April 23, 2026
Glow Bird Protocol
Real-time audio-to-WLED light sync for Linux
Objective
Build a low-latency bridge between system audio and WLED-compatible LED hardware on Linux, using FFT frequency analysis to drive real-time light effects synchronized to whatever is playing.
Tools & Technologies
NumPy
PulseAudio/PipeWire
WLED (UDP)
Details
Glow Bird Protocol is a personal Linux tool that captures real-time system audio via PulseAudio/PipeWire and translates it into synchronized light effects on WLED-compatible LED devices over UDP.
The audio stream is analyzed using a fast FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) pipeline via NumPy, splitting the frequency spectrum into 16 distinct bands. Each band maps to a brightness or color value sent as a UDP packet to the WLED device, with low enough latency that the lights feel live.
Configuration is handled through a plain conf.txt file, keeping setup simple. The tool is designed to run as a systemd service so it starts automatically and runs silently in the background.
It taught me a lot about signal processing, real-time audio on Linux, and how the UDP-based lighting protocols work under the hood.
Source Code
Source available on GitHub.
Gallery
WLED Effects page
WLED Reactive setup
WLED Glow Bird Daemon service
// related writing
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