What a Reel asks of a visualizer
Three things. A vertical frame, because a Reel fills the phone. Motion in the first second, because the swipe decision happens there. And a length that Instagram will show to strangers: its help centre says Reels over 3 minutes are not recommended to new audiences, so a song visual should be the hook, not the album.
A spectrum bar over a still image meets the first two weakly. A generative scene that folds on the kick and drifts on the pad meets them the way a video does.
Make one in five steps
- 1.Drop in the song. Open the Groovalizer studio in your browser and drag in an MP3, WAV, M4A, OGG or AAC file. Nothing installs and the audio never uploads; it renders on your device.
- 2.Pick a preset while it plays. Flip through 2,100+ audio-reactive looks with the track running. Search them, try Surprise me, or change the colour until one fits.
- 3.Set the frame to 9:16. Choose the vertical aspect ratio. The scene composes for the tall frame, which is what a Reel fills edge to edge.
- 4.Choose the clip. In Make video, the Short clips option cuts the whole song into clips of 15, 30 or 60 seconds, one file each. For the hook alone, open Song parts on the song bar and choose Split, then 3 parts. Drag the two seams to the start and end of the hook, click the middle part and pick This part. Preview it as often as you like before you export.
- 5.Export and upload. Render the video in your browser, download it, and add it as a Reel from your phone or from instagram.com. Write the caption there; the video needs no further editing.
One export, three platforms
Reels, TikTok and YouTube Shorts all take the same vertical MP4. Groovalizer composes the scene for the 9:16 frame instead of cropping a widescreen render, so the centre of the action is the centre of the phone. Export once, post three times, and let each platform add its own caption and sound credit.
The TikTok guide on this site covers the same workflow with TikTok’s own limits, if that is where the clip goes first.
Free or Pro for a Reel
Previewing needs no account: play the song under any preset and move the clip until the look is right. A free account exports at 720p with a small watermark. A clean video is $4.99 on its own, and the plans carry no stamp either. Pro, at $14.99 a month, renders the clip at 1080 by 1920 and makes 8 videos a month, clips or full songs. Unlimited, at $29.99 a month, has no count.
Instagram compresses whatever you upload. Starting from 1080 by 1920 leaves more for it to keep.
Keep the drop in frame
Song parts let you give the build one look and the drop another, with a soft cut between them, so the visual changes when the song does. For a 30-second Reel that is usually one change, placed where the beat lands. The bass folds the geometry, the highs push the colour drift, and the cut lands on the bar.
If you are unsure where to cut, export two clips and post the one you keep watching.