VJ Heaven

Apple’s latest release of GarageBand (GarageBand 08) is a pretty piece of software. GarageBand remains a simple and fun way for Mac VJs to get into music making. But is it good enough for serious music making? Thats a good question. There still remain reasons to keep GarageBand around. It has a new streamlined interface that makes applying effects cleaner and easier than before. With multi-take recording this version is almost ideal as a way to demo music ideas - even if you end up doing the rest of your music in another program. You can also print notation. GarageBand has gotten some hype because it comes from Apple and it’s free. But it does have some useful applications - there are some nice instruments and effects and it works well as a sketch recording device. For podcasting GarageBand is also excellent. GarageBand does have some fun tricks but the inability to change tempo during a song is still a problem. Many will undoubtedly view GarageBand as a toy but toys can be fun to play with, especially the loops. It is simple enough and flexible enough to be the tool of choice for a professional that requires only low musical complexity.

ArKaos offers VJs, installation and event artists the ability to work with their own image and movie files along with loads of different effect types and sequences to make great live VJ performance. In other words, ArKaos will help you visualize your music. This is a professional VJ tool for just about anyone - VJs, installation or events artists etc - that allows you to work with still and motion pictures, as well as a seeming endless array of effects and sequences. ArKaos is created by the same company that created visuals for artists like Daft Punk, M People and U2. Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers have also used visuals created directly from ArKaos software.

Arkaos supports QuickTime movies (.MOV), Windows Video (.AVI), MPEG and Flash animation (.SWF). This program is very easy to use. Its ‘drag and drop’ capabilities allow the user to quickly select clips and effects from the main interface, with instant results. There’s a bank of movie clips and stills for you to use, called demosynths, which can come in quite handy if you forget your DV camcorder. But the real fun to be had with ArKaos is through real-time effects control. This is as simple to use as clicking a box and, when activated, triggers your images to move to the preview window in time with the percussion and bass of the music that is playing. It’s a very cool feature. The best way to imagine ArKaos is that you’re using a music sequencer, but now arranging and manipulating video.

External MIDI devices can be used to trigger patches of images, movies or effects. This can be from a MIDI keyboard, giving you more hands-on flexibility (and up to 128 patches), or from any MIDI sequencing device or sequencing software. Overall, ArKaos is a great semi-professional program, particularly useful with VJ demanding real-time video. That’s not to say a novice can’t get just as much enjoyment from it, because the software is very simple and intuitive to use.

You can find more about ArKaos here

Quartz Composer is arguably a groundbreaking graphics development environment that allows you to explore the incredible power of the graphics stack within Mac OS X. I have a terrible head for programming languages like C++ so I’ve been wondering if a node-based environment may be easier for me to grasp. Quartz Composer is, and I quote, “a node based visual programming language provided as part of the Xcode development environment in Mac OS X v10.4 ‘Tiger’ for processing and rendering graphical data.” Without getting too technical, I would describe it as MaxMSP/Jitter with a splash of Isadora thrown in. Okay, so why is it like these programs? Because you can drag wires between various boxes and eventually you create something that runs.

Its easy to make something distractingly beautiful. Within minutes, I was able to take live webcam input, apply it to a particle processor, throw in a textured rotating object, and I had something unique and original. With Quartz Composer, you can easily combine the capabilities of Cocoa, Quartz 2D, Core Image, OpenGL, and QuickTime, all using an approachable visual programming paradigm. Use Quartz Composer to prototype Core Image filters, build engaging screen savers, create custom user-interface widgets, make data-driven visual effects, and even perform live performance animations. The only downside is that your work can soon look like a mess of jumbled cords…

Isadora is a visual programming environment for Mac. It provides real-time interactive control over digital media and manipulation of digital video. Isadora is not really a ‘plug and play’ program but offers programming blocks that can be linked together in an almost unlimited number of ways, allowing you to follow your artistic impulses.

Over one hundred building blocks (called actors) are available within Isadora. The name and values of every ‘actor’ can be manipulated by the user. Actors and their inputs and outputs from within the program can be processed with any number of effects or tools. Some actors perform simple functions while others allow sophisticated functions such as applying an effect to live video in real time. By connecting several actors together you can change the image in any number of ways in a live performance. You can also combine a group of Isadora’s actors into a custom User Actor. But the best feature of Isadora is its multiple output ability, letting you control and output up to six stages (screens) simultaneously in real time, which is fantastic for video artists, although a bit heavy on CPU resources. Programmers can also create their own Isadora modules in C or C++. Other features that Isadora offers include:

* Native and Realtime Video Processing

* Hardware Accelerated Rendering

* Create your own UI

* Take snapshots

* Instant Compositing

* Multi-Channel Sound Output

* Record Output Feature

* Live Video & Sound Input

* MIDI

* Open Sound Control Support

Isadora can be downloaded here.

If you are looking for a free and/or open source VJ tool, then Onyx is for you. This is an amazingly professional and flexible Flash-based VJ tool which allows you to mix video loops live. Its a great program and everything feels really intuitive. As a bonus, it now runs on both Windows and Mac. (Next stop, Linux/Pure Dyne) The latest release has some nice new features:

- Tempo filters can be turned on or off with a global setting

- Can sync tempo to specific beats.

- Mix files can now save display controls and filters

- Layers now have an anchor point for rotation or scaling

- Visualizers can be loaded in independant layers

- Tons of bug fixes and debugging tools</ol>

The latest release is 3.03 but 3.05 should be coming out soon (June) and we will keep you updated on the new features when it is released. Onyx is pretty much a must-have, even if only as a secondary / backup visual tool. This is a great free VJ tool. Kudos to the developers. I think it has a bright future.

You can download it here.