Beat sync makes the primary motion of every engine burst on detected beats — not just glow or flash. This guide explains how it works and how to tune it.
How Beat Detection Works
Novus analyses your audio in real time using onset detection across multiple frequency bands. When a transient (sharp energy spike — a kick drum, snare, clap, or strong bass hit) exceeds the adaptive threshold, a beat event fires.
This beat event triggers a 'burst' value in every engine that immediately spikes to 1.0 and decays multiplicatively over roughly 10 frames (about 160ms at 60fps). The decayed burst is multiplied into the primary motion — comets accelerate, particles emit faster, tunnels rush forward, waveforms spike.
Beat Reactivity Controls
Open the Base Layer settings in the editor. The Beat Reactivity section (labelled 'Beat Reactivity — Global') has five sliders: Shake, Pulse, Glow, Tilt, and Drift.
Shake adds a random positional jitter on every beat. Pulse scales the entire canvas up briefly. Glow brightens the engine's emissive colours. Tilt rotates the canvas slightly. Drift moves the whole frame in a smooth direction.
These controls apply to the entire visualizer — not just the selected layer.
Tips
- →For hip-hop / trap: high Shake (0.6+) and moderate Pulse (0.4) matches the hard-hitting kick pattern.
- →For ambient / electronic: low Shake, high Glow (0.7+), and moderate Drift (0.4) creates an organic floating feel.
- →Set Shake to 0 and Glow to 0 for a clean, non-distracting background behind lyrics.
Sensitivity
The Sensitivity slider in the Base Layer settings multiplies how strongly the audio signal drives all visual parameters. Higher sensitivity makes quiet passages more visible but can cause clipping on loud sections. A value of 1.2–1.5 is recommended for most tracks.