What are Visualizations?

Visualizations are sound-reactive animations, which are usually generated by performing various mathematical calculations on frequency and waveform data.  This data is manipulated and displayed in a visual form, usually using your computer's 3D hardware, in frames that are rendered many times per second.  Sounds impressive.

In more simple terms, visualizations are eye candy.

You've probably seen visualizations before.  Here are a couple screen captures of some visualization output.

XtreMe PCR supports most Winamp v2.x and Winamp v5.x compatible visualization plug-ins.  You can find these plug-ins in multiple places on the web.  A few links for finding visualization plug-ins have been provided on the xtremepcr.com web site at http://www.xtremepcr.com/download/viz.

This help page contains the following sections:

• System Requirements for Visualization Support
• Configuring Windows Multimedia Support
• Installing new Visualization Plug-ins

System Requirements

Visualizations have a few system requirements that must be met before they will work correctly.  Some of plug-in modules may have specific system requirements above and beyond what is listed here.  Please check the documentation supplied by your visualization plug-in module for specific requirements.

• In order to capture the sound data needed to drive the visualization graphics, your XMPCR must be routed through your computer's sound card.  If your XMPCR output goes directly into a set of external speakers or into a stereo receiver, visualizations will not perform as expected.

• Visualizations are both graphics (GPU) and processor (CPU) intensive.  If you have a computer that is more than a couple years old, you will most likely not be satisfied with the performance of most plug-ins.  These plug-ins will consume much of the processing power of your machine while they are running.

• Many visualization plug-ins require at least DirectX version 8.0.  This means you will need a DirectX 8.0 compliant video card, video drivers, as well DirectX 8.0 installed.  The latest version of DirectX can be found on the Microsoft web site.

• The "line-in" source for recording must be configured properly in the Windows control panel Sound settings (see below for help with these settings).

Configuring Windows Multimedia Support

The first place to begin your configuration is within XtreMe PCR.  From the full mode view, select "Options->Settings...", then expand the Visualization tree as shown below.  Here we will begin with the Visualization Options.

The Audio Device drop down should be checked to be sure that the device listed is the sound card the XMPCR is currently plugged into.  Other devices may appear hear, such as some internal modems, and maybe even a second sound card (if you have one on your motherboard, and have installed an upgraded Sound Blaster, for instance.)

The Frequency drop down should be set around 44.100 kHz, if possible.  Lower values will work, but the animation within the visualization plug-in may be a bit flat.  On the other hand, lower values here will reduce the load on your processor.  If you're trying to squeak just a bit more performance out of your visualizations, go ahead and try a lower value.  Higher values aren't really necessary, since 44.100 kHz is "CD Quality".  The output of the XMPCR is closer to 44.100 kHz than some of the higher values you may see here (96.000 kHz, for example).

Finally, you need to ensure that the Windows "Recording" source is set to the proper device.  After you have selected your Audio Device and Frequency, click on the "Windows Volume Control Settings" button.  You should get a window that appears similar to the one below.  Every sound card has a slightly different variation of this screen.  Even the wording for the "Line-In" source varies from driver to driver.  Here is what a slightly older Soundblaster Audigy interface looks like:

Unfortunately, this window doesn't always tell the whole story.  There may be other input devices that Windows is not showing you.  Once you get this screen, click on the Options menu item, then select Properties.  You should receive a screen similar to the following:

Once again on this window, please be sure that the correct sound device is selected in the "Mixer Device" field.  This is especially important if you have two sound cards.

Next, make sure that the "Recording" radio button is selected.  We do not want the playback volume controls for this configuration.  Once the recording option is selected, turn on all the check boxes in the bottom half of the window.  Turning these on here only makes them appear in the window we are returning to after this step.  In my case, I am going to activate "What U Hear", Microphone, and Wave/MP3... and then click OK to apply the changes.

We should return to the previous window, but this time all of the input sources will be listed, as such:

If you compare this screenshot to the one 2 pictures above, you'll notice that three more input sources and volume controls are present.  While leaving this window on the screen, switch back to XtreMe PCR.  We are now going to highlight "Plug-ins" on the left side of the screen and get the XtreMe PCR visualization plug-in interface loaded:

Highlight the TwistedPixel v1.0 sample visualization as shown, then click the "Start" button.  (You do have DirectX installed, right?).  The visualization window should open, and may or may not be moving to the sound of the music.  If you're sure that the sound input is being seen by the visualization, you can skip to the next section.  If the visualization looks flat, blank, or not responding, switch back to the "Recording Control" window in the previous screenshot.  Start by making sure the volume is up at least 1/2 way (all the way is recommended for visualizations), and that there is a check mark underneath the volume control.

If the visualization still is not responding, begin clicking on different "Select" check boxes until it does respond.  (You do have your XMPCR line output running into your sound card, right?)  At least one of these should make the visualization begin responding to the beat of the music.  If you, like I do, have a "What U Hear" entry, use that selection only if none of the others work.  The "What U Hear" control will include other sounds you hear on your PC, such as startup sounds, browser click sounds, or any WAV/MP3 source.  You will end up getting a mix of these sounds with your XMPCR, making the visualization respond to everything as a whole, rather than only the music source.

 

Installing New Visualization Plug-ins

Many visualizations come with their own installation package.  If the visualization has an installer, it is usually going to try to find Winamp.

• If you have Winamp installed, go ahead and install the visualization to the Winamp preferred location.
• If you do not have Winamp installed, install the visualization to your XtreMe PCR\Plugins folder.  This is usually found at My Computer->Drive C:->Program Files->XtreMe PCR->Plugins  (if you installed XtreMe PCR to a non-default directory, you'll need to find where it is installed).

If the visualization comes in an archived file, or a self-extracting ZIP file:

• If you have Winamp installed, install the visualization to your Winamp\Plugins folder.
• If you do not have Winamp installed, extract the visualization to the C:\Program Files\XtreMe PCR\Plugins folder.