VJs?

jimi_t2

Just wondering if anyone here VJs or has good examples of VJ performances? Been doing a bit of it myself, ripping bits from here and there and mucking them in Arkaoss and the like but I'm curious as to... I supposed you'd call it ''improvisational'' syncing; VJing blind with a DJ/set you're unfamiliar with and trying to keep up, in sync and in the right BPM.

was.deevey

I supposed you'd call it ''improvisational'' syncing; VJing blind with a DJ/set you're unfamiliar with and trying to keep up, in sync and in the right BPM.

I was VJ'ing for a long time, Lighting designer first, which is pretty much the same game in regards "improvisational" sync.

99% of DJ's keep almost the same BPM throughout a set and drop a break when you expect .. just knowing dance music and DJ'ing is generally enough to keep things in play...keep a few nice slow clips ready for the unexpected drops....

All the best lighting Jockeys I ever knew were DJ's as well BTW ...

I used to use Arkaos for a long long time, but Resolume at this stage I reckon is better bet for VJ'ing unless your gonna DMX things up in sync with lighting...there are so so many toys available now that were a dream before.

Check out http://www.VJforums.com ... its a great resource to get ya started and alot of famous VJ's on the board too.

jimi_t2

was.deevey wrote: »

I was VJ'ing for a long time, Lighting designer first, which is pretty much the same game in regards "improvisational" sync.

Did theatre lighting/design meself - mainly student stuff off a 512 DMX desk; gelled parcans and all the usual nonsense, but am trying to get back into it with... a certain CAD lighting program. I'll leave it at that

Was looking into a few bits and pieces recently in terms of enhancing DJ performance, I'm into my tech and have been looking at a series of kits and implementations to maybe do an installation or two at some point - using an arduino or similar as the ''brain'' for controlling LEDS or birdies/cantatas.

Similar maybe to what this guy is at
http://www.adafruit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=15555&start=0

Check out http://www.VJforums.com ... its a great resource to get ya started and alot of famous VJ's on the board too.

Sweet as, had a quick glance at it but I'll go back for a better look tonight.

What was/is your setup btw? Is there any inexpensive USB/DMX Dongle you recommend?

was.deevey

I haven't been "in the game" for a few years now, last install (yes install!) ... I had to play with was 2 lighting desks, Hippotizer, Arkaos 3 rig with midi keyboard, Edirol V4 PTZ dancefloor camera, 3 static cams, Matrix .. and ALOT of intelligent & led lighting. (Damn it was sweet).

It was complete overkill and wasted on what turned into a commercial club though, visuals wasted .. it was depressing when puters come up to the box and say "you should have the music video for that song on the screens" GAH!

Prior to that, I was using iBook, Powerbook g3, and PC's .. running Arkaos on the Mac's and openTZT or Resolume on the PC's .. mostly with MX50 video mixer for live input feeds and mixing the computers.

Personally I've always preferred keeping the video and lighting on separate sources.. kept me busy in some boring situations:P .. and I hate to say it but the majority of lighting guys that seem to be about don't know jack or don't care about dance music ... (Hog presets get boring guys! & sound to-light doesn't just work)...I'd probably put everything through a computer at this stage if I was to do an install.

You might take a look at Arkaos Grand VJ though for as a DMX / VJing combo though... I think they have the dongles for sale on their site.

There's a HUGE range of controllers available in Hong Kong / China that work out really really really reasonable.. and are actually decent quality... search LED & DMX lighting on http://www.diytrade.com

electrogrimey

I work with a VJ, and Resolume and Modul8 seem to be the best programs around, so maybe have a look at them.

As far as VJing, keeping in sync with software I don't think is hugely important, you can change the visuals for drops etc manually, and even the videos themselves if you have a speed fader mapped to a controller, you can keep them in time manually too.

There's basically two types of VJing, the more dance orientated kind, which is fundamentally a better version of iTunes visualiser kind of stuff (bit condescending but you know), "cool" lines and waves and expanding shapes and stuff, or more creative stuff which you normally find in non-dance music, but which is often more exciting with dance music.

Have a play around, but one thing to bear in mind is to think about different ways of projecting, something more than just a screen behind the stage. One of the hardest and most impressive things to do is to map visuals onto the shape of the structure you're projecting onto, but you can do more or less anything with visuals.