Rorschach Test
Paint living inkblots with a real-time fluid ink core, or fold angular layers, waveform blades, fog, and floor reflections into mirrored figures — nine presets, touch-to-paint, and audio modulation.
Rorschach Test is an expressive audio-reactive composition in the Creative category with three cores. The Inkblot core is a real-time fluid simulation: pushes of liquid ink splash onto the canvas, billow, curl, and settle into a mirrored figure, hold their design, then slowly dissolve so a fresh test can begin — driven by the beat, the frequency bands, and your own touch. The Flat and 3D cores stream a deep field of angular shapes toward the viewer through six luminous waveform blades, folding everything into high-contrast printed figures with three independently styled layers. Bass, mid, and high energy each paint their own part of the image, and quiet passages retract to a calm idle.
Open Rorschach Test
Launch the visualizer with its matching left-nav entry selected.
Scenes and presets
Nine presets tour the three cores. Default presents the clean signature: angular silhouettes, the finest dot print, and a vertical bilateral fold. Inkblot paints colorful liquid pigments straight onto the black canvas; Ink Noir splashes white ink on black; Ink Paper soaks dark ink into a paper-white plate like a classic printed card; Ink Trip pours neon pigments over a slowly hue-cycling canvas. Nervous uses striped faces, a diagonal fold, printed fog, live glitch, and fast reactions; Lucid softens into a rounded eight-way dream with smooth haze and self-lit shapes; Industrial places striped 3D slabs over a reflected floor; Meditative settles into a calm horizontal fold.
When playback is paused, the composition stays alive as a calm idle: the ink core keeps painting a slow, gentle cycle, and the shape cores keep their field travel and rotation while beat-driven pops, flares, and scene changes are suppressed.
The Inkblot core
Select INKBLOT under Shapes and the panel switches to the Ink section. Ink Canvas picks the plate: Black for glowing pigments, White for dark ink on paper, Trippy for ink over a color-cycling page. Swirl sets how strongly the ink curls, Flow the underlying current, Ink the pigment per push, and Fade how long the ink lingers before dissolving. Pushes fixes how many splashes build each design (0 keeps the automatic 2–5 variety), and Brush Density scales the musical brushes — sub-bass drops slow center bombs, mids sweep in from the edge, highs scatter quick specks. Ink Texture chooses soft liquid or a raw mosaic; Ink Dots prints the ink through the halftone screen with its own dot scale; Ink Detail trades simulation fineness against performance.
You can also paint directly: press the canvas to drop a blot exactly under your cursor and its mirrored twin, and drag to stir the ink with your stroke.
The shape cores
Shapes picks flat graphic silhouettes or faceted 3D solids, while Silhouette chooses hard angular edges or rounded forms. The Field section controls the streaming box conveyor — count, speed, direction, spread, elongation, and tumble. The six long angled blades remain a separate high-frequency layer that reveals outward from the center. In Material, Dot Screen toggles the halftone ink stage, and each of the three layers (long shapes, wide shapes, white masks) can be enabled independently with its own dots, CRT grille, RGB fringe, shape scale, rotation, and color.
Every core shares the Mirror section — vertical, horizontal, quad, diagonal, and reflected-floor compositions, an on-beat mirror shuffle, and a kaleidoscope — plus the Atmosphere section's volumetric fog, fog print, and (for shape cores) emissive self-glow.
Interesting facts
- The visualizer never displays a fixed inkblot image: fluid ink or moving geometry becomes inkblot-like only after the selected mirror composition folds it into symmetry.
- The ink core is a genuine fluid simulation: the curling filaments come from motion in the live ink field, not from a fixed image.
- The three shape layers deliberately begin with different print languages: long shapes use a CRT grille, wide shapes use dots, and white masks use RGB fringe. You can swap or combine those treatments per layer.
- The nine presets are also a tour of the symmetry and canvas systems: every mirror axis, all three ink plates, and the reflected floor appear without rebuilding the scene from scratch.
Quick start
- Start the demo track, choose a local audio file, or enable a live input.
- Try a preset first — the four ink presets and five shape presets each show a distinct personality.
- On a control with Assign modulation, open the source picker, choose a signal, and watch the slider's live fill.
- In the Inkblot core, click and drag on the canvas to paint your own figure.
- Use Reset to Defaults whenever you want to return to the original look.
Presets and styles
Default · Inkblot · Ink Noir · Ink Paper · Ink Trip · Nervous · Lucid · Industrial · Meditative
Audio modulation
On a control with Assign modulation, select the activity icon to open Modulate with. Choose a named source, or choose — None to leave the control unmodulated. After you assign one, its name appears below the slider; select that name to edit the route, or use Clear modulation to remove it. The slider track shows the live signal reaching the control.
| Modulated control | Section | What the route changes |
|---|---|---|
| Ink | Ink | Sets how much pigment each push carries. |
| Field Speed | Field | Sets how quickly field changes or moves. |
| Tumble Speed | Field | Sets how quickly tumble changes or moves. |
| Kaleidoscope | Mirror | Controls kaleidoscope; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Light Intensity | Material | Sets the visible light intensity. |
| Blade Opacity | Material | Sets how transparent the blade appears. |
| Blade Waveform | Material | Controls blade waveform; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Dot Scale | Material | Sets the visual dot scale. |
| Dot Contrast | Material | Controls dot contrast; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Ink Threshold | Material | Sets the level that must be crossed before ink appears. |
| Soft Focus | Material | Controls soft focus; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Glitch | Material | Controls glitch; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| RGB Fringe | Material | Controls RGB fringe; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Stripe Pulse | Material | Controls stripe pulse; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Pop Backdrop | Material | Controls pop backdrop; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Light Hue Shift | Colors | Moves the color around the color spectrum. |
| Ink Hue Route | Colors | Controls ink hue route; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Camera Roll | Animation | Controls camera roll; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Blade Rotation | Animation | Sets the blade rotation of the visible composition. |
| Shake | Animation | Controls shake; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
Settings reference
The panel shows only the sections that apply to the selected core.
Core
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Shapes | FLAT, 3D, INKBLOT | Chooses the core: streaming flat silhouettes, faceted 3D solids, or the liquid ink simulation. |
| Silhouette | ANGULAR, ROUNDED | Chooses hard angular edges or rounded forms (shape cores). |
| Resolution | 0.5–1 | Trades visual detail against performance. |
Ink (Inkblot core)
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Ink Canvas | BLACK, WHITE, TRIPPY | Chooses the plate: glowing pigments on black, dark ink on paper, or ink over a hue-cycling page. |
| Swirl | 0–30 | Sets how strongly the ink curls into filaments. |
| Flow | 0.1–2 | Sets the underlying current carrying the ink. |
| Ink | 0.04–0.5 | Sets how much pigment each push carries. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Fade | 0.97–1 | Sets how long the ink lingers before dissolving. |
| Ink Texture | SOFT, CELLS | Renders the ink as smooth liquid or a raw mosaic. |
| Ink Dots | On / Off | Prints the ink through the halftone dot screen. |
| Dot Scale | 24–640 | Sets the halftone dot size when Ink Dots is on. |
| Pushes | 0–8 | Fixes how many splashes build each design; 0 keeps the automatic 2–5 variety. |
| Brush Density | 0–2 | Scales the musical brushes; 0 disables them. |
| Ink Detail | MEDIUM, HIGH, ULTRA | Trades simulation fineness against performance; applies when the visualizer reloads. |
Field (shape cores)
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Box Count | 48–200 | Sets how many visible elements are drawn. |
| Field Speed | 0.1–4 | Sets how quickly field changes or moves. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Stream Direction | OUTWARD, INWARD | Chooses the stream direction. |
| Field Spread | 0.35–2.2 | Controls how far elements separate from the center or from one another. |
| Box Elongation | 0.3–5 | Controls box elongation; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Tumble Speed | 0–4 | Sets how quickly tumble changes or moves. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Mirror
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Mirror Axis | VERTICAL, HORIZONTAL, QUAD, DIAGONAL, FLOOR | Chooses the symmetry composition. |
| Floor Height | -24–0 | Positions the reflective seam when Floor is selected. |
| Mirror On Beat | On / Off | Shuffles the fold on accepted beats. |
| Kaleidoscope | 2–16 | Opens the frame into additional symmetry. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Material (shape cores)
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Box Opacity | 0.05–1 | Sets how transparent the box appears. |
| Light Intensity | 0–4 | Sets the visible light intensity. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Light Reach | 0.25–2.5 | Controls light reach; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Blade Opacity | 0–1 | Sets how transparent the blade appears. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Blade Waveform | 0–3 | Controls blade waveform; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Shape Stripes | On / Off | Turns shape stripes on or off. |
| Dot Screen | On / Off | Turns the halftone ink stage on or off. |
| Dot Scale | 24–640 | Sets the visual dot scale. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Dot Contrast | 0.25–12 | Controls dot contrast; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Ink Threshold | 0.05–0.95 | Sets the level that must be crossed before ink appears. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Soft Focus | 0–2.5 | Softens rounded silhouettes. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| CRT Grille | 0–1 | Controls crt grille; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. |
| Glitch | 0–0.12 | Controls glitch; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| RGB Fringe | 0–0.012 | Controls RGB fringe; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Stripe Pulse | 0–1.5 | Controls stripe pulse; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Pop Backdrop | 0–1.2 | Controls pop backdrop; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Flare Threshold | 0.1–1 | Sets the level that must be crossed before flare appears. |
| Flare Hold | 50ms–600ms | Sets how long flare hold remains visible. |
| Stripe Hold | 50ms–800ms | Sets how long stripe hold remains visible. |
Layer 1 — Long Shapes
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Layer | On / Off | Turns layer on or off. |
| Dots | On / Off | Turns dots on or off. |
| Dot Scale | 0.25–2.5 | Sets the visual dot scale. |
| CRT Grille | On / Off | Turns crt grille on or off. |
| RGB Fringe | On / Off | Turns RGB fringe on or off. |
| Shape Scale | 0.3–2.5 | Sets the visual shape scale. |
| Rotation | 0–3 | Sets the rotation of the visible composition. |
| Layer Color | Color | Sets the layer color. |
Layer 2 — Wide Shapes
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Layer | On / Off | Turns layer on or off. |
| Dots | On / Off | Turns dots on or off. |
| Dot Scale | 0.25–2.5 | Sets the visual dot scale. |
| CRT Grille | On / Off | Turns crt grille on or off. |
| RGB Fringe | On / Off | Turns RGB fringe on or off. |
| Shape Scale | 0.3–2.5 | Sets the visual shape scale. |
| Rotation | 0–3 | Sets the rotation of the visible composition. |
| Layer Color | Color | Sets the layer color. |
Layer 3 — White Masks
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Enable Layer | On / Off | Turns layer on or off. |
| Dots | On / Off | Turns dots on or off. |
| Dot Scale | 0.25–2.5 | Sets the visual dot scale. |
| CRT Grille | On / Off | Turns crt grille on or off. |
| RGB Fringe | On / Off | Turns RGB fringe on or off. |
| Shape Scale | 0.3–2.5 | Sets the visual shape scale. |
| Rotation | 0–3 | Sets the rotation of the visible composition. |
| Layer Color | Color | Sets the layer color. |
Atmosphere
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Emissive Shapes | On / Off | Makes the shapes self-glow (shape cores). |
| Volumetric Fog | On / Off | Turns the cinema-style haze on or off. |
| Fog Print | On / Off | Renders the haze through the halftone screen. |
| Fog Intensity | 0–3 | Sets the visible fog intensity. |
| Smoke Amount | 0–1 | Blends uniform haze toward billowy smoke. |
Colors
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Ink Palette | CLASSIC, NOIR, CRIMSON, OCEAN, NEON, SUNSET, CUSTOM | Fills the three pigments from a template (Inkblot core); editing a pigment switches to Custom. |
| Pigment — Body / Rim / Specks | Color | Sets the three ink pigments, driven by bass, high, and mid energy (Inkblot core). |
| Light Color | Color | Sets the light color (shape cores). |
| Ink Tint | Color | Sets the ink tint (shape cores). |
| Backdrop | Color | Sets the backdrop (shape cores). |
| Light Hue Shift | 0–1 | Moves the color around the color spectrum. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Auto Hue | On / Off | Turns auto hue on or off. |
| Hue Speed | 0.001–0.2 | Sets how quickly hue changes or moves. |
| Ink Hue Route | 0–1 | Controls ink hue route; higher values increase the effect and lower values reduce it. Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
Audio
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Volume Sensitivity | 0x–3x | Sets how strongly the input signal affects volume. |
| Master Gain | 0x–3x | Sets how strongly the input signal affects master. |
| Bass Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible bass intensity. |
| Mid Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible mid intensity. |
| High Intensity | 0x–3x | Sets the visible high intensity. |
| Audio Smoothing | 0.01–0.8 | Balances immediate audio response against steadier motion. |
| Analyser Smoothing | 0–0.95 | Balances immediate audio response against steadier motion. |
| Beat Sensitivity | 0.5–3 | Sets how strongly the input signal affects beat. |
| Beat Decay | 60ms–600ms | Sets how long beat decay remains visible. |
Animation
| Setting | Available values | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Camera Roll | 0–0.4 | Controls camera roll (shape cores). Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Blade Rotation | 0–2 | Sets the blade rotation (shape cores). Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Shake | 0–1 | Controls shake (shape cores). Use Assign modulation to choose a source. |
| Scene Roam | On / Off | Cuts between figure families on the music (shape cores). |
| Scene Hold | 2beats–32beats | Sets how long each scene holds. |
| Click Strobe and Shake | On / Off | Press or hold the canvas for a bounded manual accent (shape cores). |
Some controls appear only after you enable a related mode or style. The settings panel always reflects the options available for the current selection.
Tips for a better audio visualization
- Assign different bands to structure, motion, and light instead of routing every control to Volume.
- In the Inkblot core, try lowering Brush Density and raising Pushes for deliberate, poster-like designs — or the reverse for a constantly churning wash.
- Try assigning Bass to Field Speed in the shape cores, then compare Mid, High, and Volume while the demo track plays. The slider's live fill shows the signal reaching that control.