EMU – Sound to Light Controller
Lighting software for musicians and DJs Easy lighting control, built for live performance. Design your show, sync it to your music, and play. EMU handles the lights so you can focus on your set.
Lighting software formusicians and DJs
Easy lighting control, built for live performance. Design your show, sync it to your music, and play. EMU handles the lights so you can focus on your set.
Download EMU →Everything you need to
put lights in your set.
Never ran a light show before? Here’s the
whole picture, in three parts.
EMU software
Your laptop. Your show.
Download EMU free and you’ve got a full lighting desk on your laptop. Build scenes, sync them to your audio, trigger cues from MIDI, and run the whole show live.
EMU DMX interface
The bridge from laptop to lights.
The USB-C box that connects your laptop to any DMX rig. Trigger cues hands-free with a footswitch or MIDI pedal. Includes 3 years of Premium — 32 universes, unlocked.
Lighting fixtures
Your lights.
PARs, movers, bars, pixel strip, hazers — if it speaks DMX, EMU can control it. Pick the fixtures that fit your stage/setup; EMU’s library handles the rest.
Choosing your hardware
EMU DMX Hardware + EMU Software
DMX USB Pro + EMU Software
Ready to start?
with free 3 year premium license
EMU, Evolved
Rebuilt from the ground up so creating light shows feels as good as the shows themselves.
Made for playing live.
Audio-reactive effects, MIDI learn, pixel-mapped LEDs, VST3 plugin for your DAW. Everything you need to run a show without a lighting tech in the room. The free version runs 1 universe; Premium unlocks all 32.
Audio-Reactive
Plug in a mic or any audio source and your lights follow the music automatically. Tweak how they react to bass, mids, or highs.
Fixture Library
Get started fast with the Crescit fixture library (Premium version), build your own GDTF library, or create using the custom fixture editor.
LED Mapping
Place your lights on a 2D canvas that mirrors your real-world layout, then create your scenes and watch it map across them.
VST3 Plugin
Control your lights directly from Ableton, Logic, or any DAW. Map EMU’s faders to your timeline so lighting runs perfectly in sync with your production.
MIDI Learn
Connect faders, knobs, pads, or foot pedals and map them to anything in EMU with a single click. Just move the control, and EMU learns it.
Oscillators
Add automatic movement to any parameter. Choose from wave shapes like sine or sawtooth, sync to BPM, and layer multiple effects together.
Own EMU. Two payment paths,
one
perpetual license.
Pay $99 upfront and own it today, or $9.95/month for 12 months and own it at the end. Either path leaves you with a perpetual license you keep forever.
The full EMU application, limited to 1 DMX universe. Perfect for bedroom rigs and trying it on your lights and hardware.
No card. No expiry.
Download freeFull features — 32 universes, VST3, MIDI, Crescit fixture library, everything. Pay in full or across twelve months; both end with a license you own forever.
Pay once and own EMU forever. After your update year ends, the software keeps working — nothing gets taken away. Renew only if you want the latest features.
An installment plan, not a subscription. Full features start on day one; after twelve payments the license is yours forever. 3-month grace budget if life gets in the way.
*Last update means the EMU software and Crescit fixture library version you have on that day is your final one. Renew or buy a new EMU license to resume updates.
*Last update means the EMU software and Crescit fixture library version you have on that day is your final one. Renew or buy a new EMU license to resume updates.
Licensing, explained
No. Your perpetual license keeps working fully and stays offline once activated — the EMU version you have on the day your update year ends is yours forever, with every paid feature you’d unlocked still active. You keep the last Crescit fixture library version too — you just won’t receive new fixtures.
What stops (until you renew):
- New EMU releases (including bug fixes and OS-compatibility patches)
- New fixtures added to the Crescit fixture library
Renew at any time to resume updates.
Musicians are running lights themselves.
1:22How Matt Carter built a concert-style light show at home
A cinematic living-room cover, live vocals over classic trance, with a full DMX rig run from a laptop in EMU.
17:51“The hardest video I’ve made in 20 years”
An obsessively thorough breakdown of syncing live drums to DMX lighting.
Cobus
4:12A light-up drum cover of “Pretty Please”
Dua Lipa’s track as a drum cover, the kit driving a full light show through EMU.
Goose the Drummer
3:22An original track, lights in perfect sync
Jack scored his own song and ran a synced light show to match, all through EMU.
Jack Murray · Chicago Academy for the ArtsMapping, step by step.
2:41Define your space
Set your canvas size and lay out where every fixture sits.
5:02Map any fixture
Add and position any fixture, whatever the brand or type.
4:06Dynamic scene control
Build looks and switch between them live, on the fly.
3:52Sound-reactive control
Make your lights move in time with the music.
Works on what you already have.
Run your first show
in minutes.
Download the free version, the full application, capped at 1 universe to start exploring.
Download EMU
EMU_Download
"*" indicates required fields