How to Sync Smart Lights to Music

Many smart light brands have added music sync as a feature. It’s a safe bet the most popular ones have the feature available, and if they don’t, third parties are likely to offer a solution.

Philips Hue uses its native app to sync music with your lights. Its Sync section is equally used in the PC app for projecting on-screen colors to the rest of the room. Fold in audio sync so that both video and audio data are used to determine light activity. Here’s how to enable the music sync feature:

Step 1: Open the Hue app.

Step 2: Tap the Sync navigation button.

Step 3: Tap Get Started.

Step 4: Tap Spotify Account.

Step 5: Log in to your Spotify account or confirm it in the following prompt.

Step 6: Tap Create Entertainment Area.

Step 7: Tap Listening to Music.

Step 8: Name the Entertainment area.

Step 9: Start playing music in Spotify.

Nanoleaf only has one product that works with music sync. It relies on a small hardware module that listens to the surrounding area in order to control the lights. Set-up is painless, and there are plenty of light recipes to explore via the app.

Step 1: Purchase a Nanoleaf Rhythm Module. Compatible only with the Nanoleaf Light Panels.

Step 2: Plug the module into your installed Nanoleaf Light Panels.

Step 3: The module will blink blue while it boots up. Press the toggle button on the primary module to stop music sync, and press the button on the music module to resume sync. Press the button again on the music module to cycle between rhythm scenes.

Step 4: Discover new rhythm scenes in the Nanoleaf app. Filter by type in the search to find only rhythm scenes.

Step 5: Plug a standard 3.5mm audio cable into the music module if you want to provide a direct music feed to the source. Note that you’ll need a splitter in order to continue to hear the music on headphones or speakers.

Lifx has had some trouble with their bundled music sync since they overhauled its interface. It’s still there and able to be used, but there are alternatives (like those in this article) available that may provide better results.

Step 1: Open the Effects tab in the Lifx app.

Step 2: Tap Visualize.

Step 3: Select the rooms where you would like to apply music sync.

Getting lights to sync with music is relatively easy when you’re talking about smart lights that already have connectivity baked in, but it’s a bit trickier for normal LED lights that don’t have those kind of functions available out of the box. Luckily, a simple flashing lighting controller provides music sync to any lights with a standard plug.

That’s all it takes to get your lights to bounce along to the beat! No matter which of the major brands you’re using, it’s easy to sync your smart lights to music. Even if you’re not working with smart lights, or with a brand that doesn’t have music sync, it’s possible to get other LEDs responsive to music with the right hardware.