Shrink (Nico Muhly) — visualization

Digital video, 4 min 37 s.

The live piece is a listener — the screen stays black until it hears MIDI. It listens by device name, not channel: eleven ports named IAC Driver Bus 1–9, 12, 13 (macOS: enable and name them in Audio MIDI Setup). Any channel works on any bus. Route one part of Shrink to each bus; every bus draws in its own color:

• Bus 1 — solo — blue → cyan by pitch
• Bus 13 — solo, opening — steel blue
• Bus 2 — violin 1 — violet → pale blue
• Bus 3 — violin 2 — violet
• Bus 8 — violins together — coral, horizontal bars
• Bus 4 — viola — red → pink
• Bus 12 — viola, second layer — red, horizontal bars
• Bus 5 — cello — blue → pale blue
• Bus 6 — bass — crimson; notes below C2 also wash the full screen blue/red
• Bus 9 — bass, doubled — dark blue, wide bars
• Bus 7 — opening chords — dark blue

Pitch places each bar (MIDI 24–100; low notes left or bottom, high notes right or top). Needs a browser with Web MIDI (Chrome) and permission to use MIDI devices.