Curses based terminal spectrum analyzer for currently playing audio.
- Works with PipeWire and PulseAudio
- Graph axes
- 3 color mode
- Bars slowly fall down
- Peak markers remain after bars fall down
- Custom frequency range
- Custom loudness range
- Custom colors
- Custom characters
- Custom fall speed and peak hold
- Automatic resizing
- Fix for PipeWire switching headset to 'handsfree'
usage: spectroterm [-h] [-a] [-b] [-c] [-p] [-f FALL_SPEED] [-o PEAK_HOLD] [-r BAR_CHARACTER]
[-k PEAK_CHARACTER] [--min-freq MIN_FREQ] [--max-freq MAX_FREQ]
[--min-db MIN_DB] [--max-db MAX_DB] [--green GREEN] [--orange ORANGE]
[--red RED] [--delay DELAY] [--bt-delay BT_DELAY] [--sample-rate SAMPLE_RATE]
[--sample-size SAMPLE_SIZE] [--reference-max REFERENCE_MAX] [--pipewire-fix]
[--print-pipewire-node] [--pipewire-node-id PIPEWIRE_NODE_ID] [-v]
Curses based terminal spectrum analyzer for currently playing audio
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-a, --axes draw graph axes
-b, --box draw lines at terminal borders
-c, --color 3 color mode
-p, --peaks draw peaks that disappear after some time
-f, --fall-speed FALL_SPEED
speed at which bars fall in characters per second
-o, --peak-hold PEAK_HOLD
time after which peak will dissapear, in ms
-r, --bar-character BAR_CHARACTER
character used to draw bars
-k, --peak-character PEAK_CHARACTER
character used to draw peaks
--min-freq MIN_FREQ minimum frequency on spectrum graph (x-axis)
--max-freq MAX_FREQ maximum frequency on spectrum graph (x-axis)
--min-db MIN_DB minimum loudness on spectrum graph (y-axis)
--max-db MAX_DB maximum loudness on spectrum graph (y-axis)
--green GREEN 8bit ANSI color code for green part of bar
--orange ORANGE 8bit ANSI color code for orange part of bar
--red RED 8bit ANSI color code for red part of bar
--delay DELAY spectrogram delay for a better sync with sound.
--bt-delay BT_DELAY spectrogram delay for auto-detected bluetooth devices.
--sample-rate SAMPLE_RATE
loopback device sample rate
--sample-size SAMPLE_SIZE
sample size in ms, higher values will decrease fps
--reference-max REFERENCE_MAX
value used to tune maximum loudness of sound
--pipewire-fix pipewire only, connect to output with custom loopback device. This
prevents headsets from switching to 'handsfree' mode, which is mono and
has lower audio quality. Sometimes this wont work unless sound is playing
--print-pipewire-node
will print all currently used pipewire nodes to monitor sound, then exit
--pipewire-node-id PIPEWIRE_NODE_ID
ID of custom pipewire node to use. Set this to preferred node if
spectroterm is launched before any soud is reproduced. Effective only
whith --pipewire-fix. Use 'pw-list -o' to get list of available nodes, or
use --print-pipewire-node
-v, --version show program's version number and exit
Colors are provided as integer and they are 8bit ANSI color codes. -1 is default terminal color.
- Pre-built binaries are available in releases
- From AUR:
yay -S spectroterm - Build, then copy built executable to system:
sudo cp dist/spectroterm /usr/local/sbin/
- Clone this repository
- Install uv
cd spectroterm- run build script:
uv run build.py - To build with Nuitka, add
--nuitkaflag. More optimized, smaller executable, long compile time. See Nuitka for more info.
To enable building with Nuitka, add --nuitka flag (takes a long time).
Nuitka built binaries are more optimized.
Optionally, add --clang flag to tell nuitka to compile using llvm, which might run even faster.
Nuitka requirements:
- on Linux: GCC or clang and
patchelfpackage - on Windows: Visual Studio 2022 or mingw (will be downloaded by nuitka)
- on macOS install XCode via Apple Store
Spectroterm running in tmux:
(Command: spectroterm -pc -r ┃ --min-db=-70 --max-db=-20)