build your own video mixer

[hyperdimensional]

Hi,

Does any body know where I'd start if I wanted to build my own video mixer with fx etc?

Does it work on the same principle as an audio mixer?

Cheers

[wellREDman]

guy called per-i, on this group and eyecandy has been doing just that for at least 6 months now, helluva big project, and we're all waiting with baited breath for the results

[MoRpH]

Originally posted by hyperdimensional
Does it work on the same principle as an audio mixer?

Cheers,

B.

Hmmm not really as video sources need to be synced to be mixed (thinnk of it ike trying to mix 2 tracks that are out of sync... you just get mess) even then an audio mix type crossfade would be come more of an additive dissolve (due to the compiling of waveforms.... hmmm which I guess could even slip out of the bounds of a video waveform... hmmm interesting... I wonder what that would look like).

Hmmm principals of a video mixer (aka why you can't use a DJ mixer)... me thinks I smell a vjcentral article in this :)

[eXhale]

maybe that out-of-sync video is what this 'rebelle restate' is about? :)

[MoRpH]

Hmmm well from the look of it... one of the things you can do is screw with the sync... still its gonna look crap I think.... however "overdriveing" the colourpart of the signal may have some interesting and unexpected results.

[peri]

Hi all,

well it has been a while now. Unfortionatly i have got RSI problems and can't do to much work. It has been quite bad, but i have recieved some good treatment and things are starting to go the right way again. So my partner had to do all the vj work on his own and we have been forced to delay the mixer project. We are going to start again the next month. To make thing even worse, some fool spilled a a glass of cola over our first mixer and it is sadly not going to well with this mixer. So if anybody has got a MX1 or MX-Pro for sale (PAL version). We don't have any casing for our new model and i don't want to take on the road yet.

Ok but back to the main question. Designign a simple mixer is actually very simple. As long as the video signals are synced. What you use for this is a TBC. The TBC used by Videonics are very good, actually better then the ones used in all the popular Panasonic mixers.

A very simple mixer with a few standard wipes and mixing is easy to build. Whenn you really want to design good effect you will need to start using uCprocessors and then it will be getting a bit more diffecult. I don't know what you knowledge is at the moment. We are designing some thing so we can build ourselve a standalone FX box (And one for Morph!) Hihih...

I will be happy to answer any questions! We will start working on our new mixer next month. But i first need a new mixer for vj-ing, so i can earn some money to pay for the developent of the other one.... :nod:

[MoRpH]

http://www.cordery.freeserve.co.uk/lionel/3d_burns1.gif --- excellent smithers :D

[spook]

speaking of D.I.Y

does anyone know a good resource for building ANY VJ related hardware?

i have seen the "build your own joystick" tutorial, which is muchos sweet, and i am looking for similair type dealies...

no big issue, just curiousity at this stage, so dont waste any time on it for my sake!

spook.

[wellREDman]

hi per sorry to hear about your ill health(and mixer cokification)
i don,t know if you got a similarpost to this before or not(i posted it just before the Hacker(fucker ) took down the site )
I used to be a sculptor/modelmaker so i know a bit about casting/fibreglass etc. so if you need any help/advice on the casing front feel free to ask
paul

[MoRpH]

Only one I really know of is dave's hardware FX box http://www.audiovisualizers.com/toolshak/vidsynth/av/av.htm

[sleepytom]

http://www.epanorama.net/links/videocircuits.html
a range of curcuits that could be addapted for vjs

[spook]

THATS EXCELLENT...!!

thanks heaps.

spook.

[spark]

also check out www.vutag.com (http://www.vutag.com) for dj/vj DIY

home of some midi controllers and the video sampler... aka rackmount pc.

[AudioVisualizers]

gosh, this thread reminds me - I have a full binder of notes, schematics, and more relating to my video synth design project which I pick up every now and again as I think of it. I should just scan all this info in and put it online to stimulate others ideas. Actually I have shelves of binders of info that I want to scan in and put on my site, but it always seems like there's something else to do. ok - tell you what - I have pulled the binder from it's shelf - and am going to start scanning tonight! now that I've said I'm gonna do it - it's a real task, so it'll likely appear online quite soon...gradually though...there really is a lot of paper :)

[MoRpH]

Sounds wikkid dave.... link us when your ready :)

[funksoftware]

i mix with a WJ-MX-12 panasonic mixer, and it's great...except that the audio and video x-faders are on separate sliders and t-bar... your post made me think to post the use for audio systems in modifying a video mixer... in my case, i want the audio chase on the t-bar which is currently doing only video... here the use of a car stereo audio fader can come in handy !!!! a stereo fades between 4 channels, front and rear... implementing this on the mixer, you can fade from video and audio on the channel one to the video and audio on channel 2... thus the beauty of integrating my friends...

[MoRpH]

Hmmmm so have you completed this mod or are you just speculating??? I think you my find that its a different type of fader, the audio ones will prolly actually have the audional running through them, however the video one will be some sort of control voltage feeding an IC thats doing the mixing.

[wellREDman]

I,m pretty sure the mx50 can have the audio assigned to follow the video xfade, im not in the studio at the mo but will check tomorrow when i get back

[MoRpH]

audio follows the video on the MX1 by default but does have other settings.

[krokodril]

having read somethings about the creation of the new superdesuper matrox(basically two card put together&timings adjusted)
and realising the pure flood of vivocards and mpeg decodercards i asume that there might be quite a few new pc based low end cheap contenders by next summer.

seems so easy to a simple mind. we now take the mpeg decoder ramdac, first multiply the input, now we have the output signal(not alterred) a copy of this signal some algorithms and one twentyfith of a second to do something funny with this

and if we don't need effects create a simple handshake protocol for two cards.... end result would mean two perfect sync signals, combined with a relatively cheap and simple crossfade, and voila

and if i'd be able to do just one of these 'simple' tasks aaaaaah