The setup was complex because the installation, which involved three video projectors for six screens, had to be autonomous, reactive, stable and quick to setup in any venue. VJ Stello explains that these imperatives made him naturally select an Apple based solution (read more below..).

Visuals on the main screen were triggered by GrandVJ on Mac while two MacBooks were feeding the other screens on the left and right. Since the VJ was focussing on controlling GrandVJ through MIDI for the main screen in the center, he needed an easy solution to manipulate different images on the side screens at the same time.

Stello decided to use for the side screens some audio-reactive Quartz compositions in sync with the live show. They were controlled trhough OSC with an iPhone to trigger transitions or to modify the overall color tone to match song specific lighting sets.

Below is the teaser for the DVD that will be released soon, so you can see more of the of the VS concert and the visuals on the screens..

DA FACT introduced the Karlax at MusikMesse 2010 as the first controller for digital Arts that re-establish the artist’s body at the heart of the performance. With it’s revolutionary ergonomic design, this instrument transmits the artist’s own natural movements wireless (using radio-waves and MIDI trough USB) to a computer, giving musicians and digital Artists freedom on stage.

Yes, 10 fingers running on a MIDI keyboard can trigger many events, for more flexibility you can also use some advanced controllers especially made for audio sampling software or directly aimed at VJ’s. But as Nintendo showed to the game industry, gestures and body movement can add a whole new fantastic layer to expression and control, as an example just Google GrandVJ+Wiimote and you’ll see that there is really some interest about controlling visuals with gestures.

At ArKaos, we designed GrandVJ so that everything can be controlled by MIDI and we tried as much as possible to make it compatible with any existing or future controller thanks to the MIDI-learn mode. So the Karlax was working out of the box with GrandVJ but we’ve been in contact with DA FACT to develop a better support for their controller in GrandVJ as we did previously with other manufacturers.

In this video from MusikMesse 2010 you see the GrandVJ in mixer mode mapped to the various MIDI notes and controllers generated by the Karlax. In this first implementation we mapped five controllers to the intensity of the first five mixer layers. You can use two keys to select the next and previous layer so you can edit live the state of all layers directly from the controller and the movement is mapped to Loop speed.

The other controls are used to affect loop speed, to trigger visuals from the patch, to select effects or change parameter values, to modify the visual position, etc… The Karlax is here used to control at the same time GrandVJ and an audio application.

Now why not start this brand new year by looking at what were the most popular articles from this blog in 2009 (second half of 2009 that is, since we started this Blog in May..).
This way we can better understand what kind of posts our dear readers like the most…

1 >> How To: Create audio-reactive Flash for GrandVJ

(1,221 unique visitors)
Here’s the first in a series of tutorials showing how to take advantage of the Flash capabilities within ArKaos GrandVJ. Note that it will also work for NuVJ and MediaMaster since the variables are the same. In this tutorial Ben Guerrette explains how to tap into the EQ data to create some simple audio-reactive animations..

2 >> GrandVJ, Ableton Live and Akai MPD24

(1,010 unique visitors)
This tutorial involves using an Akai MPD24 Drum Controller in conjunction with Ableton Live as a host sequencer and ArKaos GrandVJ as a ReWire slave for MIDI synchronised video clip launching..

3 >> GrandVJ 1.2b1 supports Flash AS3, Quartz Composer, APC40 and more

(773 unique visitors)
GrandVJ 1.2b1 is out for testing! It comes with ton’s of cool new toys such Actionscript 3 support, Quartz Composer player, Akai APC40 template and much, much more!..

4 >> Advantages of using Flash for VJ content

(755 unique visitors)
While a lot of VJ content is produced with high-end motion graphics, 3D modeling, and video editing software, Flash provides some advantages over these platforms not immediately obvious..

5 >> Quartz Composer integration in GrandVJ 1.2

(660 unique visitors)
GrandVJ 1.2 now allows to use Quartz Composer .qtz files directly, both as sources and effects, let’s have a quick look at how you can use Quartz compositions with GrandVJ..

Ok, “Tutorials and How To’s” you said? We got it!

Finally, here are a few ones that did not made it to the top five although we think they should have been ranked higher, just in case you missed them :)

1 >> ArKaos MediaMaster 1.1: The Smooth Operator!

ArKaos is pleased to announce the release of MediaMaster 1.1 with major improvements pushing the boundaries of professional video projection another step further..

2 >> Why software genlock at 60 FPS does matter!

Here’s why the “software genlock” optimization from ArKaos engine introduced in MediaMaster 1.1 is very important to ensure the best possible fluidity on computers equipped with multi core processors..

3 >> Using the right decoder for your video content

To get the most out of GrandVJ or MediaMaster, benefit from the advantages of multi threading and perform frame blending you should make sure that your content is always played through the best decoder..

As you can see it’s all very organized; thanks to the laptop stands he only needs a small table to fit everything and be ready to mix both music and visuals in sync.

Allowing this kind of very mobile setup is exactly what we want to achieve by making GrandVJ a lightweight but powerful video mixing software that can very easily produce great visuals even on a laptop. Actually, it’s so easy that DJ Ron – which was primarily a DJ as you guessed – had no problems to add VJing to his skills without sacrificing his DJ talent..

So if you want to be a professional VJ/DJ, you must have some talent and sense of rhythm, that’s a fact.. Clever organization of your setup is also must, as we’ve just seen. But I know from discussing with DJ Ron on Facebook that all his files are also very carefully organized. When mixing live you certainly don’t want to be looking after that video loop that was on that drive you left home, right?

Have a look at the last picture below, DJ Ron comments:

“For radio mixshows, I use a 320 GB music drive which contains about 15,000 MP3s. For DJ/VJ gigs, I use a 1.5 TB video drive that contains about 7500 music videos.”

“The most important thing to me is keeping a complete backup. I travel with two drives that are mirrored, in case one goes down, I can switch to the other. At home, I have a third mirrored drive in case my bag is stolen or damaged. Take it from me – BACKUP your content. Don’t learn the hard way.”

“I have my own folder system that I use to track music. I am still in the process of converting my CD library to digital – in addition to maintaining the constant influx of new music. I don’t think my system would work for others, but it works for me.”

That’s right, the best way for you to organize your files is probably your way.. But we all can use a little inspiration, so are you using folders or file names? Are you sorting video loops by duration, style, color or length? Feel free to comment and let everyone know your clever way of organizing music tracks and video loops on your drives!

Video WTF? is collaboratively moderated place to ask and answer questions about video cameras, editing, production, publishing, promotion, etc. In other words, if you have a question about video, you can go there to ask it.. And if you’re a video guru and want to share your knowledge, you can go there to answer questions.

The site has just launched today so, while I’m writing this only 31 questions have been asked, but they already cover very different subjects related to video. Below are a few examples:

• Inexpensive way to capture video to a laptop?
• Slow-motion video/audio via progressive playback on flash player?
• How to make an inexpensive softbox light?

The web site is free, without advertising and very straightforward, no registration is necessary to browse, ask or answer questions. But if you login (with an OpenID) you’ll have access to more features such as voting for questions and answers, getting reputation points if you give satisfying answers to the other users etc..

Video WTF? Is a great idea and will certainly be an extremely useful site for the video community at large, and of course for users of GrandVJ or MediaMaster in particular. And it will be even better if a lot of video-savvy people like you guys go there and help each other, that’s why we write about it here.. and that’s why you too should spread the word!

Now just five days later, on 15 Aug. he was already VJing live for the ZôL concert at Metamorphoses, a French Electronic music festival and it went great, check out the video below!

Okay Charlie is not a beginner when it comes to playing with video but we like to think that we succeeded in making GrandVJ a powerful but easy VJing software with a very short learning curve.

It features  Interviews and Footage from The Light Surgeons, D-Fuse, Hexstatic, Vj Anyone, Addictive TV, Vector Meldrew and Fatamorgana.

About V.I.A.

With over six years experience in the live events industry, the V.I.A – (Visually Impaired Artists) cultivate a range of digital disciplines for the mutual love of live performance.

With professional backgrounds in the Broadcasting, Film and Live events industries their live performances bring together a mix of Animation, Motion Graphics, 8mm, Film & Video, Video feedback, live camera work and Lighting Design.