Introducing AudioLens for VS Code: A Brand New Audio Analysis Tool for Audio AI Engineers

Simon Zhou released AudioLens, a free, Apache-2.0-licensed audio analysis extension for VS Code, available on the VS Code Marketplace with source on GitHub. AudioLens gives each channel its own track with switchable waveform, spectrogram or combined views, uses STFT analysis with controls for FFT size, window function and frequency scale, and shows RMS, peak and clipping ratio for a dragged selection that can be saved as a WAV file. The extension opens PCM/RAW files with explicit format settings and RIFF/WAVE entries inside Kaldi archives, and in Remote SSH workspaces reads remote audio and transfers the data needed for local playback and visualization, with no separate account or hosted audio-upload service required.

Hey guys I’m Simon, and I made AudioLens for my own audio workflow in VS Code. I had been using audio-preview, but I found its spectrogram and analysis tools awkward to work with. At the time, I could only inspect one channel, which got in the way when I wanted to look at multichannel audio. So I decided to make something that felt more natural to use: open a sample beside my code, listen to it, look at each channel’s waveform and spectrogram, and take a closer look at any part that needs it. Each channel gets its own track. You can switch between a waveform, a spectrogram, or both on the same timeline. Mute or solo a channel when you want to hear it on its own. The spectrogram uses STFT analysis, with controls for FFT size, window function and frequency scale. Drag across the waveform or spectrogram to select a short interval, then play just that bit. The selection panel shows measurements such as RMS, peak and clipping ratio for the active channel. You can also right-click to save the selected interval as a WAV file when you need a smaller sample to work with. When an audio path is sitting in a manifest, transcript or log, hover over it and use the AudioLens action to open it. The sample stays close to the code and text you’re working through. It also opens PCM/RAW files with explicit format settings and RIFF/WAVE entries inside Kaldi archives. For Remote SSH workspaces, it reads the remote audio and transfers the data needed for local playback and visualization. AudioLens is free and Apache-2.0 licensed. You don’t need a separate AudioLens account or a hosted audio-upload service. Install from the VS Code Marketplace https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=simzhou.audiolens · Source and documentation https://github.com/SimZhou/vscode-audiolens