Articles

Guides, festival reports, and behind-the-scenes stories from the world of LED installations and live visuals.

An effect chain in Filament with an expanded effect and its parameter faders.

August 29, 2026

Write your own effects in WGSL

A custom Filament effect is one WGSL file, written in a built-in editor with live preview - no build step, and a broken shader never takes the show down.

custom-effects · wgsl · creative-coding

A Bezier curve being drawn across Filament's mapping canvas, anchor handles visible.

August 28, 2026

How to LED map with Filament: from a fresh install to video on your strips

The whole path, start to finish: install the app, draw your strips over a photo, route them to your controller, and play video onto real pixels.

tutorial · led-mapping · wled

A drawn modulation envelope in Filament's envelope editor.

August 21, 2026

Make your LEDs listen

Kick, hats, vocals, or the whole spectrum - almost any knob in Filament can follow your live audio, with attack and release shaping.

audio-reactive · tutorial

Filament's Output page with live DMX channel maps.

August 18, 2026

Designed for the bad night

Crash snapshots after every edit and outputs that fail to a state you chose - the parts of Filament you'll hopefully never see, listed anyway.

live-performance · reliability

A finished waterproof pixel controller - black hard case with four xConnect pigtails and a power lead, on a paint-spattered workbench.

August 14, 2026

A cheap & waterproof 12 amp WLED controller box

The parts list, the wiring, and the WLED settings for a pixel controller box.

hardware · wled · behind-the-scenes

Filament's Tempo Sync settings with its external clock sources.

August 3, 2026

Lock your lights to the DJ

Ableton Link, Pioneer Pro DJ Link, MIDI clock, or a tap - pick the clock once, and everything in the rig lands on the beat.

tempo-sync · live-performance · midi

The Spacetime stage at night — five laser-cut plywood crystals lit in green and teal, the surrounding forest washed pink and red.

July 28, 2026

Kosmos Festival 2026 Spacetime Stage build report

Five laser cut plywood crystals, 7,000+ WS2811 pixels, two stacked 8.5K projectors, three nights in a Finnish forest.

festival-report · behind-the-scenes