The main new feature is Syphon support on Mac. For the rest, we’ve greatly improved the overall stability of the application and crushed a few bugs that made it to the 1.5 release (Read more for details and download links).

About Syphon

Syphon is an open source Mac OS X technology that allows applications to share frames – full frame rate video or stills – with one another in realtime. Until now, Syphon could already be used in GrandVJ through Quartz Composer, the graphical modular language of Apple.

Syphon is now natively supported by GrandVJ, where it acts as an additional (virtual) output. Through Syphon, you can send the output from GrandVJ to any other application that support Syphon as input, which makes it possible to use GrandVJ as video mixer module in some more complex setups!

As usual, we tried to make it as easy as possible: the Syphon output is automatically activated when a Syphon client is running, there is nothing to configure in GrandVJ.

If you want to use Syphon as input, you can still use Quartz Composer, please refer to the official Syphon website for more information.

Stability improvement

Less fun, but not less important, is the stability improvement of the application on both Mac OS and Windows. We’ve notably fixed problems related to some particular video file formats and issues occurring when activating full screen.

This version is another free upgrade for all GrandVJ users, we hope you will enjoy the new possibilities offered by Syphon!

Download

You can download GrandVJ 1.6 from the download page on our web site.

Changelogs (1.5 → 1.6 beta 1):

• added Syphon output [Mac]
• added the ability to browse using arrow keys
• fixed a potential crash when loading files that are played by QuickTime
• fixed a audio/video synchronisation problem in FFMpeg player
• fixed a problem when using a third party audio device [Mac]
• fixed PCM audio playbackfixed a crash when triggering effects
• fixed a crash when switching fullscreen off
• fixed a crash when previewing a transition
• fixed bank rename save

This Release Candidate version should be the last one before the official release. It includes all the features, graphics and documentation of the official version. All the bugs found in the beta have been fixed, we have also resolved some instability issues that were affecting previous versions of GrandVJ.

ArKaos GrandVJ and Ableton Live:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR2YVjoycxU

ArKaos GrandVJ and Steinberg Cubase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhC_T1jkepc

ArKaos Connect

ArKaos Connect allows GrandVJ to receive sound and MIDI from any audio sequencer that support VST plugins like Ableton Live or Steinberg Cubase. The audio host can run on the same machine as GrandVJ or on a different one on the same local network.

The configuration of the connection in GrandVJ is very straightforward : just select the sending VST plugin in an auto-updated list and enjoy the new possibilities open by these interactions : Live Generators can now directly react to the sound of an audio performance, MIDI can be received from everywhere..

Transitions

Transitions, already presented in the last GrandVJ Dev version, have been finalized and can now be used with their full creative potential. As a reminder, transitions provide automated smooth changes between two video clips. They can be activated and parametrized for each cell and/or each deck in mixer mode.

A large collection of transitions effects has been added to the browser library. The choice of the transition is therefore as simple as choosing a normal effect. Each transition can be personalized using up to four controllable parameters plus an extra transition time parameter.

Browser Preview

Video clips, effects and transitions can handily be previewed in a small window below the browser panel. It makes the content browsing more efficient, allowing you to decide which visual, effect, transition, etc. you will use before first applying it to a cell in GrandVJ.

Multi-monitors support on windows

GrandVJ now fully supports multi-screen output in Windows Vista & 7 for Multi-head graphics cards. This means you can connect several displays to one graphic card and GrandVJ will spread the output across those connected displays.

Bidirectional support for Akai APC20

Just in time for the release, we’ve added bidirectional support for Akai’s new MIDI controller, the APC20! It works the same as for the APC40, checkout the doc for more info.

Download the RC2 version:

• GrandVJ 1.5 final has been released, you can get the latest version from the GrandVJ download page

How to install?:

Just run the installer and follow the steps.

However, in order to use ArKaos Connect with a sequencer in Windows, please do the following step:

• Windows: copy “ArKaos Connect VST plugin/ArKaosConnect.dll” into your VST folder (i.e : “C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase 6\VSTPlugins”)

Documentation:

As usual, documentation is provided as PDF in the “Documentation” folder:

• ArKaos_GrandVJ_1_5_ReleaseNotes.pdf (Changes from GrandVJ 1.2 to 1.5)
• ArKaos_Connect_quickstart.pdf (QuickStart guide for ArKaos Connect)

Important:

This is not yet the final release version, it still needs some testing, remember that before using it in front of an audience. We don’t have a release date for the final version yet, it will depend on your precious feedback..

Happy testing!

We first spotted a great home demo on Vimeo that he did after using GrandVJ since just one day, then the week after he was already taking GrandVJ live on stage for the ZôL concert at Metamorphoses, a French Electronic music festival.

Well last week we were at the MixMove Expo for DJ & Club Culture in Paris and we met Charlie Mars there, he was participating to the first France VJ & Videodesigner Championship with our GrandVJ software.

Charlie had to compete with eight other French VJ’s and he won the championship thanks to his talent, his very creative content and.. with the help of GrandVJ.

Read below for his impressions and a few pictures (kindly provided by LeCollagiste – Merci Laurent!).

It wasn’t easy for me to approach a “VJing Championship” because “Championship” relates to sport and sport is not really my thing, because competition means that there is a winner and I don’t really like when there are losers, even if I’m the one who wins, and even though being the winner is kinda cool: it’s a plus for the Ego and motivates for continuing, but ok I digress..

We (the participating Vj’s) were primarily here to defend a discipline that still lacks recognition (some event organizers still think that VJ’s play for free..) and highlight the most creative aspects of VJing, this championship was a great opportunity to do so.

It is always difficult, from my point of view, to judge a creative work on precise criteria, the verdict is necessarily subjective and I think that each participant had its own, well affirmed style. Yes, I saw some very good stuff, the level was high.

Personally, I give more importance to content than technique, that’s why I use GrandVJ; it’s simple, totally stable (very important, especially when like me you have 68 loops per deck on 20+ decks..), with a fast and fun learning curve, but still without forgetting the technical tools necessary to the quality of the projection (frame blending, keystoning, time sync, etc..)

My setup wasn’t anything very complex, an Alienware laptop (Core I7, 4Gb Ram), two MIDI controllers: a Novation Launchpad and a Korg Nanokontrol, my multicolour hood and of course GrandVJ. That’s all I need to have a lot of fun, mix on instinct and cut like a lumberjack.. And that is very good!

Recently we wrote an article on this blog to explain the direction we were taking about the development of MediaMaster 2.0 and how we will be releasing it under two different license levels: MediaMaster Express and MediaMaster Pro (read further below)

And today we release the first public beta version of MediaMaster 2.0, you can download if from here:

MAC: ArKaos_Mediamaster_2_0_beta1.dmg
PC: ArKaos_Mediamaster_2_0_beta1.msi

While we finish the documentation, here’s a draft of the Release Note to give you some explanations:
ArKaos_MediaMaster_2_0_Release_Note.pdf

Please report bugs and feedback on this beta in the dedicated forum topic, not by commenting this blog post.

Read more for a brief overview of the Simple Mode and the new features in MediaMaster 2.0

Differences between MediaMaster Simple Mode and Fixture Mode

Starting with MediaMaster 2.0 you will be able to use the software in 2 very different ways: via the Simple Mode (available in MediaMaster Express and Pro) or via the Fixture Mode (available only in MediaMaster Pro) . The Fixture Mode corresponds to what was available MediaMaster 1 and the Simple Mode is thus the new interface we introduce here in this version.

The Simple Mode is designed for small DMX consoles, MIDI controllers or even the computer keyboard.  The fixture mode is aimed at advanced lighting desks or DMX consoles that can generate and automate hundreds of channels.

A MediaMaster video layer can be described as a lighting equipment with many parameters : position on the screen, looping  mode, speed, blending mode, mapping mode, color control, effects and main intensity value. When in Fixture Mode, all those parameters are sent to MediaMaster by the lighting desk, this is why several hundreds of channels are necessary. While it gives you a huge creative freedom, it requires an advanced lighting desk that can handle those channels.

In Simple Mode, all the layer parameters are configured from within the MediaMaster interface, leaving only the intensity and 3 optional parameter values to the console.

In Simple Mode you will map your visuals in patches. By doing so, you will define in MediaMaster the position, the mapping mode, the looping mode and speed, and optional effects. Once the mapping in completed you will just use the controller (DMX or MIDI, or computer keyboard) to drive the luminance of each cell and the optional 3 other layer parameters that can be assigned to the controller.

Finally you can also assign a fade to a visual, in order to allow smooth transitions even when using the computer keyboard to trigger visuals.

MediaMaster Simple Mode, the basics

If the Simple Mode is inspired from ArKaos VJ DMX, it has been completely rewritten in order to allow a very quick programmation and edition of your show.

Basically, visuals are programmed into cells, cells are grouped into patches, a patch can have up to 64 cells and there can be up to 64 patches.

A cell is the composed of one visual, one optional effect and all the associated parameters. Two types of controllers are used to drive a cell:

• Controllers that drive the master intensity
• Controllers that drive optional parameters

Simple Mode interface layout:

Simple Mode Layout

Simple Mode Interface screenshot:

Simple Mode ScreenShot

From the main interface you can assign the mixing, effect  and position presets.

To create those presets you simply open the editing dialog:

Simple mode parameter editing

MediaMaster license levels

Two license levels are available for MediaMaster 2.0:

• MediaMaster Express is limited to the new Simple Mode interface.
• MediaMaster Pro allows to use both the Simple Mode and the Fixture Mode interface.

Other differences between the Express and the Pro license:

• Media Server Extensions (MSEX) is tightly connected to fixture control and so it is only available with the Pro license.
• The Express license gives access to 8 layers while the Pro license allows 12 layers (in both Simple and Fixture Modes).

The upgrade to MediaMaster 2.0 is free for all MediaMaster 1.x users

The MediaMaster 2.0 beta will run in demo mode unless if you install it on a machine that has been registered for MediaMaster 1.x, in that case it will detect the previously installed license and launch as MediaMaster Pro.

Note that, in this case your MediaMaster version 1.x previously installed will remain untouched and fully functional so you can safely test MediaMaster 2.0 beta. Just be sure to work with copies of your files..

And now.. Enjoy the ride!

ArKaos MediaMaster may be the latest baby in the ArKaos video software family but it carries in its DNA all the best features of its ancestors’ different evolutions. These evolutions have always been triggered by users requests, by the different experimentations we made and by the goals we wanted to reach in terms of performance..

A few years ago when we decided to rewrite our core Engine, our goal was to get the best out of current and future computer architecture. So we designed the Engine to allow very creative layer blending with HD video loops by balancing the load between multi-core CPU’s and GPU’s. This was MediaMaster 1.0, then version 1.2 added very cool frame blending and audio support.

So we’ve been mainly focusing our resources on the Engine fluidity to achieve an optimal pixel flow and did not spent too much time working on the interface functionalities. This does not mean we did not care about that aspect but we’ve been really too busy with our hands dirty with pixel processing in order to build a perfectly stable and fast Engine that would become a solid base for further features and developments.

But we’ve also been listening to users feedback from everywhere, whether it be online  - on the support portal, in the forums and on our social networks – whether it be in real life - at trade shows worldwide or through a round of meetings and design sessions with lighting designers and resellers that we organized in January.

In other words, we were virtually behind you – yes, you! :) – looking above your shoulder at how you’re working with MediaMaster and how you’ve been using ArKaos VJ DMX in the past so we can understand how to make future versions working exactly the way you like, the way you need.

That’s how we came to realize that a typical lighting designer needs something like a Swiss Army Knife for video. No gig is twice the same; some days you just need to do a little bit of MIDI triggering, other days you may want to use a few DMX sliders to automate a small theater play, and once in a while you have that big tour with some heavy automation through a huge lighting console. Sometimes you may even have to work on a small corporate event where you will just trigger video loops from your computer keyboard..

Well you can do this all with MediaMaster 2.0. and even better, for those of you who never do the “big tour with some heavy automation through a huge lighting console” stuff, it will come in two versions; the Express that will be something like a 8 tools Swiss Army Knife with just the essential and the Pro that will be more like the full-featured 12 tools Swiss Army Knife.

In MediaMaster 2.0 we’ve implemented a very efficient Simple Mode as default for the Express version (which, by the way, will also be available in the Pro version). This mode is based on presets, for example if you are doing LED Mapping over your video output you will be able to create a preset defining your LED wall and easily recall it for many cells. Later on, if you edit this preset you will see the modification applied instantly to all cells using it without the need to re-edit all your show.

The main advantages of this new Simple Mode over what you had in VJ DMX are:

• the preset system makes it very quick and easy to use
• it allows triggering visuals with DMX, MIDI and any computer keyboard
• it makes use of MediaMaster‘s advanced media management system
• it benefits from the performance of the new video Engine (frame blending, audio support, etc…
• 64 patches of 64 cells are available to store visuals and effects
• everything is saved into the Media folder (content, patch information, show setup, ..) making it easy to move your files between computers

We are now close to the final release and we expect to start some public beta testing in the days to come, so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, the Marketing is working on the official communication, writing the press release and all the stuff they have to do, which will include announcing prices and offers for VJ DMX users, but we can already announce that we will offer free upgrade to MediaMaster Pro 2.0 to all current MediaMaster 1.x users.

If you don’t want to miss the announcements, sign up for our newsletter!

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.

Meanwhile we have released GrandVJ 1.2 and we took the time to include a special template for the Ohm64 in this release. As we did for the Akai APC40, this new dedicated template allows even more bidirectional communication between both products and takes advantage of all the control and feedback possibilities offered by the device.
It’s just like if your GrandVJ was made for your Ohm64.. and vice-versa :)

And thus, below is a new video from Livid showing their controller in action with GrandVJ:

We’ve been a bit quiet lately but we’ve been working hard trying to move sound support from the old system (based on QuickTime) to an implementation using FFMPeg. This is because the QT support is getting worse and worse and we think it’s important we move to a more controllable medium.

The Beta 3 released last week on our forums contained the first result of this implementation but wasn’t very smooth or even stable especially with backward/forward playback.

The Beta 4 fixes the backward playback bug and relies on a new FFMPeg build that supports AC3. This means you can now drop VOB’s & MKV and get proper audio running… If the vob is 5.1, we also do stereo mixdown.

Surf to the forum post for more details about this Beta and the download links..

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!

And guess what? Setup was easy as 1,2,3 and it works great, just like with his Block he tested a few days ago.

As soon as we can get our hands on these cool toys we will prepare a nice little mapping template to include with the next release of GrandVJ.