Interested in what techniques you guys are using

[chicksdigchicks]

Im not out to rip anyone off here btw but im new to vjing and was just wondering what peoples preferred working method is, particularly for live gigs.

At the minute I write songs in Ableton Live and then Rewire into Arkaos, I set up a MIDI track in Live and draw my clip changes into the piano roll. This works quite well for me but the lack of audio into ArKaos is a downside.

When playing live are you guys preparing a visual set around a set of songs that the dj will be playing? Or do you prefer a more improv feel, triggering clips via a keyboard in time to whatever music is being played?

It'd be great to know how other vj's work.

[chicksdigchicks]

Oh, forgot to add this. Is there any VJ apps I can use in conjunction with Live where I can render the complete file, both the audio and the visuals together. In ArKaos even though im rewired in, it dosent record audio from Live so I have to render the audio in Live and then bring it back into Arkaos and then render from ArKaos to the finished movie file. Mission, and it is a tad out of sync too doing it this way.

[asterix]

Most vj softs will accept midi input streams. So if your controlling ableton with a midi controller or outputting a midi signal then yes that is do-able. Check out the AV forums as they are specific to your needs. You may be interested in quartz composer or the quortonian mixer (info at vjcentral.com) if you run mac of course.

I use Flowmotion and it allows me to link effects and channels directly to an input EQ (so I can sellect which band to utilise).
Probably not what you're looking for as you want to have an entire show linked together.

[waxninja]

I do all mine on the spot. I keep collecting clips together of guitars, and some music video clips of bands, so when I hear that band track coming on I simply use my selection of one of their music videos, and this can make it look pre planned, when infact it's just me adapting to the music fast enough.
I need to buy a midi keyboard soon though, not enough buttons on my laptop to fire off effects.

[evomedia]

When playing live are you guys preparing a visual set around a set of songs that the dj will be playing? Or do you prefer a more improv feel, triggering clips via a keyboard in time to whatever music is being played?

hehe we'd be lucky, most dj's don't know what there are going to play next let alone prepare enough to give us any idea. Its all improve, so more about careful prep of clip library rather than what clips we'll play.

We never have a clue whats coming up, you develop a kind sixth sense after playing a few minutes with a DJ, you pick up their style if you like, only time it gets impossible is when you get a bad DJ who doesn't break at the right time or just mixes poorly making it impossible. I often having my finger hovering over a clip waiting for the DJ to make his move. You get so used to hearing club DJ's that it sort of becomes second nature.

However playing one genre for a few months then switching from say house to dnb does make anticipating the breaks and structure alittle harder.

Personally I play with 2 other guys, 1 of us purely on a mixer with 1 computer with a deck of overlays or branding and the other 2 feeding actual footage. That way if we get a tricky brekadown or specific requirement like a piano solo one can VJ while the other searches continues to VJ, we also have backup sources looping in the background.

We trigger via midi keyboards, and use quad processors so whoever is on the mixer can see all available sources on a single monitor.

For AV shows then your probably doing ok with ableton and arkaos, but just use 2 machines live and sync them together via midi clock so ableton triggers all your video on the second box. You could check out vjamm pro if you want to play video with your audio prerendered.

You could also get a DVD recorder and record your output or render to dvd and go down the DVJ route that way your video will always be in sync.

[chicksdigchicks]

Originally Posted by evomedia

You could check out vjamm pro if you want to play video with your audio prerendered.

With Vjamm not having Rewire could someone run me through how to sync it together with Ableton Live or even Audio Mulch? Im assuming a MIDI loopback device but my experience with these is limited. If I could get linked up to a tutorial or 2 it'd be great.

Thanks.

[evomedia]

You don't need rewire, just get ableton to send out a midi clock signal, then use midi triggers same as you already are in ableton to just trigger the video in the VJ software like arkaos or vjamm, (both have been designed to sync to a midi clock signal) that way, when the video is triggered it plays and stays in sync with the audio.

Ideally you want the audio and the video on seperate computers else your asking alot of your hardware. With them linked either via a midi cable, or you can network them and use something like midivianet. Which transmits midi over a network.

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/MidiViaNet/

Its probably best to create the video in something like sony vegas with audio attached to edit everything how you want it then simply render out without audio again.

Others here have far more experience in AV than me. Anyone here got more advice? or are better at explaining this than me hehe I may be talking rubbish for all I know.

[dvjprotohippy]

Honestly, I use Visual Jockey for a lot of my visuals, it has the ability to use midi, or a live sound feed, and you can build your compositions/shows to suite the event that you are gonna be at. A lot of times we use a mix of pre-recorded loops/clips/content, run through a couple of KPE-1's and a V-4, along with a couple of laptops, and DV/wireless cams, that way we can mix in the dj and the crowd, and when we need a break we can just switch to a dvd, or use the dvd's as overlays. We employ lasers with our show a lot of times as well, but that's a different story. I have to agree, dj's never know what they are gonna play, being a dj as well.......We have decided to go the more DVJ route than anything else, incorporating video together with our dj sets, but get booked out quite often as just a VJ act. We do a weekly at this club, and since they like specific things, we just run a lot of the same clips and effect them differently each night, with live titling for drink specials and the like. Hope that this helps some. There are lots of softs out there, vjamm, visual jockey, resolume, arkaos, Motion Dive, the list goes on. My suggestion is to find a couple that you like, learn them well, and then move on to the rest. Motion dive is pretty entry level, while Visual Jockey can get to be pretty complicated!! Good luck!!

[sleepytom]

Originally Posted by chicksdigchicks

With Vjamm not having Rewire could someone run me through how to sync it together with Ableton Live or even Audio Mulch? Im assuming a MIDI loopback device but my experience with these is limited. If I could get linked up to a tutorial or 2 it'd be great.

Thanks.

ZenTV pixnmix VJamm / Abelton tutorial

[vjpixylight]

I have found that just drawing in simplw midi notes in ableton to trigger video files in arkaos a bit limiting, and drawing in continueous controllers even more so.
the problems with ableton is the CC's resolution. That said, there isn't much out there that will give you studio quality A/V sequencing unfortunately. It would be nice if Ableton would simplt incorporate A/V tracks into it's makeup, and then we might have some A/V that could be mixed and played live!

The best bet for live A/V mixing still rests with the DVJ's which hopefully will come down in price, and become more available to those interested in this kind of mixing