I’ve looked for a good audio player for WordPress off and on over the years and have always come up short so I finally made my own.

You can add songs quickly one by one or you can import a batch.

The power of the player is that it runs on a shortcode which queries for a number of parameters, making the player extremely versatile. Here is a rundown of the shortcode:

🎵 Shortcode Guide

Embed an interactive playlist anywhere using this shortcode:

[archive_visual_player]
Elmers Fencing on Ladders
Limpid Green ()
  • Elmers Fencing on Ladders
    Limpid Green
    from the album
  • Slide featuring Emily Griffiths
    Jeremy Gluck
    from the album unreleased
    Read more
  • Three of Us
    Ken Clinger
    from the album GAJOOBilation 7.2
    Read more
  • Mential Anguish - A Virtuoso Deplay ov Psychic Energy
    Mential Anguish
    from the album Tapegerm Collective - Germination Vol. 1 No. 26
    Read more
  • Rock Star Sneakers
    Squelch
    from the album GAJOOBilation 7.8
    Read more
  • Clean Air Town
    Bob Bunce
    from the album Blues 4 a Tired Planet
    Read more
  • Slow Rock Forever
    Roy Moller
    from the album
  • 15 Minutes With The Shorty Blackwells
    The Shorty Blackwells
    from the album 15 DiY Minutes
    Read more
  • Warm Sublimatus
    Triptic of a Pastel Fern
    from the album Fisty Stealth
  • Growing Old
    Donald Rubinstein
    from the album
  • Somomatic Registration
    John M. Bennett
    from the album GAJOOBilation 7.3
    Read more
  • Obscure Again
    David Fuglewicz
    from the album Germination 4 Volume 2
    Read more

This displays a full-featured player with:

  • Now playing details
  • Play/pause/next/shuffle controls
  • Clickable tracklist
  • Optional search filter

⚙️ Available Parameters

ParameterDescription
artistFilter by artist name
albumFilter by album title
genreFilter by genre
yearFilter by year
labelFilter by label (if set)
tagFilter by tag(s), comma-separated
limitMaximum number of songs to display
shuffleSet to true to shuffle results
searchSet to true to show a search filter
unique_artistsSet to true to display only one song per artist

✅ Example Usages

All songs by an artist:

[archive_visual_player artist="Gary Wray"]

Shuffle and limit to 10 tracks:

[archive_visual_player tag="cassette" shuffle="true" limit="10"]

Show a search bar:

[archive_visual_player search="true"]

One track per artist:

[archive_visual_player genre="experimental" unique_artists="true"]

Random 12 songs from different artists:

[archive_visual_player tag="gajoob" shuffle="true" unique_artists="true" limit="12"]

🎨 Themes

You can add a logo in the plugin settings which will appear at the top of every audio player.

You can select a player theme to match your site in Settings → Archive Player. Options include:

  • cassette (default)
  • zine
  • funky
  • blackdawn
  • wimpy-vert
  • skyblack
  • unravel