How to tell a real visualizer from a loop
Pause the track, try a quiet passage and then a louder section. A responsive visualizer should change with the audio, although smoothing, peak holds and decorative movement may continue briefly. These checks show whether the picture responds; they do not measure its accuracy.
Spectrum displays commonly use an FFT. Waveforms and level-driven lighting can use other analyses, so an FFT is not the definition of every legitimate visualizer.
What MP95 draws
MP95 runs an FFT tap after its sound chain, so the visualizers follow what you actually hear, including the EQ and the tape or vinyl processing.
Seven backdrops behind the cassette, vinyl, reel and disc players, cycled from the FX chip: STOCK (each machine's own look), BARS (a spectrum analyser), WAVE (the waveform), AURORA (bands of colour moving with the energy), STREAM (light pouring with the beat), PULSE (breathing with the level) and RGB (the room lit in colour). Each machine remembers the backdrop you gave it.
Six displays on the digital player, cycled by tapping the screen: CLOCK, BARS, DOTS (a dot matrix with every unlit dot still faintly drawn), WAVE, RINGS and VU meters.
Thirteen rooms on the Mac, where each machine sits in a photographed room with lamps that breathe on the beat, or in a synth floor, falling light, neon tubing, an orbiting spectrum or embers, in a lamp colour you choose.
The machines themselves are visualizers
The meters and displays are visual representations of playback. A moving reel or tonearm is an interface animation; it is not a measurement of output accuracy. Level and spectrum displays provide information about the signal the app analyses, with their own smoothing and scaling.
Off the screen: Room Light
The same analysis drives the iPhone flashlight in Room Light: the low-frequency envelope lifts the torch on each kick and lets it fall between, without ever going fully dark. Put the phone face down and the ceiling follows the bass.
Getting it
Every backdrop is free, on every platform. See the visualizer.
Frequently asked questions
Does the MP95 visualizer work with any song?
Yes. It analyses the audio the app is playing in real time, so it works with any file in your library.
Does it work with Spotify?
No. It visualizes audio played by MP95, which plays your own files.
Does a real-time visualizer drain the battery?
Audio analysis and drawing use power. The effect depends on the display, device and session; this article does not provide a measured battery-life comparison.