Video Synth Thread

lumena · March 21, 2020, 11:07pm

I am very interested in the tachyons stuff do you have any video of just those alone. I checked out the website and it was hard to distinguish which boxes did what.

charlieroberts · March 21, 2020, 11:45pm

Just finished teaching a class where students had an assignment exploring the Vidot and then tried to recreate features in GLSL. I was kinda shocked by how difficult it was to get started with it. But I made a tutorial for the students and they were all able to get up and running with it in a couple of hours, even though none of them had used any type of modular / semi-modular gear before. They enjoyed it. I enjoy it now that I’ve figured it out.

Looks like the new synth from LZW will be more beginner-friendly… with actual text labelling of the UI.

Kheone · March 22, 2020, 1:01pm

Introduced my students to feedback and the vidiot last semester. I think they enjoyed it, even though they were making mostly colored lines. It is an interesting, confusing, confounding, and fun instrument. Usually not at the same time.

Ordered the new one to pair with it. Hopefully that will help!

charlieroberts · March 23, 2020, 12:08am

What resources did you give them to learn from? I didn’t find much in the way of useful tutorials. I wrote one, but it’s filled with things like “Turn the Horizontal Sync knob (#27 on page 5 in manual)”. I encouraged students to work in pairs just so they could deal navigating the UI.

github.com

cs-imgd-420x-20a/cs-imgd-420x-20a.github.io/blob/master/vidiot_tutorial.md

# Vidiot Tutorial
RULE #1: If you get something cool to happen, take a picture of the Vidiot patch so you can remember how you got there!!!

RULE #2: For all of the larger, stacked knobs, the top knob on the stack determines a base value, while the bottom knob determines the impact of modulations on the base value. Turn the bottom knob all the way to the left, and incoming modulations will not change the base value of the effect. Turn a bottom knob all the way to the right and modulations will highly impact the base value set by the top knob.

RULE #3: Signal typically flows according to the lines on the Vidiot, **except when you patch an output to an input**. Whatever output you patch in overrides the default modulation shown in the UI of the Vidiot. Outputs are indicated with a filled oval surrounding the patch point, while inputs are surrounded by a hollow oval.

0. Check to see if everything is turned on!  
	• Turn the monitor (tv) on. This will show you the Luma (brightness) output of the Vidiot. Most of this tutorial will focus on this output.  
	• Turn the projector on. The big power button should be blue when it's on.  
	• Turn the Vidiot on. If you're facing the Vidiot, the power is on the back right side of the unit.  
	• Turn on the video camera. Open the shutter at front of the camera, and unfold the preview screen from the left side of the camera if it's not already open.  

1. Check to see if the Vidiot is “zeroed”.
	• All knobs are turned completely counter clockwise (note that most knobs are stacked)  
	• All horizontal toggles are in their leftmost position  
	• All vertical toggles are in their topmost position  
	• The two white buttons near the top of the interface are “down” (pressed). This ensures proper vertical and horizontal synchronization.  
	• If you’re using the video monitor, make sure input “A” is selected; this is the button all the way to the right of the front monitor panel.

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Kheone · March 23, 2020, 2:01am

I showed them somethings, told them about the 3 patches video and turned them loose.

I also let them/ asked them to just record their outputs and incorporate those into another video project.

RMBLRX · April 5, 2020, 4:12pm

Maybe a little off-topic, but the first thing I thought of when I saw this was to process its output through a video synth or record video synth output onto cassette in this way (and monitor the output if using a 3-head cassette deck, albeit with a delay). The other thing that occurred to me is whether pitch/speed control on a deck might allow for a little additional quality or creativity in playback and recording, particularly if modulated via CV.

I’m also left wondering whether one might be able to use a microcontroller to handle the encoding and decoding (possibly an interesting CircuitPython project).

sbaio · April 5, 2020, 6:24pm

Stumbled over the Critter & Guitari Eyesy today:

This looks so fun and easy to use. It’s basically an Organelle for audio visualisation, with Python hackable sharable patches (called “modes”), an online patch library, MIDI control, etc.

It’s currently on Kickstarter with plans to ship this summer. I’ve always been eyeing the predecessor, the ETC and I’m definitely gonna get an Eyesy once it’s available in Europe. It seems pretty much perfect for my live-show visual needs.

laihalll · April 6, 2020, 2:17pm

So dope. I had etc installed on my organelle but I had to sell it when covid popped off

Hovercraft · April 10, 2020, 5:17pm

Cross-posting from the COVID-19 streaming thread, because this may be of interest. Planning a short series on video synthesis.

Streaming from Resonant Space–tonight (Friday) at 8:00 pm EDT (00:00 GMT).

April 10 - Intro to Modular Video Synthesis - Part 1

Beginners guide to modular video synthesis–we’ll cover basic concepts of video synthesis, particularly in relation to audio modules, discuss LZX analog and digital video modules, Vidiot, Erogenous Tones Structure, glitch, and vintage video gear.

ofentropy · April 10, 2020, 7:01pm

planning on having the VODs somewhere? I’ll be working (virtually) but would love to check this out.

Hovercraft · April 10, 2020, 7:34pm

It should be on Twitch for a couple weeks after the stream—at the same address.

lumena · April 15, 2020, 4:29pm

I am looking for suggestions on how to mount a flat panel monitor to the wall vertically. If anyone has done that please let me know what you did.

Kheone · April 15, 2020, 7:39pm

Lots of mounts can be rotated now. Or you can use an adjustable mount and just put it on sideways. That is what recently did using these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WYVBR0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

lumena · April 15, 2020, 8:17pm

Thanks that looks great!
I am mostly doing vertical format video lately and I wanted to set up a monitor (tv)so that I could get a better sense of how they would look.

Kheone · April 16, 2020, 3:09am

Current at home set up.
Need a some organization tips!

Hovercraft · April 16, 2020, 12:19pm

It might be better to use your small monitor for feedback looping. Then you could move the camera + monitor to a tucked away spot. Everything else would fit nicely on a small table- unless you prefer the floor. For gear that uses the same input voltage and tip polarity, you can use a splitter as long as the transformer can deliver enough current.

Kheone · April 16, 2020, 12:47pm

Thanks. I hadn’t known that about the power splitters.
The small monitor is the black magic video assist for capturing the final output.
Getting the video signal to that is the big tangle point: analog to sdi to updowncross for converting to HD finally into the capture device.

When I get this back to my video lab at school it’ll be better, but still a mess! At least I have a crt there.

I enjoyed the recording of your twitch stream the other night. Keep them coming!

bereenondo · April 16, 2020, 1:26pm

If you’re interested in seeing Tachyons+ Vortex Decoder, it’s featured in most of these videos here: https://www.instagram.com/bereenondo/.

To other Tachyons users, which one would you recommend as a pair for VD? I’ve been thinking of adding another module to get some extra flavour, but I’m looking for a module that wouldn’t overlap too much with the Vortex one.

Hovercraft · April 16, 2020, 1:41pm

Ahh, the video assist–didn’t recognize that–have heard they’re super nice, though. I have a similar bunch of converters so I can input or output in multiple formats–was thinking of mounting them all to a board and making some custom cables to keep things neat. I spend hours arranging my studio, but there are cables everywhere–always. Your setup looks fairly neat. Thanks for the kind words on the twitch stream–will be streaming a new show this Friday.

cliffemu · April 16, 2020, 2:01pm

has anyone tried r_e_c_u_r here? I’m interested to know if it can be made to run with the norns shield hardware. Seems like a great budget option since it can run shaders and other tricks.