Ambient music has almost no transients, which is where most reactive visuals fail - they are built to punch on a kick drum and simply sit still when there is not one. Vortexia reads bass, mid and treble separately rather than overall loudness, so a slow pad still moves it. The visual is generated live rather than played back, so it never repeats over a long set. Open vortexia.live/ambient and choose Deep Ocean or Aurora, both free and needing no account, then add the viewer URL to OBS or put the screen behind you.
How to use Ambient Stream Backgrounds
Customize the visual. Open the Vortexia dashboard, choose the Ambient Stream Backgrounds preset, and adjust colour shift, zoom and iteration depth until it matches your show.
Copy the viewer URL. Click "Get Browser Source URL" — Vortexia will give you a permanent URL that loads this exact configuration anywhere.
Add it to OBS, Streamlabs and any other broadcasting software. In OBS, Streamlabs and any other broadcasting software, add a new Browser Source, paste the viewer URL, and set the canvas to 1920×1080 (or 1080×1920 for vertical). The visual is live as soon as the source loads.
Route your audio. Make sure the browser tab can hear the audio you want it to react to — most streamers route their stream output through a virtual audio cable so Vortexia and OBS hear the same mix.
Specs & output
Engine
Chaos Prime
Render Mode
zodiac
Iteration Depth
60
Default Zoom
0.80
Colour Shift
220°
Output (Free)
720p / 30fps + watermark
Output (Plus)
1080p / 60fps, no watermark
Output (Pro)
4K / 60fps, brand-kit logo overlay
Audio Source
Browser tab audio (FFT, real-time)
Last Updated
2026-08-25
Frequently asked questions
Will it react to music with no drums?
Yes. It taps three frequency bands separately, so a sustained pad drives the mid band even with no percussion at all. Beat detection is there for music that has a beat and simply reports nothing when there is not one, rather than inventing motion.
Can I make it move more slowly than it does?
Lower the sensitivity and choose a look built for stillness - Aurora Veil is the calmest here, written for a background that has to sit behind someone for an hour without demanding attention. Reducing the colour shift also keeps the palette from travelling.
Is it suitable for meditation or sleep streams?
The slower looks are, with sensitivity low. Avoid Bass Tunnel and Hyperwarp, which are built to move. Also turn off the event treatments if you have Twitch connected, or a sub alert will flash a visual across a sleep stream.
Does it need my microphone?
It needs an audio source, which can be your microphone or system audio routed through a virtual cable. Nothing is recorded and nothing is transmitted - the analysis happens in the browser tab and the audio never leaves the machine.
About the author
Yousef @ Vortexia — Vortexia Engine Creator.
Yousef builds Vortexia — a browser-based, GPU-accelerated audio-reactive visual engine used by streamers and DJs on Twitch, Kick, YouTube Live and TikTok Live.