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The Bela wiki has moved to learn.bela.io. This material is no longer updated. Go to learn.bela.io for the maintained version.

Introducing Bela

Bela is an open-source embedded computing platform for creating responsive, real-time interactive systems with audio and sensors. It features ultra-low action-sound latency, high-resolution audio-rate sampling of sensors, a convenient and powerful browser-based IDE with oscilloscope, and a fully open-source toolchain that includes support for both low-level languages like C/C++ and popular computer music programming languages like Pure Data, SuperCollider and Csound.

Bela come in two sizes, Original and Mini, and is built on open-source hardware. Based on the single-board computers the Beaglebone Black and Pocket Beagle, Bela extends their functionality by integrating audio processing and sensor connectivity in a single high-performance package. On this Wiki you'll find all the information you'll need to get started making projects with Bela. To find out more about Bela and how and why it was built visit What is Bela?.

Getting started with Bela

Here you'll find a step-by-step guide to setting up the hardware and installing the necessary drivers to get Bela up and running. Before running the example projects it's a good idea to familiarise yourself with how Bela works.

• To learn about the browser-based IDE visit Bela IDE
• To get an overview of coding in Bela visit Introduction to Bela Code
• To understand the hardware available on Bela visit Hardware Explained
• For a guide on how to build some basic projects look at the Experimenter's Guide

But, first of all, make sure you setup your hardware and software appropriately and you can build a basic project, by getting started with Bela.

Building projects with Bela

There are two main ways of building projects with Bela:

• Building Bela projects with the IDE (recommended)

• Running Puredata patches on Bela (recommended)

• Interact with Bela using the Bela scripts (for power users)

Plus a handful of more experimental ways for the adventurous:

• SuperCollider on Bela

• Csound on Bela

• Puredata and C++

• Compiling Bela projects in Eclipse

• Compiling Faust code for Bela

• Pyo and Bela

Example projects and tutorials

Here you'll find documentation for the built-in examples that will guide you through all the basic commands of Bela.

Guides and troubleshooting

• CTAG

• Eurorack modules:

  • Salt

  • Pepper

• Updating Bela

• Manage your SD card

  • Flashing a disk image to an SD card

  • Booting problems

  • Backing up an SD card

  • Resizing a file system on an SD card

  • Copying the SD card to the eMMC

• The IP address(es) of Bela

• Recover from stuck in reboot loop

• Using the Audio Expander Capelet

• Using the Multiplexer Capelet

• Powering off the board

• Performance monitor

• Date on the BeagleBone

• Bela command line arguments

• Running Bela projects automatically on boot

• Connecting Bela to wifi

• Powering Bela with an external power source

• Editing the core code

• Troubleshooting

• Porting your code from the old BeagleRT API

Learn more

• Using arbitrary GPIO pins

• Accessing a USB drive or SD card for storage

• Load a device tree overlay

• Learn about the BeagleBone Black

• Fast math functions

• The structure of a Bela project

• Timing and IO in Bela

• Hardware explained

• The Bela Button

• The Bela Makefile

• Using the Bela core with other programs

• Developing for the IDE

• Bela as a UART adapter

• Nerdy notes

• Style guide

Resources

• Pins used by Bela

• Fritzing file

• Voltage ranges

• Experimenter kit parts

• Related Online Resources

• Connectors

• Dimensions

• Preparing a workshop image

• Citing

• Publications using Bela