Relackout

Sound-to-light

Split music into bands in Sound-Reactive Light, map them to a group or a scene, shape the response with threshold and gain, save presets, and use a microphone.

For the lights to hear the music, something has to play first. This guide walks you through the Sound-Reactive Light screen step by step: splitting music into nine bands, mapping a band to a fixture group or directly to a scene, shaping the response with threshold and gain, saving sets of mappings as presets, and switching the source to a microphone. Relackout listens to the music it’s playing directly — no extra cable or software needed.

Start the music first

  1. Open Music Library from the home screen.

    Music Library screen with the Tech House Sound of Freedom track in the list, not yet playing; the play button for the next step is highlighted.

  2. Click the play button on the “Tech House Sound of Freedom” row.

    The track row is playing; the play icon has turned into a pause icon.

  3. Click Back.

    Back on the home screen, with the track still playing in the background; the Sound Reactive card for the next step is highlighted.

  4. Click the Sound Reactive card.

    Sound-Reactive Light screen open; nine band meters on the left, the Mappings box empty, one preset named Default; the meters are gray but moving, and the Add mapping button for the next step is highlighted.

Get to know the screen

The nine meters on the left split the music into nine bands: on the far left, Sub, the body of the kick, then Bass, the Low Mid and Mid bands where vocals and snare sit, High Mid, Presence, Treble for the hi-hats, Air, and on the far right, the overall Level.

On the right, you pick where the sound comes from in Source, with two gain settings below it. At the bottom, the Mappings box connects bands to lights, and at the top, the Mapping Presets box stores sets of mappings. The meters are gray for now: the analysis runs, but nothing goes to the lights yet because the Enabled switch at the top right is off.

Bass drives PAR brightness

  1. Click Add mapping.

    New row in the Mappings box: Target type Group, Group All PARs, Target Dimmer, Band Bass.

  2. Click Save.

    The row is saved; the Save button has disappeared.

  3. Click Enabled at the top right.

    The meters have turned from gray to blue; every bass hit changes the All PARs brightness.

Treble drives color

You can add a second mapping to the same group.

  1. Click Add mapping again.

    A second row has been added, again with the defaults: Group All PARs, Target Dimmer, Band Bass.

  2. Pick RGB from Target.

    The Color box is now active, showing the default orange-red color.

  3. Pick Treble from Band.

    The Band field reads Treble.

  4. Click Save.

    Both rows are saved and the Save button is gone; the ring points to the Treble meter that the color row listens to.

Threshold and release: strobe on the kick only

Now let’s fire the strobe only on the kick.

  1. Click Add mapping again.

    A third row has been added, again with the defaults.

  2. Pick “Strobe” from Group.

    The Group field reads Strobe.

  3. Pick Sub from Band.

    The Band field reads Sub; Target is still Dimmer.

  4. Select all in Threshold and type 0.5.

    The Threshold box reads 0.5.

  5. Select all in Release ms and type 60.

    The Release ms box reads 60.

  6. Click Save.

    All three rows are saved; the ring points to the Sub meter that the strobe row listens to.

Gain: auto gain and master gain

Music levels change through the night; on a quiet track the lights barely move, and on a loud one they stay pinned at the top.

  1. Click Auto gain.

    A multiplier now appears under each meter, for example x3.7.

  2. Select all in Master gain and type 1.5.

    Master gain reads 1.5.

  3. Select all in Master gain and type 1.

    Master gain is back to 1.

Sound can drive a scene too

A mapping can target a scene directly, not just a group.

  1. Click Add mapping again.

    A fourth row has been added, defaulting to Target type Group.

  2. Pick Scene from Target type.

    The row has changed: the Group/Target/Color fields are gone, replaced by a single Scene list.

  3. Pick “Blue Night” from Scene.

    The Scene field reads Blue Night.

  4. Pick Level from Band.

    The Band field reads Level.

  5. Click Save.

    All four rows are saved; the HTP note is visible at the bottom of the page.

Presets: switch modes with one click

The mappings you build are saved to the preset at the top; a preset is a named set of mappings.

  1. Double-click the “Default” preset button, type “Bass Hit” into the name box and press Enter.

    The preset button now reads Bass Hit with a 4 next to it.

  2. Click Create new preset.

    A new Preset 2 button has appeared and is active; the Mappings box is now empty.

  3. Double-click the “Preset 2” button, type “Ambient” and press Enter.

    The preset button reads Ambient with a 0 next to it; no mappings yet.

  4. Click Add mapping.

    New row: Group All PARs, Target Dimmer, Band Bass.

  5. Pick Level from Band.

    The Band field reads Level.

  6. Select all in Attack ms and type 300.

    The Attack ms box reads 300.

  7. Select all in Release ms and type 1500.

    The Release ms box reads 1500.

  8. Click Save.

    The Ambient preset is saved with a single mapping.

  9. Click the “Bass Hit” preset button.

    Bass Hit is active again; all four mappings are back in the Mappings box.

Microphone or line input

If the music comes from a DJ mixer or a live band instead of Relackout, open the Source list. It shows your computer’s microphone and audio interface inputs.

  1. Open Source and pick your computer’s microphone input.

    The Source field now shows a microphone input; the meters react to the sound in the room.

  2. Pick App music from Source again.

    The Source field reads App music again.

What’s next

To sum up: start the music, map bands to groups or scenes, shape the response with threshold and release, set the gain for the room, and store your modes as presets. Up next: BPM mode, tap tempo and MIDI clock.

Updated: October 8, 2026

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