Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

wade167

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2004
2
0
Can iTunes project the Visualizer onto a 2nd monitor (with a dual monitor setup) but keep the controls on the main monitor? Thanks for any help....
 

TheT

macrumors 6502
Jan 5, 2002
485
0
Germany
wade167 said:
Can iTunes project the Visualizer onto a 2nd monitor (with a dual monitor setup) but keep the controls on the main monitor? Thanks for any help....
As far as I know... no!
(then again my last experience with dual monitor setups was with iTunes 3 and 10.1 , but I don't think anything changed)
 

baby duck monge

macrumors 68000
Feb 16, 2003
1,570
0
Memphis, TN
it doesn't seem possible, but i would like to know if it is possible not to have the screen without visuals go dark. would be nice sometimes to keep working a little bit...
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
yeah, wondering about this myself... i think the best you can do is drag a maximized copy of an iTunes window to the second screen and run visualizer on it...

bummer too. at parties, it would be nice to project the visualizer in full screen onto a TV while being able to DJ on the computer...
 

wade167

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 16, 2004
2
0
That's what I'm talking about!!!

jxyama said:
yeah, wondering about this myself... i think the best you can do is drag a maximized copy of an iTunes window to the second screen and run visualizer on it...

bummer too. at parties, it would be nice to project the visualizer in full screen onto a TV while being able to DJ on the computer...

I use a dual monitor setup for my church every Saturday night when we have family centered program called "Kidstuff". Everyone love the Visualizer but I'm locked out until I pull it off, leaving a blue projected screen that's waiting for the next skit. Is there anything else out there that can do this without locking me out of the primary monitor?
 

Applespider

macrumors G4
not sure if this will work but could you do it using the iTunes track app that's on version tracker?

It can sit in your toolbar and lets you change track forwards or backwards or pause it. You could have visualiser on one screen and then do basic controls from the menu bar?
 

jxyama

macrumors 68040
Apr 3, 2003
3,735
1
Applespider said:
not sure if this will work but could you do it using the iTunes track app that's on version tracker?

It can sit in your toolbar and lets you change track forwards or backwards or pause it. You could have visualiser on one screen and then do basic controls from the menu bar?

iirc, when the full screen visualizer is turned on in one of the screens, the other screen simply goes black. no menu bar, nothing...
 

iamartboy

macrumors newbie
Mar 5, 2004
4
0
There IS a (ugly) way to do it.

Depending on your monitor resolutions/setup, you can drag a large visualizer window so that it appears to fill a second screen. I used to do this with the Radeon 7000 PCI card in a souped-up sawtooth that was hooked up to my TV/home entertainment setup. Your processor and video will greatly impact the performance when you do this.
 

kdum8

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2006
919
12
Tokyo, Japan
I don't know of a way either but it would be a great feature. Frankly given how popular and ubiquitous iTunes has become, I am surprised that Apple has not developed it more frankly. There is a lot of room for improvement. I don't feel they have developed it to the level that they have with Aperture or Logic Studio, Final Cut Pro etc. It may be a consumer music player but there is so much more that could be done to improve it.

Having said that though, I still think it is the best of the bunch out there for mac. ;)
 

pooryou

macrumors 65816
Sep 28, 2007
1,329
63
NorCal
If you mean mirror the second monitor so that it replicates exactly the first this is not what the OP is asking and isn't much use. Unless you are referring to something else?

It does exactly what the OP is asking, and what everyone in this thread is discussing, and is of very much use: displaying the visualizer on both screens.

Obviously keeping one screen with controls isn't going to happen.
 

kdum8

macrumors 6502a
Sep 8, 2006
919
12
Tokyo, Japan
It does exactly what the OP is asking, and what everyone in this thread is discussing, and is of very much use: displaying the visualizer on both screens.

Obviously keeping one screen with controls isn't going to happen.

I hate to be pedantic but no it doesn't. OP: "Can iTunes project the Visualizer onto a 2nd monitor (with a dual monitor setup) but keep the controls on the main monitor?"

He/she asks if the visualizer can go onto a second screen, (not both), and keep the controls on the main. So it doesn't do "exactly" what the OP is asking.

Anyway, no matter. ;)
 

IDANNY

macrumors 6502a
Dec 26, 2003
782
1
Las vegas
has anyone had any luck we do have a new version of itunes now I tried personally and had no luck.

Thanks for any help
-Idanny
 

dersd

macrumors newbie
Dec 11, 2009
1
0
iPhone Remote does it!

Thanks for the tip. Using an iPhone with the Remote app worked great. I've tried it a little and haven't seen any problems yet.

The other options (zooming, partial windows, etc) are junk; don't waste your time other than this option.
 

Sunny247

macrumors newbie
Jun 7, 2015
1
2
I WAS LOOKING AT THIS THREAD IN HOPES FOR A SOLUTION BUT CAME UP WITH A METHOD TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN:

1. Enter Visualizer (command+T)
2. Enter Mission Control (I swipe Up on my trackpad with 4 fingers)
3. Click and Drag the Visualizer screen to the Monitor you want to display it on. (I use 3 finger drag method)

Simple solution to a frustrating desire. Now I can compute with the visualizer and music YES!
 

Partron22

macrumors 68030
Apr 13, 2011
2,655
808
Yes
With "Displays have separate spaces" unchecked in mission control, you can run Visualizer maximized, not full screen, on second display, and have mini-player window on main display
 

ringrob

macrumors newbie
Nov 22, 2015
1
0
Can iTunes project the Visualizer onto a 2nd monitor (with a dual monitor setup) but keep the controls on the main monitor? Thanks for any help....

Best way I've found to do this is to open iTunes on the secondary monitor (full screen), and start the visualizer. I then use the "remote" app on my iPhone or iPad to control iTunes.
 

brettroby

macrumors newbie
Aug 28, 2016
13
0
Santa Cruz, California
Can iTunes project the Visualizer onto a 2nd monitor (with a dual monitor setup) but keep the controls on the main monitor? Thanks for any help....
Best way I've found to do this is to open iTunes on the secondary monitor (full screen), and start the visualizer. I then use the "remote" app on my iPhone or iPad to control iTunes.
I know the OP is very old, but I was looking for the answer to this and I see that someone else was looking for it as well somewhat recently.

I have figured out how to do this. It was a little bit tricky, but overall not too hard. The first thing you want to do is set your visualizer so that when you go into it, it only takes up the iTunes window and not the full screen. Depending on your version of iTunes this will be something along the lines of ⌘^F. Just make sure that when you go into the visualizer, it doesn't take up your entire screen. This won't work if that's the case. If you enter visualizer and it takes up the whole screen, enter the shortcut key combo to exit the full screen display and you will then be in a windowed visualizer mode.

Got it? Good! :)

From here, it's super-basic. If you have not already done so, drag the entire iTunes application window to the second screen. Once you've got it on the second screen, NOW enter the full screen visualizer with the shortcut key combo. What you will see is this, if you're lucky:

iTunes on Second Monitor.jpg


Any questions?
 

SWLinPHX

macrumors regular
Nov 11, 2008
127
0
Phoenix, AZ
The first thing you want to do is set your visualizer so that when you go into it, it only takes up the iTunes window and not the full screen. Depending on your version of iTunes this will be something along the lines of ⌘^F. Just make sure that when you go into the visualizer, it doesn't take up your entire screen. This won't work if that's the case. If you enter visualizer and it takes up the whole screen, enter the shortcut key combo to exit the full screen display and you will then be in a windowed visualizer mode.

Any questions?

How does that allow for controls on the original computer window for the DJ without it going dark? It is easy if you want to simply make the iTunes visualizer full screen on the second monitor with no controls on the original smaller computer screen, but that is not what the OP asked. HERE ARE TWO SOLUTIONS:

1) Use the Apple Remote iOS app to control iTunes while it is in full-screen mode on the second (larger) monitor while the original computer screen is dark and inaccessible, OR...

2) Open the window of songs you wish to control (playlist) in a second window (that won't have the left sidebar). If you want to access the entire library simply make a playlist of ALL SONGS and open that. Keep that window on your computer to control the songs to play and move the iTunes main window with Visualizer enlarged or full screen to the second display.

However, having said this there is no excuse for such an obvious feature as "display/open Visualizer in second window" or to make it full screen while not affecting the computer screen controls (as with QuickTime Player and other programs) to be missing in such a long-established and widely used Apple program as iTunes.
 

brettroby

macrumors newbie
Aug 28, 2016
13
0
Santa Cruz, California
How does that allow for controls on the original computer window for the DJ without it going dark? It is easy if you want to simply make the iTunes visualizer full screen on the second monitor with no controls on the original smaller computer screen, but that is not what the OP asked. HERE ARE TWO SOLUTIONS:

1) Use the Apple Remote iOS app to control iTunes while it is in full-screen mode on the second (larger) monitor while the original computer screen is dark and inaccessible, OR...

2) Open the window of songs you wish to control (playlist) in a second window (that won't have the left sidebar). If you want to access the entire library simply make a playlist of ALL SONGS and open that. Keep that window on your computer to control the songs to play and move the iTunes main window with Visualizer enlarged or full screen to the second display.

However, having said this there is no excuse for such an obvious feature as "display/open Visualizer in second window" or to make it full screen while not affecting the computer screen controls (as with QuickTime Player and other programs) to be missing in such a long-established and widely used Apple program as iTunes.
I didn't interpret/see that part of the OP's message. I thought (at first) that it was more of an issue of having the visualizer display only on the second monitor while the user still has access and ability to a normal environment on the original monitor. iTunes visualizer typically wants to take over the primary display when it goes full-screen (even if the iTunes application is open on the second display) so to get it to go full-screen on the secondary display only takes a little trickery.

Ether way, great answer! I think between all of that and the other replies in this thread, the OP should be in good shape.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.