A quick overview and demonstration of what is new in the AVmixer Lite version 2.7 by VJ Fader.
Feel free to download and try the Demo version of AVmixer Lite.
]]>A quick overview and demonstration of what is new in the AVmixer Pro version 2.7 by VJ Fader.
Feel free to download and try the Demo version of AVmixer Pro for PC and Mac.
]]>Our top pic is a content shop by popular VJ software company Resolume. They release curated VJ content packs from hand picked visual artists. Most of their content packs, typically ranging about 30 videos per pack, are designed for dance music that has beats per minute (BPM) of around 128.
Price:
€70 for one Full HD (1080p) video pack
Pros:
Hight Quality
Decent Selection
Some 4K VJ Packs
Cons:
Can not purchase visuals individually, you have to buy the whole pack.
link: resolume.com/footage/
This is a fairly new platform on the block, launched beginning of 2017. Created by VJ Fader, this platform is designed as a visual content marketplace where artists can upload their loops for sale whenever they want, without the hassle of the curation process and restrictions on video format or codec. Plus all of their content is priced between $0 – $4 so you won't break your bank if you start building your VJ library. Additionally they support Commercial License for those who wish to purchase the content for commercial use, think stock video.
Average Price:
€0 – €4 for one video loop, no codec or video size restriction
Pros:
Open content marketplace
Can buy content individually
Loops are priced reasonably low
Cons:
Not options for content packs
link: www.avloops.com
This shop has been around for a long time, meaning there are thousands of visuals in their online library. You can spend hours browsing never ending stream of videos. More is not always better, meaning the quality is not always top notch but again you have a lot to choose from. In additional to VJ specific content, they also sell stock video footage such as time lapse, drone footage and live action.
Price:
Average $10 for one HD (1080p) video loop
Price for packs average $30 – $80
Pros:
70k+ videos
Offers Pack as well as single video
Cons:
A lot of low res and older content on the platform
link: www.vjloops.com
Similar to Resolume Footage, Motionloops offer themed content packs with deep discounts. Meaning their system gives you big discounts the more content you buy. They also offer complete collection at a fixed price. For example the entire collection at HD is priced at $1200 at the time of writing, if you want to put down a large chunk of money up front.
Price:
$20 for one Full HD (1080p) video loop
$70 for one Full HD (1080p) visual pack
Pros:
Decent visual content
Can purchase a pack as well as single content
Offers big discount if you buy more
Cons:
Curated content
link: www.motionloops.com
]]>Ableton Live is one of the popular music DAW softwares on the market today. Beyond music production, it has a powerful loop based clip launching feature that is perfect for live performance, hence the software name 'Live'. By connecting Ableton with AVmixer using MIDI protocol, you can control almost every feature on AVmixer during your set directly from Live. This is ideal for someone who's interested in incorporating video into their show and giving the audience a complete audio visual experience.
Download this demo AVmixer Ableton Live project file here.
In this demo video Fader is using one of the Live's DJ example demo project. By adding additional MIDI tracks sending MIDI messages directly to AVmixer, you can control almost every aspect of the video. Once the Live project has been setup, you can focus on your live performance and don't have to physically interact with AVmixer at all during the show.
Check out this video tutorial by VJ Fader and find out how to set it up, featuring visual content by Catmac on AVLoops.
]]>There are two major platforms to find GIFs on the web. They are Giphy and Tumblr, both are amazing resources for browsing through millions of GIFs created by other people. You can quickly search via hashtags. Almost any word you can think of, there's a GIF available for it. You can make your own GIFs on websites like gifmaker. With major social media platforms such as Facebook supporting GIFs for posting and sending as a message, the popularity of GIF as a sharing visual medium is growing. If you are looking for high-quality visual animations then check out AVLoops.com.
Although GIFs are mostly low quality and unlike video format they come in different aspect ratios (square, tall rectangle...). For me personally, the amount of content available as GIFs really out weighs some of these negative aspect. VJing is about visual communication, a dialogue between the performer and the audience. What does an image or animation is 'saying' is very important. Because you can find almost any GIF associated to a word or hashtag, that makes GIFs a super valuable source for finding a loop that 'says' exactly what you want at any given time.
VDMX has a nice handy utility called GifToSyphon for Mac. You can use it to search through Giphy's library of GIFs and send the video to most VJ softwares including AVmixer via Syphon. There's no browser function so you can only skip to 'next' GIF which can be very random. Nevertheless it is a nice little utility if you need something on the fly. Do keep in mind that you will need an internet connection otherwise no bueno.
I believe the low quality nature of the GIF contributed to its success and popularity today. Because it is so 'shitty', it falls in the cracks of copyright laws and major media corporations' watchful eye (lawyers). Don't forget GIF has no sound, and have no monetary value. Yes, some artists tried to sell GIFs as 'art'. For the most part GIFs as we know today, are being copied, shared, remixed, re-shared in a never ending cycle. And the content itself, the message of the animation seems to be more important than it's source or the creator. This makes GIFs a true visual remixing medium, perfect for the internet that we know today and perfect for VJing.
]]>2017 is almost over, it is fare to say our VJ industry is pretty small compared to the DJ industry. This means there aren't a lot of dedicated hardware products and controllers specifically designed for us VJs, with the exception of Roland V-1HD video switcher mixer. I have owned the V-1HD since it was released Winter of 2015 (about 2 years ago). Here's my full review on this amazing compact HD video mixer for VJs.
The unit itself is very well built with aluminum top cover and solid plastic back. It fits in your pocket backpack or luggage super easy for traveling and taking it to your shows. The size of the unit is way smaller than most professional DJ mixers on the market today. Roland even has a dedicated soft carry bag for it now. You can also easily pick up any carry case made for NI Traktor Kontrol line of MIDI controllers which does the job. I have a BUBM case which is really nicely made, keep in mind the power adaptor does not fit in the same case.
Most of the input/output ports are on the back of the unit. There are 4 DHMI inputs, 1 preview and 1 master output, 1 USB port, 1 power port. There's a vent for a small fan where it makes some noise but not very noticeable. There's a small switch to switch your output from 720p/1080i/1080p. Additionally there are audio ports on the back and the side for controlling DHMI audio and mic input, I personally never use the audio part of this mixer. It is meant for situations like live broadcast, business presentations, theater and American churches.
The button and knob layouts are pretty straight forward. I love the fact that the large input switch and transform buttons light up, this is super helpful when VJing in a dark environment. For fading there's a classic T-Bar, which is a nice touch and separates it from a typical DJ/music equipment. Most importantly there is the fade to black/white knob located on the top left of the mixer, I think it is the most important function during a show.
The downside is, there is no on screen display on the unit itself. To see the menu you have to have a preview monitor connected to the HDMI preview output of the mixer. On the surface this totally makes sense. But in practice, you sometimes don't have the luxury of having a computer monitor at the show. This makes diving into the menu impossible. The good news is, there's a desktop and iPad app that allows you to control everything on this unit via USB connection.
As mentioned above, to use the menu you will need a computer monitor connected. By pressing and hold the Tap BPM button for 2 seconds, it brings up the menu. The layout of the menu is super simple, you go through 6 pages of setting, and the design is very similar to the classic Roland V4 or V8's menu. This is totally ok and functional, however I wish the menu is a bit more modern with categories and sub-menu system.
Here's something to consider, you can not change the effects inside the menu, and you can not preview the effects from the Preview output. Meaning you have to kind of apply effects live and adjust by turning the knobs to get it just right. All of the effects are accessed by pressing and hold the effects button and turning the effects knob. It goes through all of the effects in a row. There's no indication on the hardware to tell you what effect you are using. You kind of have to memorize this list from studying the manual, I'm not kidding. Yes, you can connect your V-1HD to your laptop with a USB cable and control it using the V-1HDRCA application on PC/Mac/iPad, but that's just another added step. During a live performance it is not ideal to dive into another app on your laptop to change effects. The whole point of having a hardware video mixer is to be able to do everything on the unit itself easily and fast.
Overall performance of this mixer is very solid. You don't notice any delay when switching, fading, and applying effects on both layers. I'm sure in the menu somewhere it will say how many milliseconds the delay is for video processing, but in my experience it is very stable and fast.
This unit has been released for about 2 years now, and can be found online for about $1000 or less. Comparing to how expensive V8 was when it was released, this 4 channel HD video mixer and switcher is a very good deal. Granted there's also Blackmagic ATEM line of HDMI switchers available, but having physical knobs, buttons and T-bar on the unit itself really helps.
I wish there's an onboard display of some kind. Sure it might drive up the cost of the unit a bit, but adding a cheap backlit display that shows the menu and effects options would of been super useful. This way you don't need to rely on having a preview video monitor or a desktop app to control the unit, making it a true VJ performance hardware.
I would not be surprised if there's a 4K version coming in the near future. And personally I never use all 4 inputs, most of the times 2 is enough for live mixing. But having the option of 4 inputs is not bad either.
Be sure to watch my full video review on this awesome 4 input HD video mixer from Roland.
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You can send and receive video through the Spout framework on PC. Like its counterpart Syphon on Mac, the ability to virtually send video signal between VJ applications opens up almost infinite amounts of possibilities. You no longer have to rely on just one piece of VJ software for live performance. For example, send generative visuals from Processing, OpenFrameworks or Unity and then mix it with other video loops inside AVmixer. Additionally you can send your final video mix from AVmixer to Mad Mapper for video mapping.
Both PC and Mac versions of AVmixer now uses VIDDLL video engine. It supports a wide variety of video codecs such as H264, Photo-Jpeg and HAP. There are some other optimizations done on the software to improve overall playback speed and performance. Now you can play three 1280x720 (720p) Photo-Jpeg Quicktime videos at 30fps.
AVmixer is known for able to play a variety types of video formats, still images as well as GIF animations. With AVmixer version 2.5, we are now using VIDDLL video engine instead of the traditional Quicktime engine. Additionally it supports HAP codec.