Sonlit

Credits and sources

Everything here is traced to something

Sonlit makes specific claims about how a car reads a file. Each one comes from a primary source, and this page names them. Where nobody has published an answer, the site says that instead of guessing.

Format sources

Where the facts come from

I paraphrase these sources; I do not copy them. Nothing from Tesla’s repository — not its images, its example shows, its project files, its 3D models or its validator code — is included anywhere in this site, and no Tesla file is redistributed by it.

Tesla’s light show repository

The USB folder rules, the channel names and numbers, the meaning of each byte, the closure command limits, and the header rules its validator enforces.

github.com/teslamotors/light-show

Tesla’s owner documentation

Owner’s manuals and release notes, for the lock sound and Boombox rules, which USB ports carry data, drive formatting, and which vehicles and software versions are eligible.

Read through Tesla’s own regional manual sites and archived copies of them.

The FSEQ specification

The general definition of the .fseq container Tesla’s shows are written in, published by the Falcon Player project.

FSEQ_Sequence_File_Format.txt

The readers, writers and validators in these tools are my own code, written from those documented rules rather than derived from anyone’s implementation. Where owners have reported behaviour Tesla has never written down — where a lock chime file goes on the drive, how long it can be, what the menu entry is called — this site labels it as an owner report and marks it as unconfirmed until I have watched a real car do it.

Typefaces

Fonts, self-hosted, under the SIL Open Font License

Both faces are served from this site rather than from a font network, so no third party is told which pages you read. Both are variable fonts, which is why the display type can be wide and heavy while the body text stays normal.

Archivo

Used for
headings and body text
Axes
weight 400–800, width 62%–125%
Licence
SIL Open Font License 1.1

By Omnibus-Type. Read the licence.

JetBrains Mono

Used for
timecodes, file names, numbers
Axes
weight 400–600
Licence
SIL Open Font License 1.1

By JetBrains. Read the licence.

Artwork

The drawings are mine

The light bar across the top of the home page is my own illustration, converted to a mask so the spectrum shows through it. The car diagrams the light show tool will use are also mine: deliberately schematic, outlines only, no badges, no lettering, no nameplate, no brand paint colours — and drawn from watching my own car light up one channel at a time rather than traced from anything Tesla published. Copyright in the tools and the drawings: Derrick Keo.

Libraries

What the tools will be built on

This site’s security policy forbids loading scripts from other people’s servers, so every library gets copied into the site with its licence text beside it. None are in place yet; this is what the plan calls for.

wavesurfer.js

planned
Version
7.12.11
Licence
BSD-3-Clause

The waveform, the playhead and the trim handles in both tools.

Project page

JSZip

planned
Version
3.10.1
Licence
MIT (dual MIT / GPL-3.0; used under MIT)

Only as a fallback if the hand-written zip writer is dropped.

Project page

qrcode-generator

planned
Version
1.4.4
Licence
MIT

The QR code for the optional send-this-to-my-phone link.

Project page

three.js

planned
Version
0.185.1
Licence
MIT

Only if a 3D preview is ever built. Currently deferred.

Project page

Deliberately not used: lamejs and peaks.js, both LGPL, and any WebAssembly audio codec. The zip file the light show tool hands you is written by hand rather than by a library, so a large audio file is never copied twice in memory on a phone.

Trademarks

Names, and why they appear here

Tesla, Model Y and Cybertruck are trademarks of Tesla, Inc. I use those names only to say which vehicles these tools support, which is the one thing a name like that is for. No Tesla logo, lettering or nameplate appears anywhere on this site. Nothing here is licensed by Tesla, and nothing here is affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored or approved by Tesla, Inc.

The full credit and non-affiliation notice is printed at the bottom of this page and appears beside every export button in the tools themselves.