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iTunes 8 Visualizer's Undocumented Keyboard Controls
Posted by Gina Trapani at 5:00 AM on September 28, 2008
iTunes 8's new default music visualizer, based on the beautiful Magnetosphere plug-in, has several keyboard shortcuts that customise its look and behavior—not listed in the iTunes help file. Macworld lists them:
- + and -: Increase or decrease the intensity (brightness) of the particles; multiple presses further increase or decrease the intensity.
- A and S: Add or Subtract particles to the visualizer. You can make the visualizer as complex (or sparse) as you wish.
- R: Reset the intensity and particle count to their default values.
- E: When in nebula mode (press N), this greatly accentuates the nebula clouds, making them very easy to see. (If you've used the M key to change modes, you may find that the nebula clouds aren't visible; it seems they're only used in certain modes.)
See what the original Magnetosphere plug-in looked like in this mesmerizing clip.
What's your favourite iTunes visualizer option or customisation? Lower the lights, put on your favourite tunes, hit Cmd+T, and let us know.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
undertakenbylife
Posted 5:29 AM 28/9/08
Ooh, things just got better. :) Thanks once again LifeHacker!
undertakenbylife
Paradox460
Posted 5:47 AM 28/9/08
I still like the barbarian group's original more.
Paradox460
Krustoff
Posted 5:39 AM 28/9/08
I'm having too much fun now.
Krustoff
whoisvaibhav
Posted 6:08 AM 28/9/08
@whoisvaibhav: Although, I have to say (seeing the video) that these visualizations are pretty nice.
whoisvaibhav
whoisvaibhav
Posted 6:05 AM 28/9/08
I am actually scared of upgrading to the latest iTunes. God knows what all it will install on my computer. And I never use visualizations anyway :)
The last time I upgraded iTunes I Hated It.
whoisvaibhav
Cryptecks
Posted 5:53 AM 28/9/08
Yes this took forever to find back when iTunes 8 came out, it's good that LH is taking care of the users that are out looking for this.
Cryptecks
thoughtcrime
Posted 6:28 AM 28/9/08
Woah, is there something similar available for Winamp? This does look great.
thoughtcrime
alt3r3g0
Posted 6:53 AM 28/9/08
It is so much better to look at now!
Unfortunately, I have more important things to do than watch a visualizer...
alt3r3g0
witeowl
Posted 7:27 AM 28/9/08
@alt3r3g0: Yes, I learned quickly that:
grading papers + this visualizer = reduced productivity
Beautiful nonetheless, and these shortcuts will surely make it even better! Thanks, LH.
witeowl
hardman.ethan
Posted 7:59 AM 28/9/08
:)
hardman.ethan
geeniusatwrok
Posted 8:27 AM 28/9/08
I can has dual-screen support plz? thx.
geeniusatwrok
Kaelri
Posted 10:20 AM 28/9/08
...I really wish I was less of a sucker for eye candy.
I had no idea this was slipped into iTunes. Not only is it disturbingly mesmerizing, but it runs incredibly smoothly on my laptop.
Kaelri
flysi
Posted 10:33 AM 28/9/08
Fancy! I was just playing with the different visualizer modes today.
flysi
saicrazyfire
Posted 10:33 AM 28/9/08
lol my explorer crashed when i was upgrading...ehh im not a fan of itunes. xmplay/gom player combination fits all my music/video needs (both having less ram usage than itunes combined)
saicrazyfire
chrisrosa
Posted 12:17 PM 28/9/08
? question mark (or fwd slash) to get the help menu showing all the controls. F for freeze is a pretty slick effect if you're VJing. ;)
chrisrosa
danmandle
Posted 12:33 AM 29/9/08
using M also advances to the next visualization.
danmandle
Torley
Posted 12:43 AM 29/9/08
I've seen that video embedded in numerous places (including my own blog); it just happened to be conveniently *there* and show off Magnetosphere pre-iTunes 8!
Other visualizers have had similar "hidden" features, or they display instructions in crunchy little pixelfonts.
Someone should record Magnetosphere @ high-res in sync with music and use it as the basis for a music video.
Torley
A3sthetix
Posted 4:36 AM 29/9/08
@thoughtcrime: I use MilkDrop. It gets installed by default. Just try press keys with in visualization mode... for example H or T. There's a lot of modifying keys in WinAmp. When you go into Prefs, they are listed for MilkDrop. I've been using it since the 90's and all my friends used to get hypnotized!
A3sthetix
nironan12
Posted 12:46 AM 29/9/08
I love you forever Lifehacker. Makes my life better.
nironan12
.endejas.
Posted 6:36 AM 29/9/08
Please tell me there's someone porting something like this to WMC or WMP11.
.endejas.
guitarjockey
Posted 5:56 AM 28/9/08
Yeah thanks so much for posting this up here, I didn't even remember that there where key commands for the visualizer and now I remember =)
guitarjockey
nolabar10der
Posted 2:08 PM 29/9/08
I checked out of curiosity, and not only do these functions work with a huge degree of awesomeness, the entire visualization feature in 8.0 functions flawlessly. What would be REALLY great is if iTunes performed other tasks with similar aplomb. You know, like playing my !@#$ music files without maddening lag.
Talk about running before you can walk...
nolabar10der
Silver_Back
Posted 2:13 PM 29/9/08
Ooooh! Nice one Gina! I've been looking all up and down the Internet for a complete list of all the functions! :D
Silver_Back
BustersDad
Posted 2:18 AM 30/9/08
Thank you! Thank you! I had Magnetosphere on a previous Mac and remembered that you could play with the settings. However, when I looked at the Apple documentation but could not find any info. . .
BustersDad
Goldhawk
Posted 12:27 AM 30/9/08
@Torley: Yeah, I was thinking the same thing while watching, you should use that idea for your piano-improv maybe :-)
How's secondlife going by the way?, haven't logged on for six months, lost touch with the world :-P
Goldhawk
crashfrog
Posted 11:46 AM 30/9/08
It's pretty, but I'm kind of wondering in what sense it's a "visualizer" at all. No part of the pretty moving image seems to actually, you know, correspond to what's playing.
I mean I might as well be running a screensaver for all Magnetosphere seems to be affected by my music.
crashfrog
kyjast
Posted 12:07 PM 30/9/08
I just found the F key freezes the particles around each major star/planet and the L key freezes those major bodies in place.
kyjast
LinetteJibo
Posted 6:06 AM 30/9/08
you can just type ? while the visualizer is playing and itunes gives you instructions on how to tweak it
LinetteJibo