Previous topicNext topic

Increase number of spectrum bars

Questions, comments, feedback, etc.
Post Reply
tbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:18 pm

Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by tbm »

Hi,

Really nice software. I've just purchased it and am getting to grips with how it works. Is there any way to increase the number of discrete bars that are displayed in the Spectrum module? It looks like the bars are split in octaves and I'd like to be able to increase it to a lot more.

I'm trying to approximate the kind of After Effects spectrum visualizer that you see on a lot of YT videos, e.g:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9dqc9L1-70

Is this possible?

Thanks

Simon
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Magic »

Hey Simon, thanks for your message. Unfortunately there isn't a way to increase the number of bars in the Spectrum module right now. But, you can use the Frequency Range feature to achieve the result you want. Take a look at the FreqRanges.magic sample project for an example of this. You can use the Custom Range option to specify a very narrow frequency range if you want.

Let me know if that helps.
Eric
tbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by tbm »

Eric wrote:Hey Simon, thanks for your message. Unfortunately there isn't a way to increase the number of bars in the Spectrum module right now. But, you can use the Frequency Range feature to achieve the result you want. Take a look at the FreqRanges.magic sample project for an example of this. You can use the Custom Range option to specify a very narrow frequency range if you want.

Let me know if that helps.
Eric
Thanks for the quick reply Eric.

I'm still figuring out how everything works so would that mean if I wanted a similar effect to the video I posted, I would need to add a separate Scale module to represent each individual frequency range? I guess there must be at least maybe 100 vertical bars in that example so I might have to play around for a while to set that up! Any shortcuts or tips to do it quickly?

Also would having that many elements all being triggered at once cause latency issues when rendering (this is for a rendered video, not live input)?

Thanks for a great new toy to play around with - I love the modular approach and look forward to coming up with some unusual ideas!

Simon
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Magic »

Yep, you'd have to have a separate Scale module for each frequency range, so it might indeed be a bit tedious to have that many bars. But you could use Scene modules to manage it a bit more easily (see the MidiPiano project for an example), or alternatively, just uncheck the Bars option for the finest resolution possible (1024 points).

As for rendering a movie, it's a completely offline process, so latency isn't an issue. Your scenes can be as complex as you want, even if they are too complex to render in real-time. :)

Eric
tbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by tbm »

Thank you, I'll have a play and let you know how I get on!
tbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by tbm »

OK Eric, here's my first attempt at trying what you suggested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSnkl48Xc8A

Thanks!

Simon
blackdot
Posts: 528
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 10:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by blackdot »

that's quite cool to watch :) . one can really see the different notes.
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Magic »

Yes, very cool! So did you end up using many narrow frequency ranges?
tbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by tbm »

I think I ended up with about 70 frequency ranges (basically all the ones you see - none are repeated or mirrored). It was a bit of trial and error and took a while to set up and I also had to scale some of them up to give a more dynamic visual range. Without scaling them the whole spectrum looked a little flat and linear and also heavily biased to the lower frequencies on the left hand side, so I manipulated it a bit until it looked a little more visually interesting.

Thanks Eric, really nice piece of software - I look forward to playing around with some other ideas next time and also seeing how the program develops :)
iAmMagic
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 12:10 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by iAmMagic »

I too would love to see more bars added. I produce and listen to lots of current film/video game music on Youtube such as EpicMusicVN, and many of them have audio spectrums as the OP described, it's becoming the norm.

The 'non-barred' audio spectrum in your program does a really good job of showing the different frequencies, but if there were more bars added to the 'bars' pattern then this would make the program an instant purchase for me.

As the OP said, I've also found there to be some bias toward the left hand side of the audio spectrums, when I placed 3 different frequency band spectrums next to each other (80 - 320, 320-1.2, 1.2-5) they didn't quite link together at their edges. I hope this is tweaked as the other effects are pretty awesome!
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Magic »

Ok cool thanks, I'll see what I can do.

Just one quick note, when you choose a frequency range (either one of the presets, or a custom range), what's actually being measured is the logarithmic center of the range, with a certain amount of octave distance on either side. In other words, if you choose 80-320, the logarithmic center is 160, with a one octave distance. 80-160 is one octave, and 160-320 is the next octave. But, as you move away from the center, there is a bit of falloff, which is why the bands might not "line up" perfectly with one another.

Always quite tricky dealing with audio frequencies -- they are measured linearly, but they are perceived logarithmically. Lots of "data massaging" is needed to get them to look right! :)
iAmMagic
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 12:10 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by iAmMagic »

Thanks for your quick reply and for explaining how that works, that helps out a lot.

Another thought I had on this topic was an option to make the audio bars travel 'only up' or 'only down' rather than expanding from the center. Thanks again :)
blackdot
Posts: 528
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 10:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by blackdot »

iAmMagic wrote:Thanks for your quick reply and for explaining how that works, that helps out a lot.

Another thought I had on this topic was an option to make the audio bars travel 'only up' or 'only down' rather than expanding from the center. Thanks again :)
if youre using polygons instead of the spectum object, this is already possible with only very little tweaking. It's just a matter of manipulating the object's center before you do any reactiveness:

http://screencast.com/t/YWiGmGGVuo

In this scene only the upper end of the polygon is moving while the bottom stays at the center. this mini scene could be easily added in a new scene as your "bar".
Encryptic
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 5:13 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Encryptic »

tbm wrote:OK Eric, here's my first attempt at trying what you suggested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSnkl48Xc8A

Thanks!

Simon
Hey Simon, I was just wondering, what ranges did you use for your spectrum bars? I tried doing customs but I don't know much about Freq. Ranges in the first place so I ended up using just presets but it isn't exactly what I'd like.

Thanks,

Encryptic
tbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by tbm »

Encryptic wrote:
Hey Simon, I was just wondering, what ranges did you use for your spectrum bars? I tried doing customs but I don't know much about Freq. Ranges in the first place so I ended up using just presets but it isn't exactly what I'd like.

Thanks,

Encryptic
It was a bit of trial and error and just experimenting. I started with the lowest frequency range on the left as 20-40 Hz then went up in steps of 20 Hz (e.g. 40-60, 60-80 etc.)

When I tried up at the higher frequencies (e.g. around 10khz and above) I wasn't seeing much happening - the bars seemed to be visually weighted heavily around the lower/mid frequencies even though I know there were things happening at the higher end. So I think I only went up to around 2,000 Hz as I was only interested in seeing something visual happening and not trying to show the full range if it wasn't really doing anything.

It really depends on the dynamic range of your specific track as to what will look best - have a play around.

Cheers

Simon
Encryptic
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2014 5:13 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Encryptic »

tbm wrote:
Encryptic wrote:
Hey Simon, I was just wondering, what ranges did you use for your spectrum bars? I tried doing customs but I don't know much about Freq. Ranges in the first place so I ended up using just presets but it isn't exactly what I'd like.

Thanks,

Encryptic
It was a bit of trial and error and just experimenting. I started with the lowest frequency range on the left as 20-40 Hz then went up in steps of 20 Hz (e.g. 40-60, 60-80 etc.)

When I tried up at the higher frequencies (e.g. around 10khz and above) I wasn't seeing much happening - the bars seemed to be visually weighted heavily around the lower/mid frequencies even though I know there were things happening at the higher end. So I think I only went up to around 2,000 Hz as I was only interested in seeing something visual happening and not trying to show the full range if it wasn't really doing anything.

It really depends on the dynamic range of your specific track as to what will look best - have a play around.

Cheers

Simon

Awesome thank you so much!

Encryptic
Magic
Site Admin
Posts: 3440
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:28 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Magic »

Here's a project I just put together, which might be helpful/useful.

It's a 30-band stereo spectrum. The trick is finding the right frequency ranges. 30 bands means that, with 10 octaves, you have 3 bands per octave. So you have to use a simple mathematical formula of increasing the frequency by 2 ^ (1/3) every time. Starting at the low frequency of 20, you then get: 25, 32, 40, 50, 63, etc., all the way up to 20k.

Check it out and let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to use it however you'd like.

Eric
Attachments
StereoSpectrum_30Band.magic
(5.99 KiB) Downloaded 1341 times
tbm
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2014 2:18 pm

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by tbm »

Thanks Eric, that's very thoughtful to come back on this one.

I'll take a look at the project and see if I can use it. I think your equation is similar to the settings I ended up using, only mine came about more from trial and error!

Thanks again for posting this - always nice to see a developer actively helping with requests! Really glad I stumbled onto your software :)

S
waltribeiro
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2021 6:10 am

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by waltribeiro »

Eric wrote:Here's a project I just put together, which might be helpful/useful.

It's a 30-band stereo spectrum. The trick is finding the right frequency ranges. 30 bands means that, with 10 octaves, you have 3 bands per octave. So you have to use a simple mathematical formula of increasing the frequency by 2 ^ (1/3) every time. Starting at the low frequency of 20, you then get: 25, 32, 40, 50, 63, etc., all the way up to 20k.

Check it out and let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to use it however you'd like.

Eric


Hi Eric,

I tried to create separate audio bands but the frequency parameter doesn't seem to effect the bands at all. Here's a video showing what's happening:



I also tried the StereoSpectrum_30Band.magic sample project and I'm getting the same problem. I'm probably missing 1 simple thing - here's a video showing where I'm stumped:



Basically, I'm trying to recreate these kinds of videos:
Any insight?
Sadler
Posts: 1139
Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2014 7:10 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by Sadler »

There's a much better way to do this now - you can have any number of bars in any shape you want.

Here's the basic pattern:
Basic spectrum using iterator
Basic spectrum using iterator
Screenshot 2021-12-31 192428.png (40.83 KiB) Viewed 8169 times
TKS
Posts: 139
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 10:40 am

Re: Increase number of spectrum bars

Post by TKS »

Sadler wrote:There's a much better way to do this now - you can have any number of bars in any shape you want.
What Sadler said, just increase the number of iterations.

Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3mIxcFXT98 I use 128 iterations to display the bass-track at the top of the screen.
Post Reply