Need to see how a recording’s sound changes over time, or mark a passage for closer study? Sonic Visualiser presents music audio as visual layers so you can inspect its structure, analyze details, and add annotations along the timeline.
Reading waveforms and spectrograms
Open a recording to view it against a time axis. A waveform shows changes in signal amplitude, while a spectrogram displays frequency content over time, making tones and other sound components easier to locate visually.
Sonic Visualiser’s configurable display lets you inspect audio through different visual layers.
How can you compare and annotate passages?
Move through the recording and focus on a selected passage while its position remains tied to the timeline. Multiple views can be arranged to examine the same point in the audio from different angles, such as waveform and frequency detail.
Annotations can be placed on the timeline to identify events or preserve observations about a particular passage.
Audio study workflows
The program is aimed at close study of music recordings, including work in musicology, archiving, and signal-processing research. A typical session combines listening with visual inspection: locate a passage, examine its waveform or spectrogram, and add annotations to record what stands out.
Sonic Visualiser is an interactive desktop application. Sonic Annotator, a separate command-line program in the same family, handles batch audio feature extraction using feature-extraction plugins.
Pros
- Waveform and spectrogram views reveal different aspects of a recording
- Configurable visual layers support detailed audio inspection
- Timeline annotations can mark passages for later reference
System requirements: 64-bit only
What does Sonic Visualiser show when a recording is opened?
It displays audio on a timeline, including waveform and spectrogram views for examining different aspects of the sound.
Can Sonic Visualiser be used to annotate a recording?
Yes. Add annotations along the timeline to mark passages or keep observations connected to their positions in the audio.
Is Sonic Visualiser intended for batch feature extraction?
Batch feature extraction is handled by Sonic Annotator, a separate command-line application in the same family.
