Keyboard Shortcuts
All keyboard shortcuts for the Audio Visualizers app.
Most shortcuts use Ctrl+ modifiers per the BeamTracer shortcut convention; the Viz app keeps a few bare-key shortcuts for distinct performance tools. Settings → Shortcuts only shows the bindings active in the current Visualizer or Performer mode.
Transport
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Space | Play / Pause |
← / → | Seek audio (±5s) |
Ctrl+M | Mute / Unmute audio |
When the mini player's Audio position bar has keyboard focus, all four arrow keys seek by five seconds, Page Up / Page Down seek by fifty seconds, and Home / End jump to the start or end. These keys operate the focused bar while a seekable track is loaded.
Edit History
The undo and redo buttons in the global header stay disabled until an action is available, then name what will happen next.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Cmd/Ctrl+Z | Undo the most recent edit |
Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z | Redo |
Cmd/Ctrl+Y | Redo (alias) |
Visualizer settings, layers, modulation mappings, presets, app settings, and Performer edits share one history. A continuous slider drag counts as one step. Playback position, live meters, and animation movement are not edits and do not fill the history. While a text field is focused, browser text undo remains active.
GIF Matrix's ARCADE core takes over the arrow keys while it's the active core: ←/→/↑/↓ drive that game's character directly instead of seeking audio. Release the keys and both the game's auto-play AI and the global seek shortcut resume normally. See GIF Matrix.
Visualizers (Visualizer mode)
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
[ | Previous visualizer |
] | Next visualizer |
v | Toggle Visualizer Dock |
b | Toggle Visualizer Bar |
t | Tap tempo — three or more taps lock an override on the shared BPM readout (footer and Analysis Engine). B toggles the Visualizer Bar, not tempo. |
Performer
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
f | Toggle Fullscreen |
, | Previous preset |
. | Next preset |
Preset stepping follows the order the preset grid currently shows (including your sort or custom order). , , . , and Space also work while the detached controls window has focus, so you can drive the show from either window.
View / Panels
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+f | Toggle Fullscreen |
Ctrl+Shift+P | Freeze the render — holds the current frame |
Ctrl+[ | Toggle Left Panel (Visualizer mode) |
Ctrl+] | Toggle Right Panel (Visualizer mode) |
Ctrl+\ | Toggle Both Panels (Visualizer mode) |
A | Toggle Audio Analysis Engine (full-screen meters + Modulation tab) |
Esc | Close open modals / the Analysis Engine / exit fullscreen |
Freeze holds the picture, not the music. Ctrl+Shift+P stops the visualizer drawing and leaves the last frame on screen — audio keeps playing, so the track stays where it is in the set. A RENDER PAUSED marker appears above the canvas while the freeze is held; press the same keys again or click the marker to resume, and motion picks up from where it stopped rather than jumping forward. The freeze works in both Visualizer and Performer mode, and OSC-1 uses the same keys to freeze its screen.
Settings
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+k | Open Settings modal |
Ctrl+/ | Open Keyboard Shortcuts (Settings → Shortcuts tab) |
Bare [ and ] step through visualizers; add Ctrl to those brackets to hide the left or right panel instead. Bare v and b control Visualizer-only tools; in Performer mode, bare f toggles fullscreen and , / . step presets. Bare t always taps the shared session tempo. Panel hiding uses the same Ctrl+[, Ctrl+], and Ctrl+\ keys as Scope and Laser.
The in-app version of this list lives in Settings → Shortcuts, which also has the Show startup hints again button for replaying the first-run tour.
Studio
Studio is the third Viz mode and carries the same global keys — Space, , and . for frame stepping, Ctrl/Cmd+Z and Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z, Ctrl/Cmd+M for mute, [ and ] to step visualizers, a for the Audio Analysis Engine, Ctrl/Cmd+K and Ctrl/Cmd+/ for settings and shortcuts.
It adds a set of its own for timing lyrics — I and O to tap a line's in and out while the track plays, plus Alt-modified keys for nudging, trimming, and stepping between cues.
See Studio keyboard shortcuts for the complete list.
See Keyboard Shortcut Philosophy for the rationale behind the Ctrl+ modifier convention.