NCS Visualizer

The NCS audio-visualizer orb from spicetify-visualizer as a desktop widget: 322 × 322 = 103,684 GPU-drawn dots that react to whatever your speakers play (any player, browser or game). By default it takes its colour from your Noctalia theme, so it changes with your wallpaper.

Plugin

Field	Value
ID	tausif/ncs-visualizer
Entries	Desktop widget: orb; service: service; shortcut: toggle

Requirements

• aurora-ncs, the companion renderer that draws the orb on the GPU. Plugins can't ship compiled code, so you build it once from the project repo. It takes about a minute and needs no sudo:

  git clone https://github.com/BiparJoy/noctalia-ncs-visualizer
  cd noctalia-ncs-visualizer
  ./install.sh        # installs ~/.local/bin/aurora-ncs
  

  install.sh lists the build-dependency packages for Fedora, Arch, Debian/Ubuntu and openSUSE if any are missing (Qt 6, LayerShellQt, CMake, a C++17 compiler). The plugin finds aurora-ncs on PATH or in ~/.local/bin. You can also set the Renderer path setting.

• cava for audio capture (PipeWire or PulseAudio).

• A Wayland compositor with wlr-layer-shell (niri, Hyprland, Sway, …) and OpenGL 3.3.

Usage

1. Open the desktop widget editor (Settings → Desktop, or noctalia msg desktop-widgets-edit) and add NCS Visualizer (orb).
2. Move and resize it like any other desktop widget. The orb follows the box within a second. You can place more than one.
3. In that widget's own settings, turn Background off. Otherwise Noctalia draws its usual card behind the orb.
4. Optional: add the NCS Visualizer shortcut (toggle) to the Control Center under Settings → Control Center. Click it to show or hide the orb; right-click to open these settings.

The service entry runs in the background. It starts the renderer while at least one orb is placed, and it stops the renderer when none are.

Settings

Setting	Type	Default	Description
color_source	select	theme	theme follows the Noctalia palette (changes with the wallpaper); custom uses color.
theme_role	select	primary	Theme colour used for the orb: primary, secondary or tertiary.
color	color	#ff2e88	Orb colour when color_source is custom.
glow_mode	select	same	Glow around the dots: same as the orb, a theme colour, or custom.
glow_theme_role	select	tertiary	Theme colour for the glow when glow_mode is theme.
glow_color	color	#7a5cff	Glow colour when glow_mode is custom.
opacity	double	1.0	Orb opacity, 0.1–1.
dot_density	select	322	Dots per side: 160, 240, 322 (original) or 400. Lower is lighter on the GPU.
orb_scale	double	1.0	Orb size inside the widget box, 0.4–1.
dot_scale	double	1.0	Dot size multiplier, 0.5–2.5.
glow_scale	double	1.0	Glow strength, 0–2.5.
motion_model	select	original	original matches spicetify-visualizer (0.15 s moving average); aurora adds a spring and a punch on each beat.
sensitivity	double	1.0	Gain applied to the audio level, 0.2–3.
flow_speed	double	1.0	Speed of the surface flow, 0–3.
punch	double	0.5	Beat punch strength (Aurora motion only), 0–1.5.
fps	select	60	Frame rate: 30, 60 or 120.
hide_when_idle	bool	false	Fade the orb out while nothing is playing.
idle_seconds	int	5	Seconds of silence before the orb stops moving (and hides, if enabled), 1–120.
layer	select	bottom	bottom keeps the orb behind windows like other desktop widgets; top keeps it above them.
audio_source	string	empty	PipeWire/PulseAudio source for cava. Empty uses the default output, so you see what you hear.
noise_reduction	int	55	cava smoothing, 0–100. Higher is smoother but slower to react.
renderer_path	file	empty	Path to aurora-ncs. Empty searches PATH and ~/.local/bin.

IPC

noctalia msg plugin tausif/ncs-visualizer:service all toggle   # show / hide
noctalia msg plugin tausif/ncs-visualizer:service all on
noctalia msg plugin tausif/ncs-visualizer:service all off

For example, a niri keybind:

Mod+Alt+V { spawn "noctalia" "msg" "plugin" "tausif/ncs-visualizer:service" "all" "toggle"; }

Notes

• Spawned processes: while at least one orb is placed and the visualizer is on, the service runs aurora-ncs --config <file>, and aurora-ncs runs cava. On Noctalia releases without noctalia.getColor, the service also runs noctalia theme <wallpaper> --scheme <scheme> --dark|--light once per wallpaper change to read the theme palette.
• Files written: everything goes in the plugin data directory (~/.local/state/noctalia/plugins/data/tausif/ncs-visualizer/):
  • renderer.json: orb positions and settings for the renderer
  • heartbeat: refreshed every 3 s
  • enabled: the on/off state
• No network access.
• Lifetime: the renderer exits within a second when you remove the last orb or turn the visualizer off. It also exits within 20 s if Noctalia stops, so it never outlives the shell. If it keeps crashing, the widget shows the command to run in a terminal.
• Performance: at 60 fps with the original density, it uses about 1–2 % CPU for the renderer plus 2 % for cava on an i7-12700H, rendering on Intel Iris Xe. After the silence timeout it stops drawing.
• Credits: shaders and pipeline from spicetify-visualizer by Konsl. Ported from the Plasma widget. Licensed GPL-3.0-or-later.