Beginner’s Guide to TouchDesigner Audio Reactive Visuals

Introduction

TouchDesigner offers endless creative possibilities, and one of its most popular uses is creating audio reactive visuals, real-time animations that respond to sound. Even without coding knowledge, you can start creating engaging audio-driven visuals.

At The Interactive & Immersive HQ, we’ve shared several audio reactive tutorials in the past and have received comments and suggestions asking us to create a beginner-friendly setup. So in this post, we’ll walk you through a beginner-friendly, step-by-step guide for getting started with audio reactivity in TouchDesigner using built-in tools.

What Are Audio Reactive Visuals?

These types of visuals are those that respond to sound—usually music or voice—in real time. Think of it as “sound making things move.” In TouchDesigner, sound data (like a kick drum) can control elements such as position, colour, scale, or speed.

This technique is common in live performances, installations, VJing, music videos, and generative art, creating a strong connection between what you hear and what you see. We go more in-depth on what these visuals are in this article.

Setting Up Audio Reactivity in TouchDesigner

There are many ways to create audio reactive systems in TouchDesigner, but today we’re opting to use a simple built-in tool: the audioAnalysis component from the Palette.

Step 1: Add the audioAnalysis Tool

• Open the Palette Browser (icon in the top left corner).

• Under the Tools section, find and drag audioAnalysis into your network.

• This prebuilt component analyzes sound and splits it into data streams: low, mid, high, kick, snare, rhythm, and others.

We recommend diving inside the component to understand how it works under the hood— it’s great for learning.

Step 2: Add an Audio Input

You have two main options:

Option 1: Audio File

• Add an Audio File In CHOP.

• Select your sound file from the parameters.
• To hear it, either:
  • Add an Audio Device Out CHOP, or
  • Toggle “Send Audio to Default Out” in the audioAnalysis component.

Option 2: Live Audio

• Use an Audio Device In CHOP to capture real-time input (like a mic or instrument).
• In the parameters, choose your audio input device.

Connect your audio CHOP into the left input of audioAnalysis.

Step 3: Enable and Adjust Audio Channels

• By default, only the Low channel is active.
• To enable others (Kick, Snare, etc.), go to the Controls tab in the audioAnalysis parameters or click the circle next to each label in the viewer.

• Adjust the Threshold parameter to change sensitivity:
  • Lower values = more sensitive
  • Higher values = less sensitive

Tips:

• Low/Mid/High channels give smoother, trailing data.
• Kick/Snare/Rhythm give binary-style pulses (0 or 1). Choose depending on your use case.

Step 4: Process the Data

Use CHOPs to refine your data before using it to control visuals:

• Select CHOP: Isolate the channel you want (e.g., Kick).
• Math CHOP: Remap the values to your desired range (e.g., 0.7 to 3).
• Filter CHOP: Smooth out jumps in values.
• Null CHOP: Use as a reference point when exporting the data.

Step 5: Build a Simple Visual Setup Example

Create Geometry:

• Add a Sphere SOP → set to Polygon.

• Add a Noise SOP and connect it to the sphere.
• Add a Null SOP after the Noise.

Render Setup:

• Add a Geometry COMP and connect the SOP.
• Add a Camera COMP, Light COMP, and Render TOP.

• Add a Line MAT and apply it to the Geometry COMP.

Apply Reactivity:

• Use your refined audio channel (e.g., Kick) to control the Amplitude parameter of the Noise SOP.
• Drag the channel from the final Null CHOP to the Noise parameter.

• Adjust the Math CHOP’s output range for more or less dramatic effect (e.g., 0.7 to 5).

Further Tutorials & Resources

TouchDesigner Audio Reactive Template

Follow this link to download the project files for the content created in this article, to help support you as get you started!

Audio Reactive Drawn Content

Did you know you can also take your physical sketches and turn them into audio reactive animations using TouchDesigner? I show you how in this tutorial here.

Audio Reactive Point Clouds in TouchDesigner

If you’re familiar and comfortable with TouchDesigner, follow along on one of my other tutorials here on YouTube where I cover how to make a fun audio reactive point cloud with instancing:

And for even more in-depth learning, check out our HQ PRO Audio Visualizers course:

Conclusion

This guide offers a foundation for starting to build your own audio reactive content in TouchDesigner. By using the audioAnalysis component and a few CHOP operators, you can quickly prototype interactive and sound-responsive effects (and you can do it with both Mac and Windows).

As you get more comfortable, try:

• Reacting to multiple channels at once
• Driving colour, position, shader or frequency parameters
• Integrating with MIDI or DMX lighting
• Creating custom analysis pipelines

Audio reactive design is a powerful entry point into interactive media. Whether you’re VJing, making installations, or just experimenting on your computer, it opens up creative ways to connect sound with visuals. Find a source that gets you inspired and keep exploring, then see where your ears (and visuals) bring you to.