Wave after wave

Watch Wave after wave live in the browser

A camera glides low over open ocean, with choppy swell rolling toward the horizon and a sharp sun glint on the water. The sea is a ray-marched heightfield built from layered octaves of sharpened noise waves, the technique of the well-known Shadertoy shader Seascape, seen from a slowly drifting camera.

The waves themselves move at a constant pace; what follows the music is the light. The detected notes colour the water, the sky reflected in it and the overall tint, so the same sea shifts in colour with the harmony, and a strongly leading note brightens the highlights.

What it reacts to

• Notes: the colour of the notes playing now tints the water and the reflected sky
• Note activity: the more the notes sound, the stronger the tint and the brighter the water glows
• A leading note: strengthens the sun glint on the wave crests
• Swell, chop and camera: move on their own clock, independent of the audio

Music that suits it

Harmonically rich music with clear chords and melodies, such as piano, jazz or film scores, changes the sea's colour the most; drums alone have little effect.

How to play it

Install Deus, play music on Spotify, YouTube Music, Yandex Music or any other tab and click the Deus icon on that tab. Then pick Wave after wave in the WebGL presets, or press ← → on the page until it comes up.