How can I create this MIDI visualizer in Resolve/Fusion?

Hi there,

I've noticed a trend on YouTube recently where people post piano covers with a top-down view and a piano roll effect. When the MIDI notes hit the keys, particles get released from the key. Here's an example:

Most of those people seem to do the visualizer with After Effects but I was wondering whether there's a way to do it in the Fusion section of DaVinci Resolve? Is there a way to work with MIDI files or how would you guys approach making this? I'm an absolute noob, so any kind of help would be much appreciated!

I think MIDIExtractor will do that. You might want to look at the Duplicate Fuse, as well, as that's how you can convert the keypress to a bar in a easy to control manner. You'd probably want to figure it out for one single note first, then instance or make a macro for the other notes. I could see this being a situation where you'd want to have some rudimentary scripts so you can scale to 88 keys easily.

Don't forget that this all starts with footage of someone actually playing the song. The light on the keys themselves is real light, not an effect.

The person whose video you linked to mentions he programmed the visualisation software himself.

ah, good catch. I thought it was backlit plastic keys, but the light does shine on the tops of his fingers.

Well, there‘s a program called "Synthesia" that already creates the rolling bars, so they don‘t have to be made in Fusion. I thought maybe you could screen-record the falling notes from Synthesia, import the video file into Resolve and then somehow let the program detect when a note reaches the keys and emit particles / glow from that position for as long as the note is being pressed. I just have no idea how this could be realized. I know that the light on the pianist‘s hands is real and not added afterwards, I‘m just wondering about how the fancy effects work.

Hey,
Interesting thread indeed. I think I'd make it in Motion, with a couple of behaviors, but it could be nice to make this in Fusion too...