Learn
Reference guides to music visualisation: how visualisers turn sound into images, the main styles, and practical advice for making visualiser videos and live visuals.
- 01What Is a Music Visualiser?A music visualiser turns audio into moving images by analysing loudness, frequency and rhythm. Here is what they do, the main types and where they are used.
- 02How Do Music Visualisers Work?How music visualisers turn audio into graphics, step by step - sampling, amplitude, FFT frequency analysis, smoothing, beat detection and rendering.
- 03Waveform vs Spectrum VisualisersThe difference between waveform and spectrum visualisers, what each shows, when to use which, and where spectrograms and oscilloscopes fit in.
- 04What Is an Oscilloscope Visualiser?How oscilloscope visualisers display audio, what XY mode is, how oscilloscope music draws pictures with sound, and the software used to make and view it.
- 05How Audio-Reactive Visuals WorkHow audio-reactive visuals connect sound to graphics - analysis, mapping, envelopes, beat sync and MIDI - and how VJ and live visual software uses them.
- 06Music Visualiser Video Sizes for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Spotify CanvasRecommended resolutions, aspect ratios and frame rates for music visualiser videos on YouTube, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels and Spotify Canvas.
- 07Browser vs Desktop Music VisualisersThe trade-offs between online (browser-based) and desktop music visualisers - installation, privacy, performance, rendering, live output and cost.
- 08What Is MilkDrop? History, Presets and Where to Run It TodayMilkDrop is the Winamp music visualiser created by Ryan Geiss in 2001. How its presets work, its open-source history, and the projects that run MilkDrop presets today.
- 09How to Make a Music Visualiser VideoA practical guide to making a music visualiser video - choosing a tool, preparing audio and artwork, designing for the platform, rendering and uploading.