🎵 TaskbarEqualizer

A beautiful real-time audio spectrum analyzer that lives on your Windows taskbar

Features • Installation • Usage • Customization • Contributing

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✨ Features

🎨 Beautiful Visualizations

• Multiple Styles: Bars, Dots, Lines, Spectrum, Waveform, and Dashes
• Custom Colors: Full RGB color customization with gradient support
• Smooth Animations: Configurable smoothing and spring physics
• Windows 11 Design: Modern, clean aesthetic that matches your system

🎯 Smart Positioning

• Draggable Interface: Click and drag to position anywhere on your taskbar
• Position Memory: Remembers your preferred location across restarts
• Multi-Monitor Support: Works seamlessly with multiple display setups
• Auto-Validation: Intelligently handles display changes and resolution updates

⚡ Performance Optimized

• Real-time Processing: Sub-20ms latency audio analysis
• 60 FPS Rendering: Smooth, butter-like animations
• Low CPU Usage: Optimized for minimal system impact (<3% CPU)
• Adaptive Quality: Automatically adjusts quality based on system performance

🔧 Highly Configurable

• Audio Settings: Frequency bands (8-64), gain control, smoothing factors
• Visual Settings: Opacity, size, update rates, and animation speed
• System Integration: Auto-start with Windows, system tray controls
• Hotkeys: Quick access shortcuts for common actions

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🚀 Installation

Prerequisites

• Windows 10 version 1903 or later (Windows 11 recommended)
• .NET 8.0 Runtime

Quick Install

1. Download the latest release from Releases
2. Extract the zip file to your preferred location
3. Run TaskbarEqualizer.exe
4. Enjoy your new taskbar visualizer!

Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/your-username/TaskbarEqualizer.git
cd TaskbarEqualizer

# Build the project
dotnet build --configuration Release

# Run the application
dotnet run --project src/TaskbarEqualizer.Main

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🎮 Usage

Basic Usage

1. Launch TaskbarEqualizer
2. Play any audio - the visualizer will automatically detect and display your audio
3. Right-click the system tray icon for quick settings
4. Drag the overlay to reposition it on your taskbar

System Tray Menu

• Settings: Open the full configuration dialog
• Auto-start: Toggle Windows startup behavior
• Exit: Close the application

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+E	Bring overlay to front
Right-click overlay	Quick context menu

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🎨 Customization

Visualization Styles

Choose from 6 beautiful visualization styles:

• 🔲 Bars: Classic vertical bars (default)
• ⚫ Dots: Circular dots for a modern look
• ➖ Dashes: Horizontal dashes
• 〰️ Waveform: Smooth curved waveform
• 📊 Spectrum: Continuous spectrum display
• 📏 Lines: Minimalist thin lines

Color Themes

Create your perfect color scheme:

• Primary Color: Main visualization color
• Secondary Color: Gradient and accent color
• Gradient Effects: Linear, radial, diagonal gradients
• Transparency: Adjustable opacity levels

Audio Processing

Fine-tune your audio experience:

• Frequency Bands: 8-64 bands for detail control
• Smoothing Factor: 0.1-1.0 for animation smoothness
• Gain Factor: 0.5-3.0 for sensitivity adjustment
• Volume Threshold: Hide visualization during silence

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🏗️ Architecture

TaskbarEqualizer is built with a modular, extensible architecture:

┌─────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐
│   User Interface    │    │   Audio Capture     │    │   Visualization     │
│   (WinForms)        │    │   (WASAPI)          │    │   (GDI+)            │
└─────────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘
           │                           │                           │
           ▼                           ▼                           ▼
┌─────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐
│ Settings Manager    │    │ Frequency Analyzer  │    │ Overlay Manager     │
│ (JSON + Registry)   │    │ (FFT Processing)    │    │ (Taskbar Overlay)   │
└─────────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘
           │                           │                           │
           └─────────────── ▼ ─────────────────────────────────────┘
                  ┌─────────────────────┐
                  │ Application Core    │
                  │ (Orchestration)     │
                  └─────────────────────┘

Key Components

• Audio Capture Service: Real-time WASAPI loopback capture
• Frequency Analyzer: FFT-based spectrum analysis with smoothing
• Overlay Manager: Transparent taskbar window management
• Settings Manager: Configuration persistence and validation
• Icon Renderer: High-performance visualization rendering

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🛠️ Development

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11
• .NET 8.0 SDK
• Visual Studio 2022 (recommended)

Project Structure

TaskbarEqualizer/
├── src/
│   ├── TaskbarEqualizer.Main/         # Main WinForms application
│   ├── TaskbarEqualizer.Core/         # Core audio processing
│   ├── TaskbarEqualizer.SystemTray/   # Taskbar overlay & system tray
│   ├── TaskbarEqualizer.Configuration/ # Settings & orchestration
│   └── TaskbarEqualizer.Tests/        # Unit tests
├── docs/                              # Documentation
└── README.md                          # This file

Performance Targets

Metric	Target	Current
Audio Latency	<20ms	✅ <15ms
CPU Usage	<3%	✅ <2%
Memory Usage	<30MB	✅ <25MB
Frame Rate	60 FPS	✅ 60 FPS

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how you can help:

🐛 Bug Reports

• Use the issue tracker
• Include system info, steps to reproduce, and expected behavior
• Attach logs from %TEMP%\TaskbarEqualizer\logs\

💡 Feature Requests

• Check existing feature requests
• Describe the use case and expected benefit

🔧 Code Contributions

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Test your changes thoroughly
4. Commit with clear messages (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
5. Push to your branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
6. Create a Pull Request

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📜 License

MIT © 2025 Pathum Wijayasooriya

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🙏 Acknowledgments

• WASAPI team for excellent Windows audio APIs
• Windows Design Team for Windows 11 design inspiration
• Community Contributors who make this project better
• Audio Enthusiasts who provided feedback and testing

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Made with ❤️ for Windows audio enthusiasts

If you enjoy TaskbarEqualizer, please consider giving it a ⭐ on GitHub!

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