Knight Lab SoundciteJS
This plugin lets you easily use Knight Lab's SoundciteJS tool to embed audio clips on your WordPress site.
The facts
- Active installs
- 200+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 21 Jan 2020
- Added
- Aug 2017
- Requires WP
- 4.7.5
- Tested up to
- WP 5.3.23
- Downloads
- 6,533
Our analysis
AI-assistedKnight Lab SoundciteJS is a WordPress plugin designed to facilitate the embedding of audio files into your webpages. It allows you to play audio hosted on SoundCloud, as well as audio uploaded through the WordPress Media Library or accessible via URL in various formats such as MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, or WAV.
To use the plugin, you create audio clips at soundcite.knightlab.com and paste them into the text view of the post editor. While you can see and edit the clips in the visual editor, playback is only supported in post preview mode. The plugin also allows for some configuration, including setting a background colour for the clips and registering a SoundCloud client ID for better reliability.
Best for: This plugin suits users who want to embed audio content on their WordPress sites, particularly those familiar with using the text editor.
What it does well
- ✓Free to use from the WordPress.org directory
- ✓Supports various audio formats including MP3 and WAV
- ✓Allows embedding of audio from SoundCloud and WordPress Media Library
- ✓Customisable background colour for audio clips
- ✓Active installation count of 200
Where it falls short
- •Limited configuration options
- •Playback not supported in the visual editor
- •Requires use of the text editor for certain functions
- •Data is limited and the plugin has a low directory score
Verdict
SoundciteJS provides basic functionality for embedding audio, but its usability may be hindered by the need for technical adjustments and limited configuration options.
From the developer
NUKnightLab's own description of Knight Lab SoundciteJS, lightly tidied.
SoundciteJS is a tool from Northwestern University Knight Lab to make it easy to embed audio in your webpage. Historically, SoundciteJS has not been easy to use on WordPress.org sites because it uses custom attributes which are filtered out of posts.
To learn about using SoundciteJS in general, visit the SoundciteJS website. SoundciteJS can play audio hosted on SoundCloud, or audio which you upload using the WordPress Media Library, or any other audio files (MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, or WAV) which can found with a URL.
To use SoundciteJS on your WordPress site, simply install this plugin. Then create clips at soundcite.knightlab.com and paste them into the “text” view of your post editor. You will be able to see your clips and edit their text in the “visual” WordPress editor, but to change the configuration values, you must use the “text” WordPress editor. While clips will show the SoundciteJS “play” button in the visual editor, playing them is not supported in the editor, although you should be able to play them in post preview mode.
This plugin supports two configuration values, which can be set in the WordPress Settings controls, on the “Media” page.
- Soundcloud Client ID: If you use SoundCloud, you may want to register for a client ID. If you don’t, your clips may occasionally become unplayable because of the amount of traffic against the SoundciteJS default SoundCloud client ID. See the SoundCloud Developers website to register for a client ID.
- Background Color: If you choose, you may set the background color of your clips. All clips on a single page must have the same color, and the WordPress settings only support one custom color for your entire site.