[Simon]

Hey all, I've been hunting around for a while now for a desklet that emulates these "bars" that you get in iTunes; the ones that react depending on the level of sound in the music you are listening too. However, I have no idea what they're called and thus it's very hard to Search the forums to see if it's been made before. These are what I'm talking about:



Has anyone seen anything like this made before for AveDesk, or know what I should be looking? Thanks ;D

[nightcrawler1089]

Could you modify vuMeter to do that? Create a new skin, that is...

vuMeter by herd.

-NC

[Simon]

Hmm, it looks like it could work. However, how would I change the audio source for vuMeter? It seems to be set to the Microphone line, and it's not obvious how I would set it to the Sound Out line, or whatever it is; the one iTunes plays out of. Also, it only seems to support Left and Right audio lines; what I was hoping was for a series of lines from the channel overall. Basically, exactly like it is in iTunes like the screenshot I posted. Sorry if this is too much to ask, it just looks so cool..

[hallf]

iTunes is diplaying a frequency response curve....much more complex than just a simple vu output...not sure how you'd hook into the sound level at each given frequency interval

[Simon]

Hmm, you've got a point. I wasn't aware AveDesk would be able to update the desklet quick enough to keep up with iTunes. Perhaps I should give it up.

[herd]

Its not possible with vuMeter yet.

I was investigating the arcane topics of fast fourier transformation algorithms to convert the wave in data to do these 'bars' for vuMeter but I ran out of time.

It is possible nevertheless. Samurize does it already with iTunes, using an iTunes visualization plugin (that needs to be active) for the purpose.

[Simon]

That's pretty cool herd, thanks for the info. Samurize was one thing I hadn't thought of. Do you happen to have any links for this plugin you speak of? I've never used Samurize before and I'm not sure where to start.

[herd]

Any samurize install later than 1.4 will do, if there are no default configs, you'll have to click and drag for a few minutes.

[Simon]

Maybe it's just me but Samurize really isn't that self-explanatory. I've had a rummage around in the Config Editor and I'm not sure what I'm looking for; I've never used the program before, ever. All this stuff about Graph and Meters; "SpectrumVis" sounds maybe possibly likely, but I can't get past adding it to the config and even then all it creates is a wobbly red line. No idea what I'm doing. Any ideas? Thanks ;D

[Simon]

Hey hey hey, I take that back. Look at it go:



Turned out I had to install a program call AMIP, as well as sort out a Samurize.dll plugin for iTunes. Then it was just a process of adding several bars and asigning them to different bands on the spectrum. It works reasonably well right now, however I do have a few problems with it:

1. The bars will only appear if iTunes is open and in Visualizer mode. This isn't a major problem but it's quite inconvenient to have to go into iTunes, switch off the visualizer, change to another song, and then switch the thing back on again.

2. Once the spectrum bands are up and running, my CPU usage shoots up to 100%. Any ideas why?

Thanks for you help folks ;D

Mods, feel free to move this to the Samurize forum. Yes NC, you have my permission.

[sketching]

This thread from Samurize.com talks of using MultiPlugin along with Foobar to get the spectrum working.

I still need to look into this too.

[Simon]

Cool, thanks for the link!