Quartz composer is a great tool for audio visualization for two main reasons. First, it renders incredibly quickly and smoothly. Unlike processing, which i usually prefer for its flexibility, which would quickly start dropping frames if you try to create many of the effects Quartz Composer has. The second thing that makes it great for live performances is the fact that the script can be edited live while it is rendering. Most environments would require the script to be saved, recompiled, restarted to make any changes. This is also made easier by the very clear visual environment.
The drawback of course is there are only a limited number of predefined functions which can be used, but there is still some room for creativity. The program is still very new, so I have some hope for its future. Another drawback is it’s only for mac and only the newest operating systems (10.4, 10.5) at that, but if you have a mac, you’ve already got it. Check out my previous post on QC for more info on that. Read On »
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Quartz Composer is a Mac Application for visual programming. The program allows anyone to create interactive scripts which can be exported as a Quicktime movie or used as a screen saver. It allows for just about any input–mouse, audio, keyboard–although some some of these won’t work when run in some contexts. To make my critique brief: Quartz Composer is quite fast and powerful and the interface is very usable. Anyone with or without any programming knowledge could create something that looks nice if they play around with it long enough. Ultimately, however, it is very limited. Even if it may seem at first like it could do anything, if you are a creative soul you will find you can only realize your visions if they happen to be doable with one of the prefabricated filters or effects.