Tokyo Nightlight

Tymkrs Audio Spectrum Visualizer 10hp

What is it?
The Tymkrs Visualizer Eurorack Module is a stunning analog audio spectrum visualizer that reacts to your music! Plug in audio from your eurorack setup or headphone output for a shifting multi-colored view of the frequencies in your music!

An adjustment knob on the front also allows you to adjust how much of the visualizer you want to light up!

Why did you make it?
I've always been inspired by those cute hand-crafted scenes in a bookshelf and wanted to make one. Tokyo Nightlight is my first in what I hope is a long lasting series of modular functional art pieces that are music-reactive and color shift based on what frequencies are being highlighted in a song/performance piece.

Dimensions
10HP x 3U (Eurorack) - 2 x 5.06 x 0.062in (50 x 128.6 x 1.60mm)
Depth (from back of front plate) - 0.875in (22.225mm)
Video!
Building a live rig around the M2M
Questions we've been asked:
Q: This is cool! Is the speed of the lights controllable? Are there different color palettes or movement effects? Can multiple units be linked to coordinate their effects?
A: The 'speed' of the lights is a real-time reflection of the amplitude and frequency content of the control signal (typically audio, but LFOs etc can also be used).

The module consists of six bands of analog spectrum analysis broken up across many rgb leds. As such, which colors displayed where is dependent upon the amplitude and frequency content at each moment. Overall, the arrangement of the response is amplitude goes right to left and blue to green to red with the frequency bands being evenly distributed across the dies.

So, principally, the control is the analog audio signal. However, there is a front end amplifier which allows the user to dial in the responsiveness. From 0% to 80% the gain is clean. Above 80% the gain is intentionally clipped, adding a variable amount of upper harmonic distortion to the signal before entering the band pass filters. This allows the user to optionally cause a low frequency signal to punch through into the higher frequency bands (to affect more lights).

The four jacks on the front of the unit are a passive multiple. The signal present on the passive multiple is buffered into the preamplifier - so that the preamplifier has no affect on the signal passing from one multiple jack to another. The buffer is very high impedance.

This means it is trivial to 'link' many visualization modules via the same analog control signal by patching one module to the next.

It also means that it is trivial to insert the visualizer modules in-line with different audio signal paths in a patch, allowing for independent visualization of each audio element discretely.

For setups with many chained or discrete visualizer modules, we will be releasing alternative front panels with different art. Some of these will be manufactured / unlimited run and some of them will be one-off, hand painted limited edition panels.

https://www.tindie.com/products/tymkrs/tymkrs-visualizer-eurorack-module/