# Visibox vs Synesthesia

> How Visibox and Synesthesia compare for live music visuals: a whole show in one app vs a dedicated audio-reactive visualizer.

Synesthesia does one thing very well: it listens to your music and generates visuals that move with it, from a library of scenes and a marketplace of more. Pick a scene, press play, and the screen dances. Visibox treats audio-reactive visualizers as one kind of clip among many. On the same grid you have your own videos and images, a camera, and your backing tracks, organized by song and fired from the stage.

So the question is what kind of show you run. If it is a set of songs with pictures to match, read on. If you want the best visualizer and nothing else, Synesthesia is probably it.

| | Visibox | Synesthesia |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | Live-visuals app: clips, cameras, and visualizers organized by song, with your backing tracks | Audio-reactive visualizer with a scene library and marketplace |
| Best for | Bands, solo acts, worship, events | DJs, VJs, and streamers who want generative visuals fast |
| Who runs it | The performer from the stage, or front of house from a phone or tablet | Anyone; pick a scene and it plays to the music |
| Your own videos and images | Built around them: songs full of clips, fired on cue | Media plays inside a scene; no setlist of clips |
| Audio-reactive visuals | ISF shaders and MilkDrop presets, reacting to Visibox, another app, or a mic | The main event: 100+ built-in and free scenes; Shadertoy and ISF import |
| Backing tracks | Multichannel backing tracks with stem merging and click outputs | None; it reacts to audio but does not play any |
| Setlists, timelines, and lyrics | Setlists, Song Timelines that fire clips and send MIDI (Beta), and chord and lyric sheets for the band (Beta) | Not a focus: scenes are picked live, not organized into songs |
| Cameras | Webcams, HDMI capture, and NDI sources (Beta) as clips | USB cameras and capture cards as scene input |
| Effects | Stackable effects with a live editor | Scene controls and a media overlay with blend modes |
| MIDI / footswitch / Stream Deck | Native MIDI with easy mapping, OSC, and an Elgato Stream Deck plugin | MIDI mapping and MIDI out; no Stream Deck plugin |
| Network video (Syphon, Spout, NDI) | Out: Syphon (Mac), Spout (Windows), NDI, and SDI, all Beta. In: NDI cameras (Beta); no Syphon or Spout input | Syphon and Spout out on every tier; NDI, plus Syphon and Spout input, in Synesthesia Pro |
| AI assistant / API | Native MCP server (describe a look and your AI assistant writes the visualizer), HTTP + WebSocket API, CLI | OSC control in Synesthesia Pro; no HTTP API or AI assistant |
| Platforms | macOS 13+ and Windows 10+ | macOS and Windows |
| Price | Free Plan; Pro $18.99/mo (Subscribe-to-Own), $83.88/yr, or $299 once | Standard $199 (one computer, 1080p); Pro $399 (two computers) |

Pricing verified against synesthesia.live in October 2026. Synesthesia Standard is $199 once for one computer, with output capped at 1080p; Pro is $399 for two computers and adds NDI, OSC, inputs, and any resolution. Both include a year of updates. The trial is unlimited, with a watermark. Every Visibox plan activates two computers, and every new activation starts with a 14-day Pro trial, no credit card required. A Visibox subscription always runs the latest version, and the $299 perpetual license includes two years of updates.

### Pick Visibox when

- You play music and want the whole show in one app: your own videos and images, a camera, your backing tracks, and audio-reactive visualizers, all fired from the stage.
- You have a setlist. Visibox organizes clips by song, so the right look is one press away for each tune.
- You run backing tracks. Visibox plays multichannel stems with a click on its own output and keeps the visuals in the same song.
- You want the band on the same page. Setlists hold your running orders, Song Timelines (Beta) fire clips and send MIDI on the song's own clock, and a stage screen can scroll chord and lyric sheets (Beta).
- You want more than one thing on screen. Poly Mode plays several clips at once, blended, stacked, or split across the screen, so a visualizer can run with your footage.
- You want hands-free control. A footswitch, MIDI pad, or Stream Deck fires clips while your hands stay on the instrument.
- Your sound engineer can run the visuals too. Visibox Remote turns a phone or tablet into a control surface for the show, so they can pick songs and fire clips from the mix position or anywhere on the venue Wi-Fi.
- You want to edit your project by talking to an AI assistant, or describe a look and have it write the visualizer, or control the show from a script.

### Pick Synesthesia when

- You want the best generative visuals you can get with no content to prepare. Synesthesia’s scenes and marketplace are deeper than any visualizer library Visibox ships.
- You write generative scenes. Synesthesia is built around them, with deep audio analysis, Shadertoy and ISF import, and a marketplace to share what you make.
- You want visuals that react, and nothing else. No songs, no clips, no tracks to manage.
- You want to try it for as long as you like. The Synesthesia trial is unlimited, with a watermark.

## The real difference

Synesthesia is a generator. Everything on screen comes out of a scene reacting to sound, and that is its strength: there is nothing to prepare, and the scenes look good. Your own footage can appear as media inside a scene, but the app does not think in songs, and it never plays audio of its own.

Visibox is a player. Songs hold clips, and a clip can be a video, an image, a camera, a color, or an audio-reactive visualizer built from an ISF shader or a MilkDrop preset. Your backing tracks live in the same song, stems merged and click on its own output. Fire each clip from a footswitch or Stream Deck and the visuals follow the set, song by song, while your hands stay on the instrument. Poly Mode lets a visualizer play with your footage, and Setlists, Song Timelines (Beta), and a lyrics screen for the band (Beta) keep the whole set in one app. For a band, that is the difference between a visualizer and a show.

## Common questions

### Is Visibox a Synesthesia alternative?

For a band or solo act that wants its own clips, cameras, backing tracks, and audio-reactive visualizers in one app, yes. For a DJ, VJ, or streamer who wants the deepest library of generative scenes and nothing else, Synesthesia is the stronger pick.

### Does Visibox have audio-reactive visualizers?

Yes. Visibox runs ISF shaders and imports MilkDrop presets as visualizer clips. They react to the audio playing in Visibox, to another app on your computer, or to a mic or line input, and they sit on the same grid as your videos.

### Can Synesthesia play my backing tracks or my own videos?

It plays no audio of its own, so backing tracks need another app. Your videos and images can play inside a scene as media, but there is no setlist of clips to fire song by song.

### Can I run Synesthesia into Visibox?

Not over Syphon or Spout: Visibox does not receive them. If you have Synesthesia Pro, send its NDI output to Visibox and play it as an NDI camera clip (Beta). Otherwise, run Synesthesia on a second computer into an HDMI capture device and play it in Visibox as a camera clip.

### Is Visibox cheaper than Synesthesia?

Visibox has a Free Plan, Pro is $18.99 a month (Subscribe-to-Own) or $83.88 a year, and a perpetual license is $299 once with two years of updates, each for two computers. Synesthesia Standard is $199 once for one computer, capped at 1080p; Synesthesia Pro is $399 for two computers. Every Visibox plan, including the Free Plan, covers two computers.