looking for an ambient program .....

[DJRobB]

Ok this is my first thread on this site.

First some info about what I do?

I?m a full time Pro mobile DJ. This is what I do. Over the last year I have added Video to my setup.
I?m running one pc with a program called DJPower (djpower.com). It will play and mix all my mp3s, Karaoke (I hate karaoke) and music videos. It will also play a slide show of pictures when there?s no video to output.
I also can show a live cam too.
In the next couple of weeks I?m adding a 2nd pc for a backup incase the main pc was to go down.
My plan is to use the 2nd pc for ambient stuff (unless of course the main pc goes down then I will use it to DJ from).

For my application what would be a good program to use on my 2nd pc for ambient stuff?

The 2nd pc will be an older piii 800, 512 ram, windows 98, and a matrox 450 etv video card.


Thanks for any info,

Robbie

[holly]

Ambient stuff? Does this mean ambient music, or ambient video, or maybe just something is always being output to sound/video to fill in the pauses between songs? Is it like environmental (ie: reflecting or creating an environment)?

[DJRobB]

ambient video

You know VJ stuff.

[holly]

Ah, like an Autopilot?

I really like RC FUSE (http://www.vjcentral.com/show/1921) because it is inexpensive and has a sound triggered autopilot mode (also a 5-second interval autopilot mode if audio input is unavailable).

Everytime I do a "theme" party, like say "Las Vegas", I go to the web and download a few animated gifs (like rolling dice, or the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, or rotating dollar signs or coins) very cheesy, but they have to be on a black background. Open them in QuicktimePro and export as movie (same size), then I load them into Fuse's input folders. Audio-autopilot mode will swap them out as foregrounds and backgrounds in pace with the music along with my regular video and graphics. You can switch on or off which movies or graphics are available to the autopilot, so you can have a very "theme" moment and then get back to regular programming without interrupting the autopilot. The black background is useful because if all the movies have a black background I can use the lumakey function on my mixer and have a constantly erupting display of little dice, dollar signs (etc), scattering across my "real" video. It works with text on a black background too, so making quicky message graphics before the party is also easy (can't add new graphics while the program is running though).

Other than that, almost every VJ app will let you pre-record a sequence and play it back from memory. There are also plenty of audio-visualizers that generate psychidelic paterns to the music. Check here (http://www.vjcentral.com/show/1968) for more suggestions.

[MoRpH]

Hahahaha ok well most VJs here would HARDLY call their work AMBIENT.

In this case your prolly better of just getting a bunch of winamp plugins you like and using them. 99% of the VJ apps are more targeted to PERFORMANCE visuals, rather than just set and forget.

[fluchtpunkt]

'winamp plugins' are probably the simplest & cheapest visual autopilots (or backups) out there :)

arkaos (http://www.arkaos.net/site/en/index.html) & visualJockey (http://www.visualjockey.com/) can both be used as autopilots - though for just that use the former is a bit expensive & the latter involves a lot of composition work.

[DJRobB]

Thanks for all the info?

I?m learning as I go.

Sorry, AMBIENT is the only word that i could think to use.

[MoRpH]

Thats OK mate, nothing wrong with ambient background video, just calling it VJ type stuff was a bit off base as most ppl here view the VJ thing as a LOT more than that :)

peace

[krokodril]

Must admit that i still use a few winamp plugs :smurf: the trick i use is have it rendered, move it to premiere, mix it up, build a library with 4 or 5 times almost the same sequence, where the only difference is for example colour or a morph at the end to the next clip.....
having done this i round up all the clips within a 'theme', colour or movement group and have a simple avi vj prog (svi is free for example) spit them out.....

what the fuck was i trying to tell( someone must add a smoking smile):confused:

ah ..... mix &morph a few standard avs and noone will notice where it came from(use aftereffect tricks and even a bit flash to flash it up)(most 3d takes to much time to be productive)(for me that is... not for your general 3d freak)

to make it 'pro'(but very cheap and easy) add low res capture and chroma and luma fade it through yourlive dancefloor pics streams

[Yetimon]

If you did happen to be after a good app for ambient dj sets, Bomb (draves.org/bomb) does some really nice organic textures, and will animate to music as well.

Cheers,
-y

[LEVLHED]

Gforce still gets my pick for audio-reactive ambient beds...
www.55ware.com

[rogerkralik]

How about trying Synthesofts 'Hypnogenic Screensaver', there are plenty of settings for it and it can use a sound input. I like it.

[burstingfist]

Originally posted by rogerkralik
How about trying Synthesofts 'Hypnogenic Screensaver', there are plenty of settings for it and it can use a sound input. I like it.

After hearing about this, I decided to check out Synthesoft's iste. I got the Kinemorphic 3D WinAmp plugin. It's kinda cool, but really makes it neato is the fact that when presented full screen, it spans across both of my displays (2048x768 total) with OpenGL acceleration (Radeon 7500) This would be kinda interesting for multi projector setups. This is the first app I have seen the easily spans muliple monitors eaisly, that is free.

[Amukidi]

"Hahahaha ok well most VJs here would HARDLY call their work AMBIENT."

Errr, what exactly are you implying by this Morph?

[Rovastar]

*sob* *sob* please let threads rest in peace. *sob*

*shudder* Synthesofts *shudder*

[Amukidi]

You wanna challenge? Try VJing ambient DJs / Bands - sort out the wheat from the chafe!
I'll assume, in the absence of a reply by Morph, that folks have a different definition of ambient from mine - mine includes Brian and Roger Eno, Biosphere, Another Fine Day,Solar Quest, Harold Budd, even Erik Satie - and I'd not let anything "Just run" through any of these, this music is a real challenge to VJ for and I'd consider it my true specialisation in this field. So take the piss at your peril!

[spork]

there'e a great quote from Brian Eno where he says "Ambient music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting."

Hopefully fellow VJ's will recognize this as applicable to our activities as well- a live mix is not meant to be watched all the way thru like a movie, but when you do check it, it'll reward you. Also, I'm a fan of content that works at various speeds- take a hectic mix to some fast techno or d'n'b and watch it on slo-mo and see if it fascinates...this is also a good test to distinguish software synth on autopilot from a real human in the mix- which one would be more interesting slowed down x4?

[Amukidi]

Absolutely mate - quite a few of my big gigs last year featured no beats at all - try doing that with a load of jerky clips and motion-dive!! Brian has been producing audio-visual stuff for years, using just about everything you could imagine- he'd never consider himself a VJ though, to him its all part of the process of his work. Mind you, I did play with his "Bliss-paint" prog once on a really top Mac with a huge screen - it was when no-one else had a hold of it and he was fooling around fusing the visuals with "randomly generated" music from a prog called Koan. Now there IS an artist in the very broadest sense.

[MoRpH]

OK what I meant wasn't "ambient" thats the wrong word, what I meant was moremost VJs wouldn't be happy think of their work as "autopilot background wall paper".

Its the feeling I got from the first post, then he cleared up what he meant..... all good

[ToxicOrange]

Hi there, erm, it's my first post on the forum so hi to all out there and thanks for the information on the site and giving me the inspiration to get my S**t together and try to get into visuals again full time !

For ambient graphics on PC, i have always rated GEISS V2.0 by a certain Ryan Geiss ... I'ts now been updated and is available from the Nullsoft website as a winamp plugin or a standalone screensaver (if you choose the older version), anyone else have any free software that could be used in a live environment ?

Grab it here : http://www.geisswerks.com/geiss/


Cheers


Toxic

[Amukidi]

Mmmm...screenshots look like the visualizations in "Real1" player!!and a tad too busy for genuine ambient, although I assume you can control the tempo of them? This all, of course, depends on your own definition of ambient. For me, the genre conjures up the likes of Harold Budd, Brian and Roger Eno, Biosphere, Another Fine Day etc. the beats are hard to find (and non-existant in many cases) in most of these people's music, and too much movement can be disconcerting, hence my comment about a challenge. Highly rewarding though, as gigs featuring these sorts of artists, usually feature a large, seated audience who actually watch what you project!

[sleepytom]

hehe geiss - what year is it??

for ambeint VJing the best style is cinematic one where there is navative and some kind of message constructed over time - typically an ambient audiance will be seated and watching your visuals for longer tha the half glimpses of a dance music audiance - so itis imortant that your video is captivating and enjoyable to watch for extended periods.

this is a funny reversal that i have not really thought of before - ambient music is designed for the background so visuals at an ambeiant music concert become the focus of the entertainment. where as visuals in a dance music environment are the background with the music being the focus.

prehapse visuals to ambient music should be anything but ambient.

[Amukidi]

"prehapse visuals to ambient music should be anything but ambient."


That though has crossed my mine regularly Tom, but in practice, it rarely works, as getting the balance is next to impossible. Agreed that cinematic stuff works really well, but few people seem able to achieve this (maybe due to the fact that many VJs are frustrated / failed film-makers? - discuss!). The stills sequences I use with Roger Eno,become cinematic in their own way as I have crossfades as long or longer than the duration of the image, and as you say, they've got to be quality!

[KillingFrenzy]

Some of my "best developed" sets have been ambient.
I get to develop a theme across large expanses of time.
I get to work with dynamics with a certain amount of fluiditity.

My suggestion is to shoot or acquire footage that bears introspection.

If you choose a subject and progression that have lots of depth, you'll find your audience can watch it for hours.
Use the reactive bullshit as an ephemereal tie in to what your saying, but choose something powerful and conceptual to let people chew on.

Example:
Anything by Maya Deren played at 1/4 times.
combined with sound reactive programs such as geiss or f'in milkdrop.

The 1st will captivate them
the 2nd will convince them its live.

[Rovastar]

Originally posted by ToxicOrange
Hi there, erm, it's my first post on the forum so hi to all out there and thanks for the information on the site and giving me the inspiration to get my S**t together and try to get into visuals again full time !

For ambient graphics on PC, i have always rated GEISS V2.0 by a certain Ryan Geiss ... I'ts now been updated and is available from the Nullsoft website as a winamp plugin or a standalone screensaver (if you choose the older version), anyone else have any free software that could be used in a live environment ?

Grab it here : http://www.geisswerks.com/geiss/


Cheers


Toxic

Read the licence agrement for Geiss please folks We do use commerical use folks.

---------
TERMS OF USE / COPYRIGHT INFORMATION / PUBLIC DISPLAY
-----------------------------------------------------
Geiss is 100 percent free for personal use. No registration is required.
Any commercial use of this program, however, requires the consent of the
author. For large ventures this will involve a licensing fee. Be wary
that every image or video sequence generated with this program is the sole
copyright of Ryan M. Geiss and can not be reproduced or displayed in public
without permission.
---------

Although Ryan is a decent bloke and Geiss orginal version is really old now it still requires a license authorisation.

Edit: ANd people wonder why I complain about theiving VJ's *sigh*

[sleepytom]

Originally posted by Amukidi
"prehapse visuals to ambient music should be anything but ambient."


That though has crossed my mine regularly Tom, but in practice, it rarely works, as getting the balance is next to impossible. Agreed that cinematic stuff works really well, but few people seem able to achieve this (maybe due to the fact that many VJs are frustrated / failed film-makers? - discuss!). The stills sequences I use with Roger Eno,become cinematic in their own way as I have crossfades as long or longer than the duration of the image, and as you say, they've got to be quality!
i wasn't nessacerally refering to fast / high speed visuals but mearly trying to say that ambient (as defined by eno) is inherently background and yet visuals to project at an ambient music event are thus required to be the focus of attention.

i have also seen fast visuals work well with slow music - but it is about feeling and emotion more than visual content - ultimatly i feel that it is very hard to do abstract visuals to ambient/ slow music as very rarely do people produce abstract visuals that are intresting for extended periods of time - i find that suble effects on realworld imgary is far more captervating than the mashup of abstract visuals (eg i quite like watching baraka as a full length film but i have never watched a feature length piece of abstract visuals)



discliamer - i'm not saying that anyone should go and sample baraka as a short cut to creating ambiant visuals!!!

[Amukidi]

"........but i have never watched a feature length piece of abstract visuals".

Ahhhh, but would you be prepared to try?