foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer

foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer is a foobar2000 component that implements a spectrum analyzer panel.

It is an attempt to recreate the foo_musical_spectrum component by fismineur and the Audio Spectrum project for foobar2000 64-bit.

^{Spectrum analyzer Bars Mode with gradient colors}

^{Spectrum analyzer Curve Mode with album art background, a peak meter and a level meter}

^{Multiple Spectrum analyzer graphs for the separate channels}

^{Horizontal scrolling spectogram visualization}

^{Spectrum analyzer Radial Bars Mode}

^{Spectrum analyzer Radial Curve Mode}

^{Oscilloscope with Y-axis in dBFS}

^{Oscilloscope in X-Y mode}

Features

• Spectrum Analyzer (Bars, Curve, Radial Bars), Spectogram, Peak Meter, Level Meter and Oscilloscope visualizations.
• Fast Fourier (FFT), Constant-Q (CQT), Sliding Windowed Infinite Fourier (SWIFT) and Analog-style transforms
• Multiple frequency range and smoothing options
• Multiple graphs
• Styling of all visual elements
• Artwork background and color extraction
• Uses DirectX rendering.
• Supports the Default User Interface (DUI) and the Columns User Interface (CUI).
• Supports dark mode.
• Supports foobar2000 2.0 and later (32-bit and 64-bit version).

Requirements

• Tested on foobar2000 v2.0 or later (32 or 64-bit).
• Tested on Microsoft Windows 10 and later.
• Tested with Columns UI 2.1.0.

Getting started

• Double-click foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer.fbk2-component.

or

• Import foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer.fbk2-component into foobar2000 using the "File / Preferences / Components / Install..." menu item.

Usage

You can find the user guide here.

Developing

Requirements

To build the code you need:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition or later
• foobar2000 SDK 2025-03-07
• Windows Template Library (WTL) 10.0.10320
• Columns UI SDK 7.0.0

The following library is included in the code:

• Project Nayuki FFT

To create the deployment package you need:

• PowerShell 7.2 or later

Setup

Create the following directory structure:

3rdParty
    columns_ui-sdk
    WTL10_10320
bin
bin.x86
foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer
out
sdk

• 3rdParty/columns_ui-sdk contains the Columns UI SDK 7.0.0.
• 3rdParty/WTL10_10320 contains WTL 10.0.10320.
• bin contains a portable version of foobar2000 64-bit for debugging purposes.
• bin.x86 contains a portable version of foobar2000 32-bit for debugging purposes.
• foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer contains the Git repository.
• out receives a deployable version of the component.
• sdk contains the foobar2000 SDK.

Building

Open foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer.sln with Visual Studio and build the solution.

Packaging

To create the component first build the x86 configuration and next the x64 configuration.

Change Log

v0.9.0.0-alpha3, 2025-10-17

• New: Oscilloscope time-domain mode
  • Supports X-axis with time labels.
  • Signal gain.
  • Optional phosphor decay effect with Gauss sigma and color decay factor setting.
• New: Oscilloscope X-Y mode.
  • Supports X and Y-axis.
  • X and Y signal gain.
  • Optional phosphor decay effect with Gauss sigma and color decay factor setting.
• Improved: Rendering stops when the host window gets minimized instead of the main window to improve behavior in foo_flowin.
• Improved: Various little useability tweaks and fixes in the Configuration dialog.
• Changed: Upgraded rendering code from render targets to device contexts.
• Fixed: Delay between playback and visualization. The backbuffer was not initialized.

You can read the full history here.

Acknowledgements / Credits

• Peter Pawlowski for the foobar2000 audio player.
• TF3RDL for the advice, the help and his:
  • Frequency bands spectrum analyzer using either FFT or CQT
  • SWIFT, Sliding Windowed Infinite Fourier Transform
  • Analog-style spectrum analyzer and sliding DFT visualization using AudioWorklet
• Project Nayuki
• Holger Stenger for foo_vis_oscilloscope.
• fismineur for foo_musical_spectrum that inspired this component.
• Oleg V. Polikarpotchkin and Peter Lee for their Bezier Spline article.
• Bedapisl for Fast ColorThief.

Reference Material

• The Audio Frequency Spectrum Explained
• Fast Fourier Transformation FFT - Basics
• Sine Tone Generator
• A440
• Constant-Q transform
• Mel-frequency cepstrum
• Mel scale
• Sliding windowed infinite Fourier transform

Test Material

• The SOS Audio Test Files
• HTML5 AAC Audio Playback Tests - Multichannel

Links

• Home page: https://github.com/stuerp/foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer
• Repository: https://github.com/stuerp/foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer.git
• Issue tracker: https://github.com/stuerp/foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer/issues
• Wiki: https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=Foobar2000:Components/Spectrum_Analyzer_(foo_vis_spectrum_analyzer).

License