Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (piano cover with real-time visualization)

// watch it in HD/fullscreen for the best experience //
this is a cover that i played and recorded solely for the purpose of testing a real-time audio visualizer that i programmed in max 5 and processing 2. in comparison to most visualizers that only use one mixed/mastered sound signal as input for generating visuals, i use the midi from the piano notes and the sound signal of my voice separately as input data. this enables much more precise timing, placement and control.
i basically draw one cord made by connecting 88 points ( which represent the 88 notes one a piano) and every piano note triggers its corresponding point when pressed using its velocity as initial size. the sound of my voice (and some leakage from the piano key presses) control the visibility of the cord and the trail of the 88 particles.
it took me a while to get maxMSP and processing to communicate well and this is basically one of the first sketches that came out of my visual environment. i recorded the song at 3am, hence the rusty/sketchy singing and piano playing ;) it's an extraordinary song though.
lyrics:
his father was a drinker
and his mother cried in bed
folding John Wayne's t-shirts
when the swingset hit his head
the neighbors they adored him
for his humor and his conversation
look underneath the house there
find the few living things, rotting fast, in their sleep
oh, the dead
twenty-seven people
even more, they were boys
with their cars, summer jobs
oh my God
are you one of them?
he dressed up like a clown for them
with his face paint white and red
and on his best behavior
in a dark room on the bed
he kissed them all
he'd kill ten thousand people
with a sleight of his hand
running far, running fast to the dead
he took off all their clothes for them
he put a cloth on their lips
quiet hands, quiet kiss on the mouth
and in my best behavior
i am really just like him
look beneath the floor boards
for the secrets I have hid

[@JutenksViak]

Awesome job;) Good!

[@jatthijsmanssens3630]

Thanks man :)