Lightspace Modulator: Works-in-Progress 2024 — The Brewery, Los Angeles, March 23-24 2024
The main theme is “intermedia” — fusion of live/interactive video and audio (and some analog and traditional media in the mix): works-in-progress, experiments (and a bit of finished work).
The new video for the Synapscape track “Dirty Deal” was produced entirely with the VSx video synthesizer system, with “traditional” post-production tools (Adobe Premiere and After Effects) used only for the final edit and some (minimal) compositing.
In July 2018 at a venue in downtown LA I gave a talk that described some of the background, historical references and motivation behind the development of the VS4 project. This discussion touched upon topics including Wagner and early 20th-century avant-garde art, moving to UX and design of the current revision of the software visual instrument.
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Late last year, as described in this previous post, I decided it was time to rebuild the VS3 live visual synthesis tool in a modern development environment. After a considerable amount of fits and starts, an “alpha” VS4 is finally up and running, with all new C# code (implemented in Unity 5.6). Still the same basic paradigm, but with greatly expanded creative options. Continue reading →
It’s time to revisit this realtime visual synthesis tool, and build the next iteration on a modern platform. The last version was called “VS3” (for Visual Synthesizer, 3rd iteration); over the next few weeks I’ll be banging out an “alpha” VS4. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here’s the backstory.
This visual instrument concept was developed because typical VJ software tends to be more-or-less a cross between After Effects and Ableton, and I wanted an alternative. Why? Well, certainly not because I don’t love After Effects and Ableton (I use them regularly, of course). It’s just that I found this model limiting for creating the sorts of live visuals I had in mind. Continue reading →
The whole point of the dub station rig, which lives in the upstairs studio, is doing live improvised electronics, mixing, and treatments. “Dub,” of course, refers to the early form of electronic music that developed out of reggae, the protagonists of which considered the mixing console as an instrument and that involved generous amounts of dynamic delay, reverb and other effects in a live mix.
The first iteration of this dub rig was constructed in Boston, and was not surprisingly built primarily around the use of digital delays and feedback. This was with our buddy Jim (who developed his dub chops at the Western Front in Cambridge, MA and who we recently tracked down back in Boston, incidentally). Now the dub rig lives again in Amy’s capable hands and has been expanded to include some new effects and more filtering options. And more analog synths! Continue reading →