Please note that this blog post was published on October 2020, so depending on when you read it, certain parts might be out of date. Unfortunately, I can't always keep these posts fully up to date to ensure the information remains accurate.
This is a step-by-step guide on how to create a horizontal audio visualizer from scratch using basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Watch the video
Please watch the video as I explain things in more depth there.
Full Source Code
Below is the full source code for the horizontal audio visualizer.
<!-- License MIT, Author Special Agent Squeaky (specialagentsqueaky.com) -->
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>My Eq</title>
<style>
body {
overflow: hidden;
}
.background {
position: absolute;
top: -50px;
right: -50px;
bottom: -50px;
left: -50px;
background-image: url("background.jpg");
background-position: center center;
background-size: cover;
filter: blur(15px);
}
.track-title {
position: absolute;
top: 200px;
right: 0;
left: 0;
color: white;
font-family: Calibri;
font-size: 100px;
text-align: center;
}
.visualizer-container {
position: absolute;
bottom: 450px;
right: 0;
left: 0;
text-align: center;
}
.visualizer-container__bar {
display: inline-block;
background: white;
margin: 0 2px;
width: 25px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<audio src="track.mp3" controls></audio>
<div class="background"></div>
<div class="track-title">Awesome song</div>
<div class="visualizer-container"></div>
<script>
(function () {
// The number of bars that should be displayed
const NBR_OF_BARS = 50;
// Get the audio element tag
const audio = document.querySelector("audio");
// Create an audio context
const ctx = new AudioContext();
// Create an audio source
const audioSource = ctx.createMediaElementSource(audio);
// Create an audio analyzer
const analayzer = ctx.createAnalyser();
// Connect the source, to the analyzer, and then back the the context's destination
audioSource.connect(analayzer);
audioSource.connect(ctx.destination);
// Print the analyze frequencies
const frequencyData = new Uint8Array(analayzer.frequencyBinCount);
analayzer.getByteFrequencyData(frequencyData);
console.log("frequencyData", frequencyData);
// Get the visualizer container
const visualizerContainer = document.querySelector(".visualizer-container");
// Create a set of pre-defined bars
for( let i = 0; i < NBR_OF_BARS; i++ ) {
const bar = document.createElement("DIV");
bar.setAttribute("id", "bar" + i);
bar.setAttribute("class", "visualizer-container__bar");
visualizerContainer.appendChild(bar);
}
// This function has the task to adjust the bar heights according to the frequency data
function renderFrame() {
// Update our frequency data array with the latest frequency data
analayzer.getByteFrequencyData(frequencyData);
for( let i = 0; i < NBR_OF_BARS; i++ ) {
// Since the frequency data array is 1024 in length, we don't want to fetch
// the first NBR_OF_BARS of values, but try and grab frequencies over the whole spectrum
const index = (i + 10) * 2;
// fd is a frequency value between 0 and 255
const fd = frequencyData[index];
// Fetch the bar DIV element
const bar = document.querySelector("#bar" + i);
if( !bar ) {
continue;
}
// If fd is undefined, default to 0, then make sure fd is at least 4
// This will make make a quiet frequency at least 4px high for visual effects
const barHeight = Math.max(4, fd || 0);
bar.style.height = barHeight + "px";
}
// At the next animation frame, call ourselves
window.requestAnimationFrame(renderFrame);
}
renderFrame();
audio.volume = 0.10;
audio.play();
})();
</script>
</body>
</html>
