2D shooter? Interactive sound sculpture? Why choose one when you can have both? Transcend is an open-source, cross-platform (Mac/Windows build or *nix source), 2D shooter game. Thanks to morphing shapes and what the developer calls a “musical power-up system,” as you shoot your way through the levels you’re simultaneously “assembling an abstract visual collage and arranging a unique piece of music.” With continuing advances in OpenGL 3D graphics and real-time sound, you can expect more alternative 3D interfaces for music like this one. (Thanks, Ronan!)

Previously:

Unreal Tournament as Music Environment
More Unreal “Game” Performances

An incredible amount of stuff coming up here in NYC:

VJ Book: Paul Spinrad’s new The VJ Book is packed with interviews and how-to information and ships with a DVD full of VJ samples, mixable content, and demo software. (Paul and I got to work together on an upcoming issue of Make Magazine, which you’ll be hearing more about soon.)

VJ party Wednesday: It’s a book launch party edition of Eyewash, the live video series. I’ll be VJing with Korg hardware and Quartz Composer-generated visuals, along with the book’s DVD creator Melissa “Miixxy” Ulto (previously on CDM). Jay Smith from Livid Instruments will be demoing the new Tactic M2 wood-paneled VJ control surface (see previous story). I’ll be trying to steal it from him. Watch your drinks, Jay.

VJ: The Movie Video Out documents the history of VJing and live video art from the 1960s to today. It’s premiering in the East Village November 11, but if you clamour hard enough, it may come to your town, too.

Music Player Live: Les Paul is keynote speaker for this weekend full of of music stars, gear, and instruction. The crew from Keyboard, EQ, GuitarPlayer, BassPlayer, and Frets will all be there. Catch my live video and VJing for musicians seminar Sunday, if you can, but there’s plenty of other good stuff happening.

Game Boy Music Saturday: There’s a major lineup Saturday night of Game Boy and chiptune musicians at Manhattan’s The Tank (which is still looking for a permanent home). Performers: DAVID SUGAR (UK), RECEPTORS (US), HEY KID NICE ROBOT (US), M-.-n (BE), GLOMAG (US), BUBBLYFISH (US), OMAC (US), NULLSLEEP (US) and BIT SHIFTER (US).

Now, attention rest of the world: aside from Paul’s VJ book and the movie, we want to make sure you get to enjoy some of this, too. So, New Yorkers, aside from my own feeble attempts to photograph and document these events, if you’re going and want to help, please drop me a line. And certainly say hello; I’ll buy you a drink or steal you some video hardware.

While we’re on the subject of VJing, curious what the future looks like? Think HD.

Amateur VJs need not apply. Edirol has unveiled pricing and availability on their new V-440 HD Multiformat Video Mixer, and it’s not for mortals: US$$12,995 — an incredible deal for HD mixing if you’ve ever priced pro video equipment, but, uh, probably out of reach of most readers.

That said, the V-440 is an amazing box, and a great glimpse of what’s to come. Up to full 1080i HD resolutions, multiple formats (standard, HD, computer RGB), blue and green chroma keying, daisy-chaining support, and everything you’d expect from an HD mixer from Edirol. And musicians are in the mix, too: thanks to V-LINK, you can control the mixer by playing any supported Roland or Edirol keyboard. So who’s snapping these up? Expect pro tours and (believe it or not) the religious market, which spends a lot of the dollars on this kind of equipment.

And, oh, it’s gorgeous.

V-440 HD Multiformat Video Mixer and Switcher [Edirol.com]

Computer VJing is about to hit prime time, thanks to gains in computer performance. Mixing 2-channel 640×480 Photo JPEG-compressed video is finally possible — no more 320×240x15 jaggies. One of the tools I’m most excited about is the new Edirol hardware/software package, and I got to try it out at AES.