Pix-Wave 🎶

Pix-Wave is a real-time audio spectrum visualizer that turns music into a pixel-based frequency wave.

It captures live audio (Spotify, browser music, or system audio on Linux), analyzes it using FFT, and renders a smooth, animated pixel equalizer with customizable color themes.

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Features

• Live audio input (PipeWire / PulseAudio)
• FFT-based frequency analysis
• Logarithmic frequency scaling
• Pixel-style retro visualization
• Multiple color themes
  • Fire
  • Ice
  • Traffic Lights
  • Neon
• Smooth decay and motion
• Fully configurable via config.py
• Clean, modular codebase

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Screenshots

🔥 Fire Theme

❄️ Ice Theme

🚦 Traffic Lights Theme

🌟 Neon Theme

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How It Works (Quick Overview)

Audio Output
    ↓
PipeWire / PulseAudio
    ↓
PCM Samples
    ↓
FFT (frequency analysis)
    ↓
Log-scaled frequency bands
    ↓
Amplitude compression + decay
    ↓
Pixel bars on screen

Each frame visualizes the energy of different frequency ranges in real time.

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📁 Project Structure

pix-wave/
├── main.py         # Program entry point
├── audio.py        # Audio capture & FFT logic
├── visualizer.py   # Rendering logic
├── config.py       # All configuration & themes
├── requirements.txt
├── screenshots/    # Screenshots used in README
└── experiments/    # (optional) early tests

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⚙️ Configuration

All customization is done in config.py.

Change color theme

ACTIVE_THEME = "fire"   # fire | ice | traffic_lights

Tune visuals & DSP

FFT_SIZE = 4096
LOW_FREQ = 300
GAIN = 0.15
DECAY = 0.85
PIXEL_SIZE = 4

No other files need editing.

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Running Pix-Wave

1️⃣ Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

2️⃣ Play some music

• Spotify (app or web)
• YouTube / browser audio
• Any system audio

3️⃣ Run

python main.py

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🐧 Linux Audio Notes

• Designed for PipeWire
• Automatically detects:
  • Spotify
  • Browser audio (Chromium / Firefox)
  • Falls back to system audio if needed
• No manual audio setup required