Desktop Support

Documentation

Quick Start Guide
User Guide
Video Producer Guide

General

Luminant Music accepts audio files in the following formats: MP3, WAV, OGG, and AIFF.

Absolutely! Luminant Music is a creative tool, and we are excited to see how it can be used creatively as well as commercially. As long as you have the rights to monetize the audio content used, any videos you produce with it are yours to share and monetize however you like.

Definitely! With an active license, you may use Luminant Music for any personal or commercial purpose as long as you have the rights to the audio content used.

Luminant Music was built to support single songs that are less than 15 minutes each in length. If you have the Grateful Dead’s 1978 Winterland Ballroom show as a single WAV file, it’s probably not going to work; that show was six hours long. We are actively working to implement support for long tracks in a future release. In the meantime, many variables determine what will and won’t work. If your computer has enough memory, you can probably play a one-hour track. Save your playlist before you try to add extra-long tracks, just in case, and keep an eye out for future releases to fix the problem entirely.

Luminant Music 4.x is currently available for iOS and Android devices.

Luminant Music 2.x is currently available for computers running Windows and MacOS.

See the Pricing page for system requirements.

Visit the Download page of Luminant Music’s website to download the latest version. Enjoy a 14-day free trial, or if you already have a license key, download the latest version of the application and activate it using the license key you received via email when you purchased Luminant Music.

As long as your subscription is valid you will be able to access the Luminant Music version for which you subscribed and all point releases until the next major release.

For example, if you purchased a subscription for version 2.5.0, while it remains active it can be used to access 2.5.1, 2.6.0, 2.7.0 etc. A different subscription may be required for the next major release, which would be 3.0 in this example.

If you would like to use Luminant Music 3.0 on a mobile device please visit the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Yes! Luminant Music will react to any song or sound you play on your computer in STREAM mode. This tutorial may help you learn to use this feature. See the Technical Issues section below for additional steps required for Mac.

Luminant Music for mobile devices is a complete rebuild of the Windows/MacOS app, and there are significant differences.

The mobile app is still in active development. It has features that the desktop app does not have, but it also lacks some features of the desktop app. See the side-by-side lists on the Pricing page for details.

You can use an HDMI cable to connect your computer to the TV and use it that way.

License

Luminant Music is a one-time purchase now. For a while it was a subscription product.

If you purchased a full license key from us at any time, your license key is for the life of Luminant Music 2.x and we continue to honor that.

If you purchased a subscription, it will be honored until it expires. After expiration, you will have to purchase a new license. The one-time purchase model is far more affordable than the subscription model.

If you wish to cancel your subscription, see the next question for instructions.

As of late November 2021, Luminant Music is no longer a subscription product. Subscriptions will be honored until they expire.

To cancel a subscription, go to https://luminantmusic.com/accounts.

You will be sent to a web page on FastSpring, where we handle purchases.

This web page will prompt you for your email address. Enter the email you purchased your key under, and you will receive an email in turn with a link to manage your subscription.

You may activate any three Mac or Windows computers with a single key. If you exceed the three-device limit, your key may be rejected. If that happens, contact us at info@luminantmusic.com and we will gladly reset your key.

If the issue is not the three-machine limit (see above), you may find success with an uninstall and reinstall.

Windows: Run the uninstaller and check the box “Remove Save Data.” Then reinstall Luminant Music.

MacOS: open your Applications folder and delete Luminant Music. Then reinstall.

Your key should work at that point.

If you are still having problems, please feel free to contact us at info@luminantmusic.com. We are glad to help.

No, if you have already installed the Luminant Music trial, click the About icon, found at the top of the of the application, and enter the license key you purchased.

Yes, your license key can be used to activate Luminant Music on any three devices you choose. You can download and activate the application on a Windows computer and a Mac computer at the same time using just one license key!

No, at this time each platform requires its own license. The three platforms at this time are:

  • Desktop (Mac & PC)
  • iOS devices
  • Android devices

While each platform requires a separate license, the license can be used on up to 3 devices (mobile requires the same account to be used).

Go to https://luminantmusic.com/accounts.

You will be sent to a web page on FastSpring, where we handle purchases and issuing keys.

This web page will prompt you for your email address. Enter the email you purchased your key under, and you will receive an email in turn with a link to manage your accounts and previous purchases.

Your key will be there.

Please contact Luminant Music technical support at info@luminantmusic.com. Be sure you tell us the email address you used when you purchased Luminant Music.

Performance

Performance varies significantly across computers but can be improved by reducing quality or display size. See the Performance Optimization page of the Luminant Music User Guide for more information.

Yes. Click the Main Menu button on the bottom left. Select Microphone. The performance of this feature may vary based on the quality of the microphone.

Render your video at 2k resolution or greater. If you are playing music with a fast beat, try rendering at a minimum of 60 frames per second.

Settings

  1. Click the Application Settings icon near the Main Menu button on the bottom left of the screen. The SETTINGS menu will open.
  2. Click Scene Configuration.
  3. Toggle AUTO-ADVANCE to off.

This setting will keep Luminant Music displaying only one scene until you select another one, using the Scene Select tools at the top of the screen.

By default, Luminant Music’s Video Producer will produce a .WEBM file. You have the option to use an external encoder to produce a video in a different file type such as an MP4.

To encode to a different file type, you must add a command-line encoder and an encoderData.txt file to the StreamingAssets folder within the Luminant Music installation. One popular external encoder is the FFmpeg encoder (version 4.2.2). If you have already installed Luminant Music, follow these steps to add the FFmpeg encoder.

  1. Download the FFmpeg encoder (or other external encoder) to your computer. Keep the download location open. Luminant Music has a compatibility issue with the latest FFmpeg encoder. When using FFmpeg, we strongly recommend version 4.2.2 from either of these sources:
    1. FFmpeg 4.2.2 Windows 64-bit
    2. FFmpeg 4.2.2 MacOS 64-bit
  2. Download a sample encoderData.txt file, configured to encode MP4 files with the FFmpeg encoder.
    1. For Windows: encoderData.txt
    2. For MacOS: encoderData.txt
  3. Open Luminant Music. Click Main Menu and select VIDEOS. Navigate to the SETTINGS tab in the Video Producer panel.
  4. Click the white file icon beside the USE EXTERNAL ENCODER toggle to open the StreamingAssets folder.
  5. From the download location(s), move the FFmpeg executable file (ffmpeg.exe on Windows, ffmpeg on MacOS) [step 1] and the encoderData.txt file [step 2] to the StreamingAssets folder opened in step 4.
  6. For MacOS Only:
    Once it has been moved into the StreamingAssets folder, run the FFmpeg executable file, and then close the terminal window. Close, then restart Luminant Music. If an error message states that FFmpeg cannot be opened because it is from an unidentified developer, click OK and complete the following steps:
    1. Go to the Apple menu.
    2. Select System Preferences.
    3. Select Security & Privacy.
    4. On the General tab in Security & Privacy, you will see a message that FFmpeg was blocked from opening because it is from an unidentified developer.
    5. Click Open Anyway.
    6. Click Open to confirm that you want to run FFmpeg.
    7. Close the terminal that opens.
  7. On the SETTINGS tab of the Video Producer, under VIDEO CONFIGURATION, set the toggle beside USE EXTERNAL ENCODER to YES.

Default locations for StreamingAssets folder:

WINDOWS
C:\Program Files\Cybernetic Entertainment\Luminant Music\LuminantMusic_Data\StreamingAssets\

MacOS
/Applications/LuminantMusic.app/Contents/Resources/Data/StreamingAssets/

Technical Issues

Luminant Music is safe. There is a known bug in MacOS X 10.14.5 that will erroneously produce a warning. Please update your MacOS to 10.14.6 or later and try again.

This issue was resolved in version 2.3.2. Upgrade to the most recent version of Luminant Music to fix the issue.

Video Producer uses the open-source WEBM video codec by default, and encoding is quite slow. Because of the way the internal encoder works, Video Producer may seem stalled at 32%, 89%, or at a similar point in the process, but it’s simply that the encoding process is slow.

To remedy this problem, you can try a couple of strategies. The default number of threads processed at one time is two, but this can be increased in the SETTINGS tab of the Video Producer. We recommend changing this setting to nine. Keep in mind the performance of your computer may hinder this setting.

An even faster option is to install and use an external video encoder in addition to raising the number of threads. An external encoder can render directly to MP4 and can be much faster than the default encoder included with Luminant Music. For instructions on installing and using an external encoder, see the FAQ in the SETTINGS section of this support page.

You should first render your video at a low resolution to see if it looks the way you want. Low resolution videos should render quickly. Once you know your video looks the way you want, render again in stunning 4k quality, but keep in mind it could possibly take a few hours to render.

Luminant Music for Mac requires third-party software to operate in STREAM mode. Soundflower and Loopback applications are two options for this purpose. The instructions for the installation and use of those two applications are found in the FAQs below. You only need to install one, but you can install both if you choose. The Loopback Audio trial version provides 20 minutes of free use. The sound will turn to static once the trial has ended.

Read more about Soundflower here: https://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/soundflower/

Read more about Loopback here: https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/

Be sure you follow the instructions for the installation of the third-party software prior to attempting to use STREAM mode in Luminant Music.

Close Luminant Music before you begin. NOTE: at the time of this writing, M1 Macs are not yet supported.

  1. Download Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg from https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases/tag/2.0b2.
  2. Go to the Downloads folder. Open Soundflower-2.0b2.dmg.
  3. Inside the Soundflower-2.0b2 folder, open Soundflower.pkg.
  4. You will see an error message that Soundflower can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer. Click OK.
  5. Go to the Apple menu, and select System Preferences. Select Security & Privacy.
  6. On the General tab in Security & Privacy, you will see a message that Soundflower.pkg was blocked from opening. Click Open Anyway. You may also have a second message that software from Matt Ingalls could not be loaded. If so, click Allow.
  7. Click Open to confirm that you want to open Soundflower.
  8. Return to the Soundflower installer. Continue through the installation, providing your password if prompted and selecting the location for Soundflower to complete the installation.
  9. You may see a message that says System Extension Blocked. Return to System Preferences. Security & Privacy > General. At the bottom of the window, click Allow.
  10. After installation, the system will ask if you want to move the Soundflower installer to the trash. It is recommended that you select KEEP, as the files contain the uninstall script.
  11. Reboot your Mac now.
  12. Open the Audio MIDI Setup application. The Audio Devices panel will open, where you can see all of your audio devices, including two different Soundflower devices: Soundflower (2ch) and Soundflower (64ch).
  13. Select Soundflower (2ch), then click the gear icon at the bottom of the panel.
  14. On the drop-down menu, select “Use this device for Sound Input.”
  15. In the Audio Devices panel, click the Plus icon at the bottom left.
  16. On the next drop-down menu it, click Create Multi-Output Device.
  17. In the list of audio devices on the left, select Multi-Output Device. A list of devices will appear.
  18. In the list of devices that appears under Multi-Output Device, check the Use box beside Soundflower (2ch) and the audio output device (speakers, headphones, etc.) you wish to use with Luminant Music. Either one can be listed as Master Device at the top of the panel.
  19. With the Multi-Output Device selected, click the gear icon at the bottom left and select “Use this device for Sound Output.”
  20. Open Luminant Music.
  21. Click the Main Menu button at the bottom left and select STREAM.
  22. Click the Stream Audio Configuration button that appears to the right of the Main Menu button.
  23. On the Audio Device drop-down menu, select Soundflower (2ch).
  24. Luminant Music will begin responding to the sound played through your preferred output device.

Close Luminant Music before you begin.

  1. Download Loopback from https://rogueamoeba.com/loopback/.
    (The trial version allows 20 minutes of free use.)
  2. Open the application, click Install, and continue through the installation, leaving the application open.
    1. If you see Loopback Audio on the left under Devices, skip to step 3.
    2. If you do not see a column on the left of the application with Loopback Audio listed, click the Plus icon beside New Virtual Device in the bottom left. Loopback Audio will appear in a column on the left and Channels 1 & 2 will appear in the Output Channels column.
  3. Select Loopback Audio on the left and ensure the toggle switch is set to On.
  4. Click the Plus (+) button beside Sources and click Select Application. Find and add Luminant Music. Luminant Music will appear in the Sources column. (You may see the default Pass-Thru under Sources. Select Pass-Thru and click Delete at the bottom of the application to remove it or simply toggle the switch to Off.)
  5. Click Plus (+) again and add the application that will provide your audio such as iTunes. If you are using a website, select the Safari browser.
  6. In the section labeled Output Channels, you will find an object labeled Channels 1 & 2. If not, click the Plus (+) button next to Output Channels to create the set.
  7. In the section labeled Monitors, add the audio output device you are currently using (headphones, speakers, etc.).
  8. Click and drag the circles beside 1(L) and 1(R) on Luminant Music (under Sources) to connect them to the similarly labeled dots on the left side of the Channels 1 & 2 box.
  9. Repeat this step with the application that is the source of the audio, linking it to the same Output Channels.
  10. Connect the dots from the right of Channels 1 & 2 to the similarly labeled dots to the left of your device under the Monitors section.
  11. Open the Audio MIDI Setup application on your computer. The Audio Devices panel will open, where you can see all of your audio devices, including Loopback Audio.
  12. Select Loopback, then click the gear at the bottom of the panel.
  13. On the drop-down menu, select “Use this device for Sound Input.”
  14. Open Luminant Music.
  15. Click the Main Menu button at the bottom left, and select STREAM.
  16. Click the icon on the bottom control bar that opens the STREAM AUDIO CONFIGURATION panel.
  17. From the AUDIO DEVICES drop-down menu, select Loopback Audio.
  18. Luminant Music will react to the sound source while you hear the audio through your preferred audio device.

NOTE: The Loopback Audio trial version provides 20 minutes of free use. The sound will turn to static once the trial has ended.

See also: Desktop App Licensed Technology

For additional tech support, write to us at info@luminantmusic.com