found is that there was no way to play a specific effect at a certain time and as a result I changed the functionality of the app to handle this. I could have released the app that way, but that wouldn't have been very fun. No one wants to mess around with a poorly designed app, especially when you're showing off your toys to friends.

Creators and makers alike know all too well the plight of being your own worst critic. Through the process of building new effects, I'm constantly fine-tuning and making adjustments to the app so that everything works seamlessly when you launch it at home. Not such as easy task when there's different hardware configurations involved, but I enjoy doing it knowing that somewhere in the world I've helped to make someone's party extra special.

Cheers,

Kevin