Audio Sidebar

An Obsidian plugin for managing music, one-shot sound effects, and looping ambience during play sessions — with a persistent sidebar player, note-embedded audio buttons, and fade-aware controls throughout.

Made by Patriek Jeuriens.

Features

• Persistent right-sidebar player for folder-based music playback
• Searchable one-shot sound effects picker with fade-out on stop
• Searchable looping ambience picker — loops fade in and out automatically
• Now-playing panel showing all active music, loops, and SFX with elapsed time and stop controls
• Fade-aware crossfading for music tracks with a configurable duration
• Optional music overlap mode for manual transitions between tracks
• Per-category volume sliders: master, music, SFX, and loop
• Scene creator: combine a music track and any number of loops into a single note button
• Markdown codeblocks for note-embedded audio buttons
• File-explorer context menu to copy ready-to-paste codeblocks

Codeblocks

Music sidebar loader

Loads a folder into the audio sidebar. Optionally auto-plays a specific track by basename.

```audiosidebar
Session Information/Campaigns/The Ballad of the Corpse Dancer/Audio
```

```audiosidebar
Session Information/Campaigns/The Ballad of the Corpse Dancer/Audio#The Ballad of the Corpse Dancer
```

One-shot sound effect

Plays a single sound effect immediately. Can be stopped with a fade from the now-playing panel.

```audiosfx
SFX#Door Slam
```

You can also target a file by its full vault path, or use folder#basename syntax to pick from a specific folder.

Looping ambience

Toggles a looping ambient sound on or off. The same loop cannot be started twice. Fades in on start and fades out on stop.

```audioloop
Loops#Rain Interior
```

Scene

Fades out all current audio and simultaneously starts a music track and any number of loops. Created with the 🎬 Create Scene button in the sidebar toolbar, which opens a dialog to pick a track and loops and copy the finished codeblock.

```audioscene
name: Tavern Night
music: Music/Bardify#Tavern Night
loop: Loops#Rain Interior
loop: Loops#Hearth Fire
```

• name — label shown on the button (required)
• music — optional; uses folder#basename syntax, same as audiosidebar
• loop — optional; repeatable; uses folder#basename syntax, same as audioloop

Clicking the button fades out all active audio before starting the scene.

Fade out all audio

Fades out all active music and loops, and stops any active SFX. Intended as a scene-control button embedded directly in a note.

```audiofadeoutall
Fade out all audio
```

The label is optional — if omitted the button reads Fade out all audio.

Right-Click Menu

Folders

Right-clicking a folder in the file explorer provides:

• Add to note as Audio Sidebar
• Copy fade-out-all codeblock

Audio files

Right-clicking an audio file opens an Audio submenu with:

• Copy track codeblock
• Copy SFX codeblock
• Copy loop codeblock
• Copy fade-out-all codeblock

Commands

Command	Description
Load audio from current note's folder	Loads the active note's parent folder into the sidebar
Open sound effects picker	Opens the searchable one-shot SFX modal
Open loop picker	Opens the searchable loop modal
Stop all loops	Fades out and stops all active loops
Fade out all audio	Fades out all music and loops, stops all SFX

Settings

Setting	Description
Default folder	Vault-relative path loaded automatically when the sidebar opens
Use selected folder	Copies the folder selected in the file explorer into the default folder setting
Sound effects folder	Vault-relative path used by the SFX picker
Loops folder	Vault-relative path used by the loop picker
Allow music overlap	Lets multiple music tracks play simultaneously for manual crossfades
Master volume	Overall volume applied to all categories
Music volume	Volume for tracks played in the sidebar
Sound effects volume	Volume for one-shot effects
Loop volume	Volume for looping ambience
Music fade duration	Fade in/out duration in milliseconds, used for music and loops

Notes

• audiosidebar uses the sidebar view and can auto-play a track after loading a folder.
• audiosfx plays detached one-shot audio and does not require the sidebar to stay open.
• audioloop tracks active loops by file path so the same loop cannot be started twice.
• audioscene fades out all audio before starting, so it always starts clean.
• audiofadeoutall uses the fade-aware stop path for music and loops.
• SFX fade out over 500 ms when stopped from the now-playing panel. The stop-all command cuts immediately.