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Tutorial: iTunes2Syphon

iTunes2Syphon is a iTunes visualizer made in Quartz Composer that sends mp3 track info as an image to a Syphon server so that it could be picked up and displayed in another application that supports Syphon. This tutorial shows how to install it and make it appear in Modul8 and in VDMX. It also gives you a brief look at the Quartz Composer composition and gives you an idea how you could modify the visualizer to your own personal taste. Download the iTunes2Syphon Quartz Composer source file here: iTunes2Syphon.qtz

If you are interested in learning how to enable Syphon input in Modul8, read this tutorial first.

[Edit:] This visualizer won’t work in iTunes on Lion if you are running iTunes in 64-bit mode. While waiting for the Visualizer bundle for Quartz Composer to get upgraded, the only trick is to swich iTunes to 32-bit mode. This is done by highlighting the iTunes app in the Finder and select Archive/Show info (or press cmd+i) and check “Open in 32-bit mode”. Thanks to Destoke for pointing this out. I won’t upgrade to Lion myself anytime soon.

2 Comments

  1. Olav Hjelmstadstuen Olav Hjelmstadstuen

    NICE!!

    What about Spoify.. I think people use that even more than Itunes these days.

    Not shure how to handle it.. with Syphon and id3..

    What do you think!

    Best regards
    Superolav, Norway

    • Thanks. Ah, that’s a good suggestion. Unfortunately it would be a totally different approach, and as you say, it’s a probably a good idea to use the id3 tags. In iTunes it’s easy because you can use Quartz Composer screen savers, which is not possible in Spotify. If it’s possible to track the currently playing track in a Spotify xml file or something like that, it would be doable. The problem is however that I’m not really using this tool myself, I just created it because it was fun and easy. So I have no real driving force to do a Spotify version at the moment. There are so many other projects waiting to be finished or started.

      For anyone willing to dig in to this, I suggest to also look at the last.fm API. It’s possible to get even more data from them, like album cover and other missing stuff.

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