Getting started
Install from Steam, first launch, and the one-screen layout.
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
- Open IKANDY on Steam and install it like any other Steam app.
- Launch it from your Steam library. Steam keeps it updated automatically.
- On first launch IKANDY 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, and the ? on the console replays the guided tour whenever you want it.
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.
- Engine + presets: tabs pick the engine that is driving the stage: MilkDrop, GLSL, WebGPU, Spout, or Image. Arrows step through looks, Browse opens the full library, and AUTO cycles on a dwell timer you set.
- Vibe + output: the Vibe popover shapes bloom, motion blur, and post intensity. The Scenes popover switches hand-built scenes with a per-scene intensity control. The master audio popover sets how much bass, mid, and treble drive the visuals, with a Mix control, a master intensity fader, and a god-rays toggle. OUTPUT opens the logo overlay, and the LUT control can auto-pick a color grade per scene or cycle grades per preset.
- View + settings: fullscreen, hide the console, the Black or Chrome theme, a Knobs / Sliders switch for how the board's controls render, multi-monitor output, and the gear for Sources & Settings. The ? replays the guided tour any time.
Popovers, not buried menus
Deep controls live in small popovers that open from the bar: Vibe, Scenes, master audio, and LUTs. The gear opens the one real modal, Sources & Settings, for connecting sources, themes, UI size, displays, 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.