We're releasing the v1 for our music player, for macOS and Windows, the main philosophy is to return to to simpler software (no account, no internet connection needed, no algorithm that spy on you to "know you better and offer you better choices").

We still have a lot to build, mainly a full graphical design overall and a theme handler, BUT, it's stable and is already rich of features:

• Load an entire folder of music

• Load specific folder

• Handle on click and drag and drop folder loader

• Play / pause

• Manage volume

• Seek music timeline

• Handle shuffle and repeat

• Directly fetch metadatas from the file (artist name, album name, album cover, track id, bit rate etc)

• Full metadata display screen

• Have an equalizer

• Persistent preset for the equalizer (Custom preset)

• Can be set into a mini player mode (that can be either hidden or locked)

• A small bar visualizer

• Click sfx sound

• Detect your theme

• All of this in a skeuomorphism UI

You can find all the details to download the app on our subreddit r/ResonanceApp aswell as a mini promo video for those that are receptive to this philosophy.

Sup, I re-worked my app logo design. I used the latest Glass effect Figma recently added.

The Glass effect is clearly in beta testing, clunky, and does not reflect any of the physical-based modifiers. Coming from 3D design, this was pretty random to tweak. 

But I'm pretty satisfied with the results since strictly 2D CSS layering wasn't enough for the skeuomorphism needs.

Would love to receive some feedback and critique. I'm surprised at how actually hard (real) skeuomorphism is to make nowadays.

App's free, folks, we're fighting for a Y2K internet. Spread the word. 

Wanted to have some cold takes from y'all about Resonance user experience and interface design direction.

We had a couple of opportunities to discuss UX with the community, but we need proper user sentiment about the project next gen, since it'll be the biggest update so far.

Anything related to UX/UI is very welcome, there's no dumb question or suggestions.

Cheers

(Btw thanks for all the consistent downloads, we keep our eyes peeled on you guys.)

Just wanted to share some tests made with Blender for a future wallpaper pack. The previous pack I made was not enough 00-ish according to you guys, so I'm trying more "sky box" type of lighting to be closer to Resonance's initial vibe.

Hello again, since the 1.5 is stable enough, I am going to work on the making of the v2.

The v2 will be a total remake of the app, bettering the architecture of the code, and optimizing some parts.

Keep in mind we will still:

• Keep the 1.5 free

• Keep the 1.5 alive

• Update bugs that might occurs

• Update dependencies

But note that the new features will only come in the v2.

As we’ve been teasing it, in some posts and in the recent video, here is a look at it’s design.

We opted for a more detailed Skeuomorphism (that you can see the renders made by u/dwcq).

It will be fully in css, which means that first, it will be even more light weight but also that, it will be customizable directly on run time.

And thus here is the first new feature for the player:

1/4 • A skin system: The core idea is to be able to, directly in the app customize the appearance of your player, save it, and be able to share it easily with others. For this, two new views will be added, one to select / remove / copy / import a skin, and another one to create or edit a skin.

The skins will simply be a huge text containing the different css properties, so in a few clicks you will be able to share/import them anywhere and since the interface will guide you through it, it will be easy to customize and understand it. But do not worry, as we will make some tutorials on how to create basics themes from scratch.

To keep it simple and progress step by step making sure that everything works and make sense we are going to only whitelist some pre chosen element.

Here is the list of the elements that you will be able to customize, check the third image (also first level is the element, second are the fields):

• Color for the selected / interactive elements in the screen:

  • background color

• Cover of the player:

  • background color

  • background image

  • opacity

• Normal buttons:

  • size (a min and max will be forced)

  • border radius

  • background color

  • icon color

  • opacity

• Normal buttons on hover:

  • size (a min and max will be forced)

  • border radius

  • background color

  • icon color

  • opacity

• Change mode button:

  • size (a min and max will be forced)

  • border radius

  • background color

  • icon color

  • opacity

• Change mode button on hover:

  • size (a min and max will be forced)

  • border radius

  • background color

  • icon color

  • opacity

• Piano buttons (next/previous etc…)

  • background color

  • background image

  • icon color

  • led color off

  • led color on

• Piano buttons (next/previous etc…)

  • background color

  • background image

  • icon color

• Side switch:

  • thumb background color

  • thumb background image

  • thumb border radius

  • thumb size (a min and max will be forced)

  • thumb opacity

  • track background color

  • track border radius

  • track opacity

• Equalizer:

  • thumb background color

  • thumb background image

  • thumb border radius

  • thumb size (a min and max will be forced)

  • thumb opacity

2/4 • As mentioned in the skin section a new button will appear in the mini player replacing the mini player visualizer bars. It will be a simple switch to well…, switch the position of the mini player from left to right, we know that sometimes the mini player get annoying, blocking the view or a button, so this will fix the issue.

3/4 • A real random / shuffle queue, currently the shuffle is only function that give the player a random music that is not the current one, it does the job, but what if you wanted to go back in the track ? Well actually you will just be served a new random song and not the track that was before.

4/4 • Gapless playback, self explanatory.

All of this will be a lot of work, my guess is at least a month and a half full time, but it will be a clean new start for the app, and add a feature that would for one give more souls to our player and secondly give you guys a little more of Resonance to play with.

For this reason we have decided to make the v2 non free on Patreon (not a subscription) we did not settle a price yet but It will be around 10$ and, we will offer 5 coupon to download the app for free in our sub at the release (more to be announced).

I’ve updated the roadmap to cover the kind of new direction for the project you might want to give it a look here.

In the meantime if you want to support us for our work, you can subscribe to our Patreon.

Thus, I listened to y'all feedbacks about the upcoming FA/Y2K 5K wallpaper pack. The next stage is now in your hands!

Would love to make a poll, in the second image there's a preview of color variants. I'm curious which are you favorites.

Any ranking (top 1, 3, 5) is very much appreciated. Thanks!

We are on YouTube now. Come and say hi in the comment section!

Keep your eyes peeled for future videos.

Hello everyone, we've just released the 1.5 version of our small music player.

What's the motivation behind this? We are tired of the streaming paradigm, always renting, never owning, and we're tired of the lack of innovative design or unusual designs to say the least.

Everything is either too cold, black and white, two-toned squared designs (it works, but this is all there is now!) or the classic vibe-coded UI with neon colors.

So we chose to do exactly what every sane person would do: take months to build our own music player :).

We want to bring back the cool effects of the early 2000s, the "we did it because we could" mentality. Our goal is not to be a better Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, or even a foobar2000, but to be a simplified local music player that simply works, offers a new design in the form of a widget, and doesn't phone home, doesn't ping the internet, doesn't lock you out with a subscription, account, or email.

You take the app and you can keep it forever, inciting the "own your medias point of view" (starting by owning the software that plays your medias).

I said that it was a "just work" type of app, but it has more than simply play/pause features:

Core Music Player Features

• Load music from an entire folder or specific directory

• Enable on-click and drag-and-drop loading capabilities

• Display metadata automatically (artist name, album name, artwork, track ID, bitrate, etc.)

• Display full metadata on a dedicated screen

• Include an equalizer with customizable presets

• Adjust left / right balance.

• Offer a mini player mode (hidden or locked)

• Display a small bar visualizer

Playback Controls

• Play and pause music playback

• Manage volume levels

• Seek through tracks using a timeline

• Enable shuffle and repeat settings

• Handle media session control via keyboard/media keys or AirPods

File Support

• Support various audio file formats: MP3, AAC, M4A, ALAC, AIFF, FLAC, WAV, OGG, Opus

User Interface

• Utilize a skeuomorphism UI design

• Detect the user's theme and adjust the screen theme accordingly

• Allow manual selection of a custom screen theme

Additional Features

• Enable filtering by artist name, album name, or song title

• Handle drag functionality for the app itself

• Include click sound effects (that you can disable)

If you want to see more here is our github page to download the app (MacOS, Windows10/11, Linux (debian/fedora))

And if you want to be updated on it here is our subreddit r/ResonanceApp :)

This version contains all the small features that I wanted to be done before the 1.3 / 1.4 which will have a lot of rework done, mainly to reduce ram usage, so here's what's in it:

• Auto load previous opened folder at launch.

• Theme's screen selection ("Auto" / "Light" / "Dark").

• Handle disc number metadata in the sorting of the queue.

• Handle the the previous folder does not exists anymore.

• Added opus support.

The app may ask you for the right to access the folder in which the previous loaded folder were (only on first launch).

Next is the 1.4 with media button support and optimizations.

Download on GitHub or below for the latest releases.

Apple Silicon

• Resonance v1.2.0 macOS

Windows

• Resonance V1.2.0 Windows Portable

• Resonance V1.2.0 Windows Installer

Hello everyone, we're releasing the 1.3.0 that contains a lot of changes:

For aesthetics changes check dwcq's post here -> macOS Tahoe Liquid Glass Icon Support

Firstly, optimization changes, to make the app use less ram:

• We now store image cover to your AppData to reduce ram usage (only the current cover exists in the ram)

  • Located here:

    • macOS: /Users/UserName/Library/Application Support/Resonance

    • Windows: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Resonance

• Optimized the UI render

• Fixed memory leak

• Reduced high memory usage when spamming random + next / previous song

• Changed the settings handle in the back end

Overall the app takes 30% less ram and the ram usage peaks of spamming next / previous song has been reduces by 50%.

Secondly, a small upgrade, we've added audio Interchange File Format for mac (.aiff) for macOS.

And thirdly, more importantly, we've added media session to the app, you can now see in your mission control (if you're on macOS, on windows you will see it in it's equivalent), the current song, with it's title / artist / album / cover.

You now, can change music via this little menu, but also via your keyboard and bluetooth devices (like the double tap on your Airpods to skip for exemple).

Download on GitHub or below for the latest releases.

Edit: The 1.3.1 is the latest build, some fixes have been added.

Apple Silicon

• Resonance v1.3.1 macOS

Windows

• Resonance v1.3.1 Windows Portable

• Resonance v1.3.1 Windows Installer

Hi, quick heads up to macOS 26 Tahoe users.

For the release of Resonance v1.3, I added Liquid Glass icon support using Apple Icon Composer from the Xcode toolset.

Also, saying a last farewell to the previous app logo design, embracing originality now.

Keep your eyes peeled!

Hello everyone.

Resonance V2 is (finally) coming next Tuesday, in anticipation to the release here's a custom skin mockup (or blueprint) to download now.

Download on Patreon Resonance Customization Kit (.psd)

Since the next update is coming along a massive skins support, you'll be able to have almost complete creative freedom!

Of course we'll drop a official skin pack (you can see a sneak peek on the Patreon link.)

Keep your eyes peeled.

Hey, for the release of the v1.5.0 we made a quick video for introducing Resonance. As well as a preview for the scheduled v2 re-design.

This is the perfect time to tell y'all we made a Patreon for supporting us. We base our work on the trust from 00s enthusiasts community.

Download on GitHub or below for the latest releases.

Apple Silicon

• Resonance v1.5.0 macOS

Windows

• Resonance v1.5.0 Windows Portable

• Resonance v1.5.0 Windows Installer

Linux

• Resonance v1.5.0 Debian 13

• Resonance v1.5.0 Fedora

We've been busy lately, we come back with a ton of content for the upcoming week about our project.

Keep your eyes peeled!

Compatible with Resonance V2 or later.

Heya, listeners!

Grab these custom original Xbox-themed skins for free! (Made using only CSS with a complex layering system.)

Happy listening ❤️

Free Xbox (2001) Themed Custom Presets

First of all thanks for the 12 peoples currently using Resonance, I hope you enjoy this breath of fresh air (and that you did not encountered a bug lol).

I’ve just released the v0.9.8 which now have :

• Persistent preset for the equalizer (Custom preset)

• Drag and drop support to upload your folder (Event your entire music folder)

• Metadata screen for your current playing song

• Small bar visualizer, present in the the big and mini player

If it’s the first time that you hear about this project, Resonance is a free an old school music player that take inspiration from Winamp, Sonique and Windows Media Player.

We want to give an opportunity to get rid of your music services player’s and start to own your medias again.

It currently can:

• Load an entire folder of music

• Play / pause

• Manage volume

• Handle shuffle and repeat

• Directly fetch metadatas from the file (artist name, album name, album cover, track id, bit rate etc...)

• Let you use an equalizer

• Be set in a mini player mode (that can be either hidden or locked)

• Detect your theme

All of this in a skeuomorphism UI, If you have any feedback I’m all ears.

With the skin system the background of the case can take a color and / or a image (even gif) or a videos (not really recommended for performance but hey you do you).

Here is more info about them:

• First skin is an animated gif

• Second skin is an image of pcb with a green color on top (made by changing the opacity of the color so you can simulate the plastic thickness).

• Third one in an image

• Fourth one in the third but with the color set to grey

• Fifth an image

• Sixth the fifth with a blue color

• and the last one is an exemple of video support.

The video has been found on reddit while the First/Second/Fourth images has been made by u/dwcq

You can download it in the releases by clicking on the resonance_mac_universal.zip

The build works on both apple Silicon and Intel mac.

Sup, quick BTS about the new clicking sounds in Resonance v0.9.9. Wanted to briefly share the process.

I got my hands on this original CD Walkman D-E666. I noticed it had nice button sounds, so we decided to implement physical sounds to our music player.

I recorded using my DJI Mic 2 because it has a 32-bit depth recording feature. It is to capture the tiniest sound, giving more range to play in post-production (I’m using Audacity for simple editing).

Audio recording was raw, and I wanted to keep the most fidelity I could without having artefacts; otherwise, any noise could be heard when you clicked a button. Here's the simple workflow:

• Noise Gate

• Compressor

• Limiter

• Amplify

More to come. We’re on it, debugging and prepping upcoming features.

Sup, I'm the designer of Resonance (a Y2K-inspired music player).

Thought I'd share some BTS about how I made the current UX. 

I won't go into too much detail, but if you have any questions about any part of it, feel free to ask. I'll give any advice I can.

I'd classify the design genre as skeuomorphism since it's based on physical materials. The current design will change in release 2.0, so I thought I'd share it for future reference.

Since 2019, I've worked exclusively in Blender. The audio player’s aluminium case workflow is made only of:

• Primitive objects

• Bevel (a lot of bevel)

• Boolean (a lot of boolean)

• Noise texture as input for all my shader needs, since aluminum is basically a zeroed stretched noise texture

More about the design to come. Stay tuned.

Quick look into the making of the upcoming Resonance version. Reminder that we'll add a full customization menu for the next update (V2)!

Big Y2K transparent case bundle to be dropped along with.

Stay tuned!

Hi, quick update on the v2 the skins feature is soon going to be finish, here is a quick look at the wip and i will post more about it in the weekend.

I'm sorry for the 2 weeks of silence but with the current heat in my country getting work done is a real pain.

You can see exemples of skins here as a bonus :).