Now triggering interactive lights and other DMX toys in Ableton Live is as easy as firing off MIDI and audio. Beam 1.5 is here, with upgraded features.
Beam is the work of Showsync, who also create Videosync, a parallel tool for integrating video. Visualist Tarik Barri has contributed to both, and here for the demo video Tarik teams up with Luka Batista for additional light and video composition. You can also check a behind-the-scenes on how this came together:
Beam 1.5 Forest – Behind the scenes
Showsync have delivered a steady stream of updates for Beam – 1.5.1 arrived this week with some bug fixes; 1.5 I missed as it hit just before the new year. Some of the most recent enhancements:
- DMX monitor improvements, including a new default Grid view to make addresses and values far easier to see (the old view is still there, relabeled “compact”)
- Improved performance
- improved envelope release timing and MIDI behaviors
- Improved UI responsiveness
- Resizable Monitor window
- Sort all Attributes by Channels
- Generic light fixtures and improved Fixture Editor, Patch Editor (1.4)
- Art-Net discovery, polling (1.3)
- ENTTEC DMX USB PRO Mk2 support (1.3)
…and a lot more.
Beam is free to try, €199 to license, with educational discounts available. This is a free upgrade:
This video is from an earlier release, but it gives you a basic sense of the workflow:
Previously, on the Videosync side of this: