Rack Layout and Windows
The desktop app is a resizable rack rather than a fixed dashboard. You can choose the modules, change their order and width, detach any module into a separate window, and save the arrangement as a profile.
Move the pointer over the Prism window to reveal its toolbar. It stays visible while Settings is open and hides after the pointer leaves.
The toolbar provides:
- a drag handle for moving the frameless window;
- a Prism support button that opens the project's Ko-fi page;
- the Prism version and update indicator;
- the active profile and unsaved-change dot;
- the rolling Clip chip when rolling capture is enabled;
- Reposition window, Settings, Pin to top, Minimize, and Close.
On platforms without native drag regions, hold Alt and drag an empty part of the main or detached window if the normal handle is inconvenient.
Open Settings > Modules and toggle any module. Prism has seven audio scopes plus Now Playing.
Hiding a module:
- removes it from the docked rack or closes its detached window;
- stops its analyzer demand when no other visible instance needs it;
- preserves all of its settings;
- does not delete it from saved profiles.
Prism keeps at least one module visible, so the final visible module cannot be disabled. Re-enable a hidden module to restore it in its prior docked or detached state using the profile's saved order and settings.
Hover a docked module to reveal its left/right controls. These move the module one position at a time. Drag the divider between two docked modules to redistribute their relative widths.
The smallest usable width is protected, so dragging one module narrower eventually transfers no more space. Widths are saved with the active profile when you save that profile.
Select the arrow at a module's upper-right corner to pop it out. A detached window has:
- its own drag handle and title;
- an independent Pin to top state;
- Mini settings for that module;
- Pop in to return it to the main rack.
Changing mini settings changes the same live profile settings used by the docked rack. Popping a module in does not reset it.
Window positions and sizes are kept locally for the active profile. Shareable .prsm files remember which modules are detached, but omit machine-specific coordinates so an imported layout does not open off-screen on another display.
Native Wayland does not support exact geometry persistence, so Prism lets the compositor place detached windows.
Spectrum, Spectrogram, Oscilloscope, and Waveform support pointer measurement. Press and drag on the scope to show a crosshair and live readout; release to dismiss it.
The overlay reports values appropriate to the display, such as frequency and level or time and amplitude. Measurement temporarily hides normal hover chrome so the crosshair is not obscured.
Rotation and mirroring are accounted for: the pointer reads the transformed point you see, while the measurement remains tied to the underlying scope data.
Spectrum, Oscilloscope, Spectrogram, and Waveform can be rotated to 0°, 90°, 180°, or 270° and mirrored horizontally. These are display transforms only.
Rotation is useful for tall overlays and vertical monitor layouts. Mirroring changes which edge receives new history or how a display reads visually; it does not reverse channels or audio samples.
Vectorscope, VU Meter, Loudness Meter, and Now Playing do not expose this general transform control because their internal layouts have mode-specific orientation behavior.
Reposition window moves the main window to the Top or Bottom edge of the current display. This control is disabled on native Wayland.
Pin to top keeps the selected Prism window above normal application windows. The main rack and each detached scope have independent pin controls. Pinning does not make Prism visible over exclusive fullscreen applications on every operating system.
Under Settings > Window, choose:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Solid | Opaque theme background and normal window snapping. |
| Blurred | The desktop shows through a blurred, tinted surface. Available on macOS and Windows 11 build 22621 or newer. |
| Clear | The desktop shows through without blur. Useful for compositing and minimal overlays. |
The percentage slider controls how much of the desktop shows through. It is disabled in Solid mode. Blur and clear modes disable normal window snapping because Prism must use a transparent-window implementation.
Changing between background modes can recreate Prism's windows. The rack, popouts, theme, and active profile are restored after recreation.
For chroma-key and streaming setups, see Themes and Transparent Overlays.
Close to tray changes the close button from exiting the visible windows to hiding every Prism window. Use Quit Prism in the tray menu to end the process.
Open at login registers Prism with the operating system. When enabled, choose:
- Login: Show Prism to present the rack;
- Login: Start in tray to start capture and controls without presenting the windows.
macOS may show Approval required in system login settings. Windows can show that the item is blocked in Startup Apps. These statuses mean the preference is recorded but the operating system has not allowed it to run.
The tray menu can:
- show or hide Prism;
- load a profile;
- select an output or input source;
- set rolling capture to Off, 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds;
- start or stop capture;
- pin and reposition the main window;
- change close/login behavior;
- open Settings or quit Prism.
Profiles save module order, visibility, relative width, every module setting, and detached state. Local metadata separately remembers main and popout window bounds. Theme selection, audio source, trim, frame target, window background, tray/login choices, and Now Playing credentials are not shareable profile content.
See Profiles for the save/import rules.