---
listen-only: joins the DJ network without touching it
no fixtures patched
waiting for input...
default mapping loaded
Filament turns any audio into real-time 3D visuals. Use it for festival projections, club nights, live performances, or just vibing at home.
Drag and drop any audio file onto the screen, or press A to connect a live microphone or line-in.
Filament listens to whatever the track it sits on receives - no file loading needed. Drop it on a track, or on a bus fed by the channels you want it to react to.
Open the settings panel with the ≡ button, top-right, or press H. Choose from 48 visual modes in the scene grid at the top.
Turn on auto-pilot from the Perform tab, or press P. Filament will smoothly switch between visuals on its own, reacting to the music.
Every switch flows through a vortex transition - visuals morph into each other, never hard-cut. With no audio playing, everything settles into a calm ambient drift.
Open this help anytime from the ? button or by pressing ?. Use the Setup Wizard in the sidebar for a guided walkthrough.
Filament listens to audio and turns the sound into visual movement. Louder bass makes things bigger, beats trigger flashes, and different frequencies light up different elements.
Drag any MP3, WAV, FLAC, or OGG file onto the screen. You can drop multiple files to build a playlist. Use Space to play/pause and arrow keys to skip tracks.
File playback is a standalone feature. In the plugin your DAW is the transport, so Filament follows the host's audio and timeline instead.
Open audio settings from the panel (or press A). Click "Live In" to connect your microphone or audio interface. Choose the right input device from the dropdown.
Pro tip: For the cleanest visuals, run a cable from your DJ mixer's record output or booth output into a USB audio interface. This gives you the exact audio without room noise.
Filament has 48 visual modes organized into four types. Each one reacts to your audio differently.
3D shapes made of thousands of glowing points. Sacred geometry forms like spheres, toruses, flower of life, and merkabas. These react strongly to bass - the particles spread apart and pulse with the beat.
Full-screen mirrored patterns that shift and morph with the music. Think of a real kaleidoscope, but the colors and shapes are being driven by what you're hearing. Great for psychedelic or ambient looks.
Mathematical zoom patterns - Mandelbrot sets, Julia sets, and more. The camera continuously zooms deeper into infinite detail, with the zoom speed and color driven by the music. These can be very hypnotic.
Cinematic flying scenes - alpine terrain, neural networks, elemental spheres, and endless tunnels. The camera banks and turns like a bird in flight, and the whole scene brightens and pulses with your music.
Open the settings panel with the ≡ button, top-right or H, and adjust:
Auto-pilot lets Filament switch between modes on its own (press P). It picks modes based on the energy of the music and smoothly transitions between them. Great for set-and-forget projection.
In the Visuals section of the settings panel:
Not available in the plugin. Inside a DAW the host owns the keyboard - in Logic, H hides tracks and A toggles automation - so Filament deliberately leaves keys alone. Everything below is reachable from this panel, from your phone via the Remote, or by automating the plugin's parameters from the host.
H Settings panel A Audio config F Fullscreen
Space Play/pause ←→ Prev/next track
1-9, 0, -, = Quick-select visual modes
P Auto-pilot M Magic mode
D Toggle lights output L Toggle laser output
? This help screen
Open the controller page on any phone or tablet on the same network. It gives you a touch-friendly panel with mode buttons, faders, palette picker, and transport controls. No app install needed.
Your room code is in the Remote row at the top of the Perform tab (or press A). On your phone, go to the same URL and add /controller to the end. Enter the room code to pair.
Filament can control real stage lights (also called "DMX lights"). Your lights will pulse, flash, and change color in sync with the music and visuals - automatically.
Every light has an "address" (a number 1-512) set by its own buttons or switches. You tell Filament what lights you have and what address each one is on, and it automatically maps your audio to the light channels.
Low bass makes lights dim and warm. A beat drop triggers a strobe. A high note changes the color. The macro faders in Filament control the overall energy and chaos of the light show alongside the visuals.
Each light needs a unique starting address. Check your light's manual - usually there are DIP switches or a screen on the back. For 4 RGB pars, set them to addresses 1, 5, 9, and 13 (each uses 4 channels).
Plug your USB DMX interface into your laptop, then run a DMX cable from the interface to the first light, and daisy-chain cables between lights.
For network interfaces (Art-Net), just connect to the same network.
In the settings panel (H), scroll to "DMX Output" and choose a template that matches your setup. "Minimal (4x RGB Par)" works for most small rigs.
Click the ON button (or press D). Your lights should start reacting immediately. Use the Master Dimmer slider to control overall brightness.
Filament can drive laser projectors to create geometric patterns that dance with the music. Lasers project crisp bright lines on walls, ceilings, or into haze/fog for volumetric beams.
Laser safety is serious. Never point a laser at people's eyes. Always aim above head height. Use safety zones (Filament has these built in). Check your local regulations - many places require a variance or permit for public laser shows.
Plug your Helios DAC into USB, or connect your EtherDream to the same network. The DAC connects to your laser projector via an ILDA cable (DB-25 connector).
In the settings panel, scroll to "Laser Output" and choose a pattern from the dropdown. Circle and Lissajous are good starting points.
Click ON (or press L). Start with brightness low and size small, then increase gradually while making sure the beam stays safe.
A MIDI controller gives you physical knobs, faders, and buttons to control Filament with your hands instead of a mouse. Twist a knob to change the visual intensity. Push a fader to control bloom. Tap a pad to switch modes.
Just plug in any USB MIDI controller and Filament automatically detects it. Knobs and faders send CC messages, pads send notes - Filament maps both to its controls. Multiple devices can be connected at once.
CC 0: Energy CC 1: Chaos CC 2: Depth CC 3: Pulse
CC 4: Bloom CC 5: Particle Size CC 6: Displacement CC 7: Speed
CC 8: Bass sensitivity CC 9: Mid CC 10: High CC 11: Volume
Pads/notes: Unmapped notes trigger mode select (note 0 = mode 0). Use learn mode to map pads to any action
1. Click the LEARN button in the MIDI section (it turns green)
2. Click any slider, button, or mode in the settings panel - it highlights orange
3. Move a knob/fader or press a pad on your controller - any MIDI input works
4. Done - the control flashes green to confirm. Click another to keep mapping
5. Click LEARN again to exit learn mode
Mappings save automatically and persist between sessions. Use CLEAR ALL to reset to defaults.
Here's everything you might need, organized by budget. You don't need any of this to use Filament - it works with just your laptop and some audio.
Good for: bedroom DJs, small parties, practice sessions
Good for: club nights, mobile DJ setups
Good for: venue installs, festival side stages, art installations
Filament runs entirely in your browser. The visuals work on any laptop with a decent GPU. Hardware just extends the output to physical lights and lasers.
Filament can spread across multiple devices on your network - a laptop runs the visuals while a tablet acts as a wireless controller, and network DMX nodes control lights around the venue.
Works with every version - web, desktop app, and the DAW plugin. Whatever runs the visuals is the "display"; your phone or tablet is the remote.
Open the settings panel (≡ button top-right, or H) - the 6-letter room code is in the Remote row at the top of the Perform tab.
On your phone or tablet, open remote.filamentvj.com in any browser. Add it to your home screen for a fullscreen app feel.
Type the room code, tap Connect. The Remote row shows "1 connected" and every fader, mode button, and XY pad on the phone now drives the visuals live.
Both devices need internet for the initial pairing handshake; after that the connection is direct between the two devices. Controls locked on your tier show greyed out on the controller.
The room code (6 characters) is in the Remote row at the top of the Perform tab, or press A on the display.
On your tablet, open the controller URL (your laptop's IP + /controller). Enter the room code to pair.
If you're using a network DMX node (like the Enttec ODE), it picks up Art-Net packets automatically on the same network. Just set the protocol to Art-Net in the DMX Output section and turn it on.
For production use (venues, festivals), run the Filament server on a dedicated machine:
npm run build && npm run server
This starts a production server on port 3000 with WebSocket relay for controllers and UDP relay for Art-Net/sACN output. Access the display at http://your-ip:3000 and the controller at http://your-ip:3000/controller.
This feature is a beta test. Everything here is under active development - expect rough edges, and tell us what you hit so it gets fixed fast. The normal audio-reactive show keeps running underneath no matter what, so a hiccup never blacks out the room.
Deck Link plugs Filament into the DJ gear's own network, so the visuals follow the actual decks - real BPM, real downbeats, the real playhead position in the track - instead of guessing from the audio. On top of that sits the Show Timeline: pre-programmed visual shows per track, locked to the track's beat grid, that fire automatically as the track plays. Standalone app only, Studio tier only, and it's a beta.
With Deck Link ON, every deck gets a live row in the STAGE tab - Pioneer decks show as P2/P3..., Denon decks as D1-D4: model, loaded track (ID on Pioneer, title and artist on Denon), effective BPM (including the pitch fader), and the playhead as bar.beat - plus PLAY/PAUSED/CUED, MASTER, ON AIR and SYNC badges. The big BPM readout and the four beat dots follow the master deck. The packet counter (b/s/a) proves data is flowing (b = beats, s = status, a = announcements), and on Denon rigs an xf readout shows the live crossfader position.
The players are already linked together with ethernet (that's how the DJ uses one USB across decks). Plug your computer into a free port on the same switch - or the spare LINK port on the mixer. Wired only; never WiFi.
Don't touch your computer's network settings - the link network self-configures. If your Mac asks, leave the adapter on automatic (DHCP). It's fine that there's "no internet" on that port.
Settings panel (H) › STAGE › Deck Link ON. Players appear within ~5 seconds; the BPM lights up when a deck plays. Works with CDJ-2000NXS2, CDJ-3000 and XDJ models. Best results when tracks were analyzed by rekordbox (that's where the beat grid comes from).
Important: rekordbox and Filament cannot link on the same computer. Pro DJ Link uses fixed network ports and whichever app starts first owns them - the other goes silent. This is a limitation of the protocol itself, not a bug. Two ways around it:
In the booth this never comes up: the CDJs speak the protocol and Filament is the only listener on your laptop.
Connect your computer to the same ethernet network as the players (Prime gear links over the LAN ports / a switch, same idea as Pioneer).
Deck Link ON - Denon players appear with full deck rows: live BPM, playhead position (bar.beat), track title and artist, play state and master deck, plus the mixer's channel faders and crossfader in the monitor. The Show Timeline follows Denon decks exactly like Pioneer ones. StagelinQ is Denon's officially opened protocol - Filament joins the handshake but only ever reads state.
Hit TIMELINE in the Deck Link section to open the editor at the bottom of the screen. The timeline is measured in bars of the playing track (from its rekordbox beat grid), so everything you place stays locked to the music - even through scratches, loops and hot cue jumps.
In PRACTICE mode the timeline gains transport controls on the left: restart, play/pause, jump back 4 bars - and clicking the bar ruler jumps the practice deck straight to that bar, so you can audition any section instantly while programming.
Fastest start: the AUTO buttons. One click on ✦ CLUB, ✦ JOURNEY or ✦ CHILL drops a complete phrase-structured show into the timeline - intros, builds, drops and breakdowns with matching scenes, palettes and macro moods (CLUB even fires blitz on the drops). Click again for a fresh roll, and everything it makes is a normal cue/range you can drag, retype or delete (generated ranges have dashed borders). Your own hand-made edits always survive a regenerate; ✕ clears only the generated parts.
Load the track on a deck (or rekordbox) with Deck Link ON. The show for that track is created automatically - give it a name at the top.
Click in the timeline to place the insert cursor (it snaps - choose 1/4, BEAT, BAR or 4 BARS). Set the visuals how you want them, then +CUE (scene trigger at the cursor), +RANGE (16-bar block you can stretch), or CAPTURE LOOK (drops your entire current look - mode + palette + macros - at the live playhead: perform it once, it's programmed).
Fine-tune: drag cues, drag range edges, or click one and type exact beats in the editor bar below. Everything autosaves per track. Hit RUN and play the track - drops fire your programmed scenes on the exact bar, every time.
EXPORT/IMPORT moves shows between machines as .filamentshow.json files - build at home, carry to the club.
The Video Output section (top of the STAGE tab, standalone app) mirrors the visuals fullscreen onto any connected display or projector - while this window keeps the panel and Show Timeline open for live editing. Pick the display, hit OPEN, done. ESC on the output display (or the CLOSE button) ends it. This replaces fullscreening the main window when you want to keep programming mid-set.
Filament runs free forever with a core set of features. A Pro or Studio key unlocks everything. Use of Filament is covered by the fair-terms license at filamentvj.com/terms - 14-day refunds, no tracking, your shows are yours.
Open the settings panel (H) and click the tier badge next to the FILAMENT title (it says FREE, PRO, or STUDIO).
Paste your key (looks like FIL-PRO-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) and hit ACTIVATE. Your features unlock instantly - no reload, no account, no password.
Your license keeps working offline at gigs - it re-checks in the background whenever you're online. To move to a new machine, hit DEACTIVATE first to free up the seat.
The Presets row at the top of the Perform tab saves your complete look - visual mode, palette, all four macros, every slider, and the laser pattern. Build your set at home, recall it live with one tap.
Presets and MIDI mappings sync to the cloud automatically, so they follow you across machines.
The fifth palette swatch (marked C) is yours. Pick two colors with the color dots next to it - everything reacts to your colors like any built-in palette.
Let's get everything configured step by step. Answer a few questions and we'll set up Filament for your specific situation.