How it works
From a song to a street of pixels.
A Resonate kit is a small, self-contained system: a microphone, a Raspberry Pi 5 running the Light Show engine, a pixel controller and the props. It runs on its own Wi-Fi, needs no internet, and your staff control it from a phone.
The signal chain
Four parts, one show.
- 1
Mic or music
USB microphone hears your speakers, a band or the street. Or play MP3s from a USB stick.
- 2
Light Show engine
Raspberry Pi 5 runs LedFx and our engine: beat and loudness analysis, looks, themes, smoothing.
- 3
Pixel controller
Receives every frame over Ethernet, 40 times a second, and drives each port.
- 4
Props
12 V WS2811 mega trees, rooflines, wrapped trees, evergreens and arches.
1. Mic or music
A USB microphone on the controller listens to whatever is playing: your existing sound system, a band on a patio or a busker on the street. If the site has no music source, the controller can play MP3s itself from a USB stick plugged into it, or from tracks uploaded through the app, out through a connected speaker. Either way the lights react through the microphone.
2. The Light Show engine on a Raspberry Pi 5
The Pi runs LedFx, which analyses the audio and renders the music looks, and our engine, which sits between LedFx and the pixels. The engine draws the themes and steady looks itself, recolours and smooths every frame so changes are calm rather than flickery, caps brightness without washing colours out to white, and sends the result to the pixel controller over Ethernet at 40 frames a second.
3. Pixel controller and props
The pixel controller turns those frames into data for each port, and each port drives a prop: a mega tree's strands, a roofline run, a wrapped tree, an evergreen spiral or an arch. The app knows each prop's shape (for a mega tree, how many strands and whether alternate strands run top-down) so patterns like spirals and snowfall land the right way up.
4. The quiet-room gate
Microphones hear everything, including conversation, traffic and fans. The engine continuously tracks the background noise of the room or street and only treats sound as music when it stays clearly above that floor. When the music stops, music looks fade down and rest on a soft always-on glow, then come straight back when it starts again. The Music sensitivity slider moves the threshold, with a live meter showing where the room is.
The phone app
The Light Show app.
Staff never need a laptop or a lighting desk. Everything happens on one page served by the controller, laid out for a phone.
Themes
16 ready-made themes, each with its own pattern and colours, from Christmas and Candy Cane to Northern Lights, Fireplace and Canada Day. Switch on React to music and a theme pulses with the sound.
Looks
11 music looks that follow the microphone and 8 steady looks that need no music, in any of 10 colour schemes or your own custom colours.
Adjust
Brightness, smoothness (calmer changes with no flicker, or punchier), speed, an always-on glow so no part of a prop goes dark, and music sensitivity.
Props
Every prop is listed by name. Run all props together or give one prop, such as a single storefront's roofline, its own look.
My looks
Save what is on now, across every prop, and bring it back with one tap. Saved looks can be steps in a playlist.
Live preview
The app shows a live 3D view of each prop drawn from the frames the engine is actually sending, so you can check the show from inside.
The Light Show app on a phone, with the live 3D preview at the top.
The hotspot
Its own Wi-Fi
The controller broadcasts a Wi-Fi network called Lightshow. Join it from any phone and open the Light Show page. No app store, no account and no internet connection are needed; add the page to your home screen and it opens like an app.
Security
One admin password
Anyone on the hotspot can reach the page, but only someone with the admin password can control the lights. Changing the password signs every other phone out.
Schedules
On at dusk, off at close
Set lights-on and lights-off times and the days of the week. At the on time the last look comes back, or the playlist starts. Sites without internet keep time through power cuts with the Pi's real-time clock battery fitted.
Playlists
A show that keeps changing
Steps can be a theme, a saved look, or any look with a colour scheme, each for a set number of seconds, looping until you stop. Short steps make a combination that never sits still. Save combos and load them for each season.
Setup tools
Built-in Setup wizard
- Find the pixel controller on the network, set the pixels on each port (or read them straight from a SanDevices E682), then name each prop.
- Port tests: flash a whole prop, or light only its last 10 pixels to prove the pixel count is right.
- Microphone calibration: with music playing, the Pi adjusts the mic gain until loud moments reach near-full brightness without clipping.
- Look check: each music look runs for 8 seconds while the Pi measures how much of the prop lights and how often it clips, then suggests fixes.
Lifetime software access
Yours for the life of the kit
The proprietary Light Show software that powers every Resonate kit is included with the hardware: no subscription, no per-season licence, and updates included. It runs on the controller itself, so the show keeps working whether or not the site has internet.
FAQ
How it works: questions.
Request a quote
Tell us about the space.
Send a few photos and the rough size of the frontage, tree or street. We reply within 24 hours with a recommendation and an itemised quote in Canadian dollars, installation and travel included.