Live · desktop

Cortex Music the Riff layout

A player built around the cover art instead of a spreadsheet of tracks: one hero surface, live lyrics, and a sidebar that stays out of the way.

LiveWindows, macOS, LinuxRiff design

01First run

A welcome flow that explains the app in two cards, then gets out of the way.

OnboardingWelcome screen with a single Continue action and a Skip escape.
Welcome screen with a single Continue action and a Skip escape.

02The player

My Wave as the hero surface, the source switcher on top, the now-playing column on the right and the transport bar across the bottom. The feed is empty in this capture because the local server that builds it was not running on the capture machine - the shell, the layout and the design tokens are the real ones.

DesktopMy Wave: hero surface, source switcher, now-playing column and transport bar.
My Wave: hero surface, source switcher, now-playing column and transport bar.

03Tools it asks for

On first launch the app checks for yt-dlp and ffmpeg instead of failing later, and offers a one-click install.

First launchThe required-tools dialog with the install action.
The required-tools dialog with the install action.

04What it does

Cover-led

The record is the interface; playlists sit behind it, not in front.

Live lyrics

Lines follow the audio with the active line lifted.

Sources

YouTube, YouTube Music and SoundCloud are switchable from the top bar.

Same tokens

Graphite surfaces, cyan to violet gradient, rounded cards - the same language as the rest of Cortex.