PARANOISE SPECTROID
PARANOISE SPECTROID plays MIDI and SID files and turns them into motion pictures. Eight GPU scenes run through a stack of up to five effects, and any setting can follow the bass, kicks or snares. It ships with 128 SID tunes by No-XS, in the C64 scene since 1991, plus three MIDI classics.
What problem does it solve?
Most music visualizers take whatever comes out of the speakers and draw a waveform. MIDI and SID files know far more than that. They know every note, every channel and every drum hit before it sounds. PARANOISE SPECTROID uses all of it, so the picture moves with the music instead of trailing behind it.
How it works
Pick a track from the playlist or drop in your own MIDI or SID file. Choose one of eight scenes, then stack up to five effects on top, such as feedback, bloom, RGB shift, CRT and grain. Every setting can follow the bass, the kicks, the snares or a slow LFO, so the picture breathes with the song. Mute or solo channels, swap between eight synths for MIDI, and record a PNG or a video in any aspect ratio, from 16:9 to 9:16.
The playlist opens with Kraftwerk and Radiohead and leans on the SID tunes of a Commodore 64 scene musician, No-XS.
Whom it’s for
Chiptune and demoscene fans, anyone making visuals for a set or a vertical video, and people who like watching music as much as hearing it.
Tech
Plain JavaScript and WebGL2, with no framework. MIDI plays through FluidSynth compiled to WebAssembly. SID tunes run on a 6502 processor and 6581 sound chip emulator written for this project, inside an AudioWorklet. Each frame draws the scene, then passes it through the effect stack in ping-pong framebuffers, and the resolution adapts to hold 60 frames a second.
Frequently asked questions
What is PARANOISE SPECTROID?
A music visualizer studio for MIDI and SID files. It plays the track and draws it live through a stack of GPU effects you control.
What can it play?
MIDI and SID files. Drop your own onto the page, or pick from the bundled playlist.
Whose music is bundled?
128 SID tunes by No-XS, a Dutch musician in the C64 scene since 1991, plus MIDI versions of songs by Kraftwerk, Radiohead and Kino.
Can I record what it draws?
Yes. Snap saves the current frame as a PNG and Rec records video with sound. Choose an aspect ratio such as 9:16 first for vertical video.
Is it free?
Yes. It runs in the browser with nothing to install.