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 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 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 & visualJockey 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)

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