Polyphony tricks — how to simulate chords on a quadcopter
Each motor plays one note at a time. A standard chord has three or four notes. Here's how to fake them, voice them well, and pick chord types that work.
Blog
Tips, deep-dives, and field reports from the FPV motor-music project. New posts every few weeks.
Flashing Bluejay with esc-configurator — a step-by-step guide
The whole flashing process takes about five minutes once you've done it once. Here's the complete walkthrough, including the gotchas nobody warns you about.
Picking the right tempo for ESC playback
The default BPM from your MIDI file is rarely the best one for motor playback. Here's how to think about tempo when you're scoring for ESCs.
Why short songs beat long songs in practice
A 15-second hook beats a 45-second medley nine times out of ten. Here's why, and what to actually pick.
How to record clean audio of your quad singing
Phone-mic recordings sound like garbage. Here's how to capture motor music in a way that actually does the song justice.
The Mario theme on 8 motors — an octocopter case study
A friend brought their octocopter to a meetup and asked if we could put a song on it. Eight voices changes the game in ways I didn't expect.
Tinywhoop motor music — what works, what doesn't
Tinywhoops have tiny motors, tiny stators, and a plastic ducted body that swallows sound. Here's the honest report after a week of trying to make a 1S whoop sing.
Why carbon-fibre frames sound louder (and how to use it)
Your motors barely make sound on their own — the frame does most of the radiating. Carbon-fibre arms turn out to be accidental loudspeakers, and there's a lot you can do with that.
How to fit a 3-minute song into 62 notes
The whole song doesn't fit. Here's the workflow we use to crop, simplify, and arrange a long MIDI down to something recognisable that still fits Bluejay's budget.
Bluejay vs BLHeli_S — why you need to flash for startup melodies
Stock BLHeli_S can't play custom melodies at all — that beep-beep-beep on battery plug is all you get. Here's what Bluejay changes and why the flash is worth ten minutes.