April 19, 2010

The Hidden iTunes Visualizer Controls

The Visualizer -- graphics that swoop and pulse with the music -- has been part of iTunes' DNA from the beginning. And because its creators wanted to interact with the graphics in real time as well as watch them, Visualizer includes some single keystroke commands that change what you see while it runs. But these commands are hidden by default lest they obstruct the graphics.

Use the Show/Hide Visualizer command in the View menu to turn Visualizer on and off, and use the Visualizer menu to select among the choices. If the choice you're using has hidden commands you can see them for a brief time by typing ? while a song is playing and Visualizer is visible. The keystrokes will work regardless of whether the help menu is showing, so if you memorize them it's possible to add Virtuoso Visualizer Player to your list of accomplishments. (For the Visualizer choice called Jelly, available only in iTunes for Mac, try holding the keys down, especially the number keys, for maximum effect.)