> I think the future of audio visualization on LED strips will involve a mixture of experts tuned for different genres, likely using neural networks.

I think its more likely going to come from a direct integration with existing synthesis methods, but .. I’m kind of biased when it comes to audio and light synthesizers, having made a few of each…

We have addressed this expert tuning issue with the MagicShifter, which is a product not quite competing with the OP’s work, but very much aligned with it[1]:

.. which is a very fun little light synthesizer capable of POV rendering, in-air text effects, light sequencer programming, MIDI, and so on .. plus, has a 6dof sensor enabling some degree of magnetometers, accelerometers, touch-sensing and so on .. so you can use it for a lot of great things. We have a mode “BEAT” that you can place on a speaker and get reactive LED strips of a form (quite functional) pretty much micro-mechanically, as in: through the case and thus the sensor, not an ADAC, not processing audio - but the levers in between the sensor and the audio source. So - not quite the same, but functionally equivalent in the long-rung (plus the magicshifter is battery powered and pocketable, and you can paint your own POV images and so on, but .. whatever..)

The thing is, the limits: yes, there are limits - but like all instruments you need to tune to/from/with those limits. It’s not so much that achieving perfect audio reactive LED’s is diabolically hard, but rather making aesthetically/functionally relevant decisions about when to accept those limits requires a bit of gumption.

Humans can be very forgiving with LED/light-based interfaces, if you stack things right. The aesthetics of the thing can go a long way towards providing a great user experience .. and in fact, is important to giving it.

[1] - (okay, you can power a few meters of LED strips with a single MagicShifter, so maybe it is ‘competition’, but whatever..)