Getting started

First Launch

Install &
First Run

IKANDY is a Windows desktop app, installed through Steam. No account beyond Steam, no setup wizard: you can be visualizing system audio in under a minute.

Install

1. Open IKANDY on Steam and install it like any other Steam app.
2. Launch it from your Steam library. Steam keeps it updated automatically.
3. IKANDY opens about two seconds after you accept the license. The first time this version starts on your PC, Now Playing, lyrics, logos and pets can take up to a minute and a half to appear; after that they are there at once. IKANDY also indexes the preset library and runs a background reactivity scan. This takes a few seconds and happens silently while you use the app. A short welcome walks you in, a one-time photosensitivity notice shows before anything flashes (it names Comfort mode and lets you continue with it on), and the ? on the console replays the guided tour whenever you want it.

Your name

Your IKANDY name is how other players see you on the shared moon and the name your saved shaders carry. It is your name plus a number, for example Nova #12345.

1. New players pick a name on the welcome card. It shows large with your number beside it as you type, and the card tells you in words whether the name can be used.
2. If you already play and still have the name IKANDY made for you, IKANDY asks once each time it starts until you pick one. Not now waits for the next start. Keep my current name appears after the first Not now and ends the question for good.
3. To change it any time, open Setup, PROFILE and press Change name.

• The rules. 3 to 16 characters. Letters, numbers, spaces and - _ . ' only. It starts and ends with a letter or a number and has at least two letters, in one alphabet. No links, emails or phone numbers, no blocked words, and no staff or IKANDY names. The field tells you which rule a name breaks as you type.
• How often. A name IKANDY made for you can be replaced at any time. After you pick your own, you can change it again 30 days later.
• What never changes. Your number and your Author ID stay the same whatever name you pick, and shaders you already saved keep the name they were saved under.
• Other players. Names from other players are checked by the same rules before the moon shows them. A name that does not pass shows as Player and its number.

The Layout

One Screen,
One Console

IKANDY has one layout: the full screen is the stage, and a slim console bar lives at the bottom. Everything routes through that bar. When you step up to performing, STAGE is a second surface built for the job, and the main window always shows a return button when STAGE has control.

The console bar, left to right

• Now Playing: album art, track title, artist. Click the art to open synced lyrics. The source pill under the title shows what is connected; click it to change sources.
• Playback: play, pause, skip, volume, and a seek bar. Works with Spotify, MusicBee, foobar2000, VLC, and system audio, subject to each source's capabilities.
• Library + presets: pads pick the pool the stage draws from: IKANDY (the GLSL and WebGPU scenes), Artists, or MilkDrop. Arrows step through looks, Browse opens the full library, and AUTO cycles on a dwell timer you set.
• Sound + reactivity: Bass, Mid and Treble add color from each part of the music (Pro; on Free every scene plays them at their gentle default). Every knob is one setting for every scene. Smooth eases the reaction, and the Intensity fader sets the overall strength. The Reactivity panel holds Light-Sync, FX Pulse, Motion Warp and MOTION, which opens the Motion window (Pro and Studio; Swell and Drift play on every plan). The God Rays chip adds light shafts and the LUT chip adds a color grade; each is one setting for every scene, off until you turn it on, and on Auto the first time you do (the LUT’s Auto picks a grade for each scene). LOGO places your logo over the show.
• View + settings: fullscreen, hide the console, a Knobs / Sliders switch for how the board's controls render, multi-monitor output, and the gear for Setup, where sources, picture, comfort, output, keys and privacy live. Vibe holds how you touch the show (Particle Burst, mouse and drawing effects), the console's Black, Chrome, Ultraviolet or Tape theme, and the lyrics and Now Playing card. The ? replays the guided tour any time.

Chips and workspaces, not buried menus

Quick controls open from chips on the console: God Rays, LUT and MOTION. Bigger areas open as workspaces from the rail: Now, Library, Create, Stage, Output, Vibe and Setup (the gear), where you connect sources and set picture, comfort, output, keys, privacy and diagnostics. Live level meters sit on the board itself so you can see the signal you are mixing.

Multi-monitor

Extra displays are outputs you route to. The output window can Mirror the main view onto the displays you pick, each mirror with its own gain, or Span one continuous canvas edge to edge across them (the titlebar hides so nothing interrupts the image). Per-display checkboxes choose which monitors take part, and Live Wallpaper can claim any of them as a set-and-forget desktop. Mirror and Span are part of Pro.