PULSE-VISUALIZER(1)

📦 version 1.3.9, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

okay so bestie, this is the manual page for pulse-visualizer, and it's from the General Commands Manual (iykyk). it's literally the coolest audio visualizer and i'm obsessed. let me break it down for you so you can slay too 💖

✨ NAME ✨

pulse-visualizer — real-time audio visualizer with analog CRT phosphor emulation. no cap, that's the whole vibe.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

pulse-visualizer [OPTIONS]

that's it. you just run it with some OPTIONS and it goes off. periodt.

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

pulse-visualizer is literally a real-time audio visualizer that takes your system audio from PulseAudio or PipeWire and transforms it into the most eye-catching visual effects. it's giving main character energy for your music. 💅

it features hardware-accelerated graphics with multiple visualization styles including Lissajous curves, oscilloscope displays, FFT spectrum analysis, and spectrograms. and the best part? it has authentic analog CRT phosphor emulation powered by GPU compute shaders for realistic glow and persistence effects. like, the glow is so real, it's not even funny. 🔥

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -h, --help — shows the help message and exits. that's it. simple. slay.

🌸 CONFIGURATION 🌸

the application reads its configuration from ~/.config/pulse-visualizer/config.yml. if that file doesn't exist, it will be created from a template on first run. so like, it just appears. magic. ✨

the configuration supports live updates and lets you select the audio backend (PulseAudio or PipeWire), visualization settings, phosphor effect parameters, and theme selection. for comprehensive configuration options including advanced phosphor effects, FFT settings, visualizer layouts, and more, see the template file at /usr/local/share/pulse-visualizer/config.yml.template. it's all there, bestie. go crazy.

🦋 THEMES 🦋

themes are stored in ~/.config/pulse-visualizer/themes/ and can be selected by editing the "default_theme" field in the configuration file. multiple pre-made themes are included with the application. so you can switch up your vibe whenever you want. iconic. 🎀

🎀 FILES 🎀

  • ~/.config/pulse-visualizer/config.yml — the configuration file. that's where all your settings live.
  • ~/.config/pulse-visualizer/themes/ — the theme files directory. all your aesthetics in one place.

✨ VISUALIZERS ✨

  • Lissajous — displays stereo audio as X-Y plots with Catmull-Rom spline interpolation. it's like a little spirograph for your ears. 🌀
  • Oscilloscope — shows waveform data with configurable gradient modes and phosphor effects. classic, but make it glow.
  • FFT Spectrum — frequency analysis with mid/side and left/right channel modes. ngl, this one is a whole vibe.
  • Spectrogram — time-frequency visualization showing spectral content over time. it's giving science but make it fashion. 🧚

🔥 REQUIREMENTS 🔥

requires OpenGL 4.3 or newer for phosphor effects. works on Linux and BSD systems with PulseAudio or PipeWire (0.3+) for audio capture. so like, check your setup before you come for me. 💀

👑 AUTHOR 👑

written for the Pulse Visualizer project. periodt.

💀 BUGS 💀

report bugs at the project repository. > ⚠️ note that phosphor effects can be resource-intensive and may vary in brightness with window size. so like, don't be surprised if your GPU is working hard. it's doing its best. 😭

🌈 LICENSE 🌈

this software is released under the GNU General Public License v3. open source, slay, etc. 💅

this page was brought to you by the Pulse Visualizer project, version 1.3.9, and it's from the General Commands Manual. stay slay, bestie 🫶✨

📦 where this page comes from