Holidays are fast approaching. Do you have enough new gear to keep your brain occupied while your body suffers though the inevitable food-coma? Peter and the CDMu gang have listed their choices for electronic musicans. So we’ve decided to follow up with some last-minute ideas for yourself or the visualist in your life. PK: I like to think of this as, rather than last-minute shopping — or, erm, after-the-fact shopping if you were looking for Hannukah — this as the Way to Cure the VJ Blues By Shopping For Yourself list. And, aside from having been raised half-Orthodox (Christmas isn’t for over a week yet!), my birthday is in January, and should also be a holiday. (Macworld stuffers?) So, without further ado…

Jaymis

VJ: Audio-Visual Art and VJ Culture
Sick of trying to explain what it is you do to random wrinklies at family gatherings? VJ, put together by the immensely talented D-Fuse gang. Pingmag interview about the book and the state of VJing here
US$26.40
Update: Reviewed on We Make Money Not Art

Nintendo Wii
Ok. So with the newest console on the block sold out everywhere, this item may be a little wishful. Unless you’re willing to pay whatever the scalpers extortionists scumbags fine chaps on ebay are currently asking, then it may be prudent to wait until the storm has passed. Of course, that doesn’t stop you from picking up a wiimote, making with the wireless midi for a while, then bringing in the console for some multiplayer boxing at a later, saner time.
Wiimote: US$61

After months of closed beta testing, Bome’s Midi Translator Pro (Windows only) has finally been released for public consumption. Midi Translator is a powerful addition to your midi kit, allowing you to translate midi messages into different midi messages, qwerty key presses (control non-music apps with midi controllers), or to stop them completely. The latest versions include the following new features:

• Keystroke as Incoming Action
• Rules: variable assignments, mathematical expressions, jumps, and conditional execution
• Timers: repeated or delayed execution of Translators
• Changed to file-based approach: presets are now saved in project files (*.bmtp).
• A migration wizard will savely convert your old presets in the registry.
• Added log window for convenient verification (debugging) of your translation presets
• MIDI device selector in Tray menu
• Reload MIDI device list if a device is plugged in
• Add separate keystroke press/key release Outgoing Action
• Allow compound MIDI IN messages, e.g. NRPN and RPN messages

Italicised features are available in Midi Translator Pro only, which costs 59 Euro. Bome’s Midi Translator “Classic” is still free for personal use, or 29 Euro. The classic version will be enough for most uses, although Pro gives you some serious midi ninja options, and is required for to make the BCD2000 jogwheels work properly in Traktor.

 Midi Translator is extremely powerful, and reasonably confusing. I have some half-finished presets here for Resolume, After Effects, Premiere and Photoshop which have been waiting around for the public release to prod me into completing and posting them. So look out for them soon. In the meantime make with the downloading, and hit the comments with your midi translation ideas and setups.

DJ Mag have posted their Tech Awards 2006, and while it’s not exactly bursting with surprises - They’re liking the Allen & Heath Xone:3D, Ableton Live is a good thing, Sennheiser ‘phones are great… - it’s great to see CDM favorites Resolume and the BCD2000 getting some recognition.

Resolume takes out the Beginner’s VJ Product award, which rankled me initially but: DJMag, so they can call it what they like really as I’m sure the DJs are too busy tweaking asses across crossfades to review Intermediate or Advanced VJ products. I don’t know about “glorious lap lightshow!”, that sounds like something a pervy Jedi Master would get up to, but the featured quotes are bang on:

Eclectic Method: For this category, Resolume is the most versatile and interesting piece of software.

Eserin: For £130 you get an expandable set-up, loads of effects to keep interest going and easily assignable clip banks, plus DMX control for lighting shows.

VJ Anyone: It also memorises setting, works in high definition (HD) and VJs can control clip speed by music beats.

Halliwell: There’s a vast differrence in the price and I think VJs will get bored quickly with the other software.

WestEnd DJ: Even after buying a controller it’s still better value for money than the rest and it’s a lot more versatile and well designed.

Slightly more interesting is the choice of the BCD2000 as Best Midi Controller. I definitely agree that it’s a great device, but its quirky non-customizable midi assignments, jog-wheel difficulties and complete lack of Mac support preclude this from best midi anything for me. It’s a great device, it could be brilliant, but Behringer need to put in the work first to finish it off.

An inexpensive MIDI controller with useful scratch and mixer controls, for DJing, live laptop performance, and VJing? We’ve all been anxious to know whether the BCD2000 delivers. Our resident live visualist gives it a spin (so to speak).

After waiting over a year, I finally have it. The Behringer BCD2000 was announced in January 2005, initially shipped small numbers in August, and then incessantly delayed until finally being delivered worldwide in late April 2006. Considering that the device has been in the wild for over a year there is a surprising lack of information online. Not that it was a nerve-wracking purchase decision at AU$265 street (US$200), but I couldn’t do the usual review harvest before picking it up. I was looking for a midi controller to compliment my BCR2000 and bridge the VJ/DJ divide. I think I may have found it.