Descent (Kyle Saulnier) — visualization

Digital video, 13 min 8 s.

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

• Bus 1 — drums — black and off-white layers
• Bus 2 — drums, fast — black, horizontal bars
• Bus 3 — lead trumpet — deep blue
• Bus 4 — trumpet solo — dark red
• Bus 5 — rhodes, ending — deep blue
• Bus 6 — claps — grey
• Bus 7 — bass — brick red, horizontal bars
• Bus 8 — vibes — gold
• Bus 9 — rhodes — brick red, horizontal bars
• Bus 10 — soprano solo — indigo
• Bus 11 — tenor solo — deep blue
• Bus 12 — trombone solo — navy
• Bus 13 — bass, bold — brick red

The solo and horn buses read wide pitch ranges (roughly MIDI 20–100, mapped to bar position); the rhythm-section buses read narrow drum-map windows just above middle C (claps 60–62, drums 60–68). Needs a browser with Web MIDI (Chrome) and permission to use MIDI devices.