How to Make a Circular Audio Visualizer: Frame the Focal Point of Your Artwork

• Make a circular audio spectrum that moves to a track using one image.
• Place the circle around the focal point of your artwork, such as a moon or a face.
• Check the size of that focal point first, because the space inside the circle is limited.

Place the circle around the focal point

Keep the part of the image you want to show inside the circle, with the motion around it.

Sonoray's Circle arranges short bars around a ring and extends them outward with the music. Decide what should stay visible inside it: the moon in a night scene, for example, or a face in a portrait. The example above fills the screen with a night scene and places the ring around the moon.

Match the circle to the artwork

The space inside the circle can hold a focal point up to about one fifth of the screen height. A large square cover will not fit inside it.

To show larger artwork, let it fill the screen as in the example above, then circle a central feature such as a moon or face. Combine the central image and surrounding background into one image before loading it.

The circle expands during louder passages. Check that it still has room between its outer edge and the edge of the video at its largest.

Settings for this example

Width and height set the area in which the circle can expand; horizontal and vertical position set its center. Response and smoothing suit this track. For another track, replay a louder passage while you adjust them.

Make a Circle visualizer

With Sonoray, you can set the circle's position and size numerically, so it lines up with the center of your focal point.

1. In the Editor, load the track and background image, then choose 16:9 and Circle
2. Under Adjust, enter the values in the table and align the circle's center with the focal point
3. Set a short passage under Range, then save an MP4 from Export

For the detailed controls, see Create your first video. To compare other shapes, see Bars, Line and Circle.