Visualisations?

[-Matt-]

The playstation 1 came with a visualiser app, you loaded the visualiser, then took that disc out and put a CD in, it reacted to the music, worked really well with beat driven music. I really liked it, would like something like that again.

If you want a quick and easy way to try it, perhaps just plug a laptop into your tv and use a media player that supports visualisers.

I have the next best thing: I have a multicoloured LED light system over my projection screen, and so I can choose a single colour cast on my screen while I am listening to music, or flashing lights, or slowly blending colours. I love the effect.

Some examples:

Lights down from sofa view:

I even like covered lights over some of my other gear, such in my turntable and tube amplifiers:

View attachment 436747

Nice images, I think this type of mood lighting could be relaxing and maybe less distracting than the more intense visualisers.

I found it interesting for about 5 minutes. Tried a few that reacted in different ways to the music being played. Maybe interesting for 15 minutes. After that, turn that off, please. I don't like them. Closed eyes, a dark room, looking out a large picture window or any real thing is more interesting to me.

Of course it's not going to be to everyone's taste. Yes, I think most of them attempt to synchronise some part of the visuals with the beats, or pick out different frequency components. It is mostly random but since our brains are good at finding patterns in things, sometimes there is a happy accident and it can create a nice effect.

I’m relatively new to the streaming scene (18 months). My habits with streaming somewhat mirror my previous (and current) Vinyl and CD, i.e. I just play full albums. I use an iPad to stream Qobuz albums using a separate streamer (Rivo), the streamer has no screen, I can see no advantage to it having a screen. I don’t create or use playlists, very rarely play individual tracks, rarely even skip tracks ….as I say old habits die hard.

Thanks for answering this part. The Rivo looks like a neat little box. I'd still like to hear more from others about what methods they typically prefer for browsing and switching between tracks.


Although I like using the onscreen gui (which timeouts to the visualiser if you let it) I can also turn off the TV completely and queue up tracks (or albums) via a phone app. The TV creates a tiny bit of fan noise so keeping it off can be better from that point of view.

I think the visualisers possibly work best with electronic music with strong beats. To my own amusement, the gifs above were recorded whilst playing The Weeknd Blinding Lights!

I do agree that visualisers could be a bit distracting and would maybe be a bit tiring for long listening sessions, but I think they can also be pretty fun to play with sometimes too.

 

[EJ3]

If you want a quick and easy way to try it, perhaps just plug a laptop into your tv and use a media player that supports visualisers.



Nice images, I think this type of mood lighting could be relaxing and maybe less distracting than the more intense visualisers.



Of course it's not going to be to everyone's taste. Yes, I think most of them attempt to synchronise some part of the visuals with the beats, or pick out different frequency components. It is mostly random but since our brains are good at finding patterns in things, sometimes there is a happy accident and it can create a nice effect.



Thanks for answering this part. The Rivo looks like a neat little box. I'd still like to hear more from others about what methods they typically prefer for browsing and switching between tracks.


Although I like using the onscreen gui (which timeouts to the visualiser if you let it) I can also turn off the TV completely and queue up tracks (or albums) via a phone app. The TV creates a tiny bit of fan noise so keeping it off can be better from that point of view.

I think the visualizers' possibly work best with electronic music with strong beats. To my own amusement, the gifs above were recorded whilst playing The Weeknd Blinding Lights!

I do agree that visualisers could be a bit distracting and would maybe be a bit tiring for long listening sessions, but I think they can also be pretty fun to play with sometimes too.

I like a good lighting presentation but not visualizers'

 

[scrubb]

I’ve tried abstract visualizers and tend to find them distracting and annoying after a short while. They move too fast for me. I prefer nature scenery or slowly fading abstract color patterns similar to @MattHooper’s practical lighting solution above. I have an Anthem receiver with assignable inputs, so I can play audio from one source with video from another source. If I do have the screen on while listening, the video for the audio is set to the Apple TV and I enjoy simply watching the pans and dissolves of Apple’s photographic screen saver. However I can also play scenic videos from something like YouTube.

 

[EJ3]

I’ve tried abstract visualizers and tend to find them distracting and annoying after a short while. They move too fast for me. I prefer nature scenery or slowly fading abstract color patterns similar to @MattHooper’s practical lighting solution above. I have an Anthem receiver with assignable inputs, so I can play audio from one source with video from another source. If I do have the screen on while listening, the video for the audio is set to the Apple TV and I enjoy simply watching the pans and dissolves of Apple’s photographic screen saver. However I can also play scenic videos from something like YouTube.

I could also feel good with something a bit more in the distance like @DWPress.