The Science Behind Synchrony
syn•chro•ny – a state in which things happen or move at the same time.
Synchrony is found everywhere in the natural world: it is brought about by the adjustment of biological or physical rhythms to one another. It can be observed in the fireflies of southeast Asia, in the rhythmic pumping of heart cells, in lasers, and in brains.
The science began with a simple idea: What if people’s perception of rhythm depends upon the synchronization of their brains' rhythms? After over 20 years of research, this turns out to be true. People’s brain rhythms synchronize to the rhythms of music, the rhythms of speech, and even the rhythms of events around us. Simulating the way humans hear music allows us create amazing visualizations that other lighting controllers simply can’t!
Synchrony is found everywhere in the natural world: it is brought about by the adjustment of biological or physical rhythms to one another. It can be observed in the fireflies of southeast Asia, in the rhythmic pumping of heart cells, in lasers, and in brains.
The science began with a simple idea: What if people’s perception of rhythm depends upon the synchronization of their brains' rhythms? After over 20 years of research, this turns out to be true. People’s brain rhythms synchronize to the rhythms of music, the rhythms of speech, and even the rhythms of events around us. Simulating the way humans hear music allows us create amazing visualizations that other lighting controllers simply can’t!
Edward Large, PhD. Neuroscientist and Founder
Synchrony™ versus the Competition
Other lighting systems either 1- flash light based on the qualities of individual sounds, such as loudness, 2- they require the user to program a light show ahead of time, or 3- they require a lighting designer to operate the controls in real time. Also, many require digital input. Synchrony™ is different. Our neural network technology hears music the way people do. And our simple design makes it easy to use. It is like having a lighting designer in the room with you, listening to your music and creating a spontaneous light show, in real time.
Dylan Reilly - Lighting Designer & Chief Technology Officer
Ji Chul Kim-Music Theorist & Chief Science Officer
The Neural Network Inside Synchrony™
What makes Synchrony™ unique is an advanced neural network that synchronizes oscillations to music, modeling the human brain. This allows it to anticipate, and respond to each note based on the musical context. We map the output of the networks directly to the LEDs, resulting in a spontaneous light show that makes musical sense. Also, because it is a dynamic neural network, not a simple algorithm, it never responds to a song exactly the same way twice. Like every experience listening to a song is different for us, every experience with Synchrony™ is unique.
synchrony™ is an Oscilloscape product