Put some music on, choose a preset, and start messing around.
Here are the basics.
Give Sibi Similis Audio Access
The first time you use Sibi Similis, macOS needs permission to let the app listen to audio playing on your Mac.
Go to:
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording
Make sure MusicVisualizer is turned on.
You may need to quit and reopen the app after changing this setting. If macOS is being stubborn, removing the app from this list, adding it again, and reopening it can also help.
Sibi Similis does not need your microphone. The permission is used so the visualizer can react to audio from other apps on your Mac.
Start Some Music
Open Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube, a browser, or whatever else you want to listen to.
Then click Start Listening inside Sibi Similis.
By default, All System Audio is the easiest option. This listens for audio coming from your Mac regardless of which app is playing it.
You can also select a specific source:
- All System Audio — listens to everything
- Apple Music — listens specifically to Apple Music
- Amazon Music — listens specifically to Amazon Music
If you’re just getting started, stick with All System Audio.
Choose a Preset
Presets are the quickest way to completely change the visual.
Try a few and see what works with the music you’re playing. Some are more tunnel-like, some form large flowing structures, and others react more heavily to different parts of the music.
Current presets include things like:
- Neon Tunnel
- Rössler Signal Cathedral
- Godfall Tunnel
- Event Horizon Bloom*
- Lain Protocol
- Tidal Rosette
Different presets use different shapes, behaviours and mathematical systems underneath the visualizer.
*Let me know if you find a good setting for Event Horison Bloom, has to be improved or scraped.
Watch the Music
At the top of the visualizer you’ll see a few small meters:
B = Bass
M = Mids
T = Treble
L = Loudness
P = Pulse
These give you a quick look at what Sibi Similis is hearing.
Different presets use those parts of the music in different ways. Bass might push depth or scale, mids can affect movement and shape, while treble can bring out smaller details and shimmer.
The Main Controls
You can get quite far without touching the advanced settings.
Sensitivity
Controls how strongly Sibi Similis reacts to the incoming audio.
If the visual barely seems to notice your music, turn this up. If everything is going completely mental all the time, bring it down.
Intensity
Controls the overall strength of the visual effect.
Think of this as one of the easiest ways to make a preset feel more subtle or more dramatic.
Motion
Controls how much movement is happening in the scene.
Lower values can make a preset slower and more hypnotic. Higher values give it more energy.
Graphics Quality
Choose between Auto, Balanced and High.
Auto is a good place to start. If your Mac handles the visualizer easily, try High for more visual detail.
If performance starts getting rough, drop it back down.
Shape & Effects
Open Shape and Effects when you want to dig deeper.
Speed
Changes the overall speed of the visual.
Formula Motion
Changes how much the underlying mathematical shape is allowed to move and evolve (make sure this is set to 0.00 to start, can distort some presets).
Bass Response
Controls how strongly the visual reacts to low frequencies and bass hits.
Depth
Pushes the visual further into or out of its 3D appearance.
Trails
Controls how long previous particle movement remains visible.
Higher trails can create flowing, ghost-like shapes. Lower values keep things cleaner and sharper.
Bloom
Controls the glow around bright particles. A little bloom goes a long way.
Performance
Particle Density
Choose between Low, Medium, High and Ultra.
More particles can create much denser and more detailed visuals, but they also require more graphics power.
If things start to stutter, this is one of the first settings worth lowering.
Visual Restraint
Makes the visual behaviour a little more controlled.
This can be useful when you want the music response without quite as much chaos.
Reduced Motion
Reduces movement while keeping the visualizer responsive to the music.
Use this if you prefer calmer visuals or find heavy movement uncomfortable. Reduced Motion is intentionally separate from graphics quality, so it changes the character of the movement rather than simply making the renderer cheaper.
Colour
The colour controls let you change the look of a preset without changing the preset itself.
Palette
Choose the starting colour scheme.
Hue Shift
Push the palette toward different colours.
Saturation
Controls how vivid the colours are.
Palette Mix
Controls how much variation from the selected palette appears throughout the visual.
Particle Detail
Changes the appearance and definition of the particle field.
Core Glow
Controls the brightness and glow of the stronger areas within the visual.
There isn’t really a “correct” combination here. This part is basically the toy box.
Hide the Interface
Once you’ve got everything looking the way you want, click Hide Interface.
This removes the controls so the visualizer can take over the window without the UI sitting on top of it.
To bring the interface back, press Esc.
If the Visualizer Isn’t Reacting
Usually it’s something simple.
Make sure music is actually playing, Start Listening has been clicked, and try All System Audio as your Audio Source.
If that doesn’t work, check:
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording
Make sure MusicVisualizer has permission, then quit and reopen the app. Source-specific modes also require that the corresponding music app is actually running and playing audio.
That’s Pretty Much It
Start with a preset you like and change one or two things at a time.
Some tracks look better with huge particle fields and heavy bloom. Others look better slowed down with long trails and barely any movement.
There isn’t really a right way to use Sibi Similis. Let me know what works and what doesn’t, saving custom presets are coming.
Put some music on and see what the maths does.