We’ve seen visual vinyl, via the video stylings of Serato’s VIDEO-SL plug-in. But here’s a more literal approach: stick the camera on the turntable. Via a multi-camera setup, Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow are doing that with their honest-to-goodness, scratching turntablist sets. I especially like the camera up close on the turntable itself — something instrumentalists might try, too. (Well, maybe you want to stop somewhere … no endoscopies during your performance, please, unless you’re an avant-garde performance artist or something.)

More on this sort of thing soon, but there’s something to get the thought process going. Thanks, Jaymis!

We’re planning an in-depth test of the new visual vinyl plug-in for Serato’s Scratch LIVE, VIDEO-SL, but in the meantime, one beta tester has already got his hands on it. DJ Steel puts together a pretty clear demonstration of what VIDEO-SL does and what makes it special, particularly in regards to comparing something like Virtual DJ (another DJ product with control vinyl support for video). The demo video isn’t perfect — he calls the product “SLV” instead of its correct name, VIDEO-SL, misses out on effects, and says “H.264 files are less CPU intensive to decode than “ordinary .MP4″ files.” (For the record, that’s basically the same format; MPEG-4 video generally refers to MPEG-4 Part 10, the video compression standard.) But he does give a good overview of some of VIDEO-SL’s capabilities, why the integration with the Rane mixer makes sense, and how this might be used in a “DVJ” (hybrid DJ-VJ) setup.

VIDEO-SL I think is very important, and could yield different VJ styles, for those who like working with vinyl. Stay tuned for our closer look soon. And if you’ve got one on test yourself, let us know your impressions!

Previously:

Serato Video Scratch Software, Now in Beta; Break Out the Turntable!

We’ve been eagerly awaiting the perfect video scratching solution. The Ms. Pinky hardware is fantastic, but the software is long in the tooth, so for anyone not wanting to create their own Max/MSP/Jitter software, it may not be the best choice. Serato, while they’ve lagged seriously in basic features (only recently adding MIDI control, for crying out loud), nonetheless excel at rock-solid vinyl control. Vinyl-controlled digital DJing? Yawn. Vinyl-controlled digital VJing? Now that’s more interesting.

After a long wait, VIDEO-SL, Serato’s video plug-in for its Scratch LIVE software, is here. (Serato Scratch LIVE 1.8 is required; it’s an add-on. Updated: I erroneously said this was part of Scratch LIVE 1.9; not sure where I thought that up, but it’s 1.8!) It’s in beta for download now, with a full release shipping January 2008. (Yes, Serato, we’re clearing our NAMM schedule to talk to you about it.)

Here are the specs from Serato:

• Add video clips to your Scratch LIVE performance
• View loaded clips and output from your computer
• Manipulate playback with control records or CD’s
• Mix Audio and Video with the Rane TTM 57SL mixer
• Use built in transitions and effects

The "built-in transitions and effects", "bonus music videos and loops", and "mixer overlay" are a bit worrying — well, at least we can ignore the last two, but please, Serato, we’re hoping you’ve done some decent effects that don’t shout Cheez-Whiz. (Not that I don’t like spraying artificial cheese product onto food. I am American. Just not in my VJ sets.)

As for system requirements, the good news is this runs on Mac, Windows XP, and Vista, provided you’ve got a recent 2GHz+ processor. (I assume they mean that for simultaneous audio and video.)

The bad news: you need a Rane TTM 57SL mixer. So I’d say this fits into the "niche" category as far as audience. I’m sticking to computers; I can’t even lift turntables. But let’s say I know at least one VJ who could do some beautiful damage with this (and we’ve got one lined up for a CDMo review).

About VIDEO-SL [Serato]

We hope to have that full-blown review soon; stay tuned.

Previously:

New Serato Scratch Live 1.8 Will Scratch Video

Actually, let’s just roll the video again. Mmmm… embedded video. Nope. Still want hands-on time.

Pioneer have broken new ground in overstatement with the announcement of their upcoming Video/Audio mixer, the US$6000 SVM-1000.

World’s first mixer for 4-channel audio and video.

I guess they completely missed the AVM02 then? I’m not sure how, it’s rather big and heavy.

Does anybody actually believe marketing people? Do they even believe themselves when they open their mouths? A conversation between two marketing people must be like facing two TVs towards each other, tuning one to MTV and the other to MTV Europe. But I digress. Specifications can’t lie (much), so:

Can the future of visualists really be a combination of programmers, VJs, DJs, filmmakers, animators, musicians, turntablists? Why not? In the meantime, given that menu of people and a tough market to crack, many manufacturers are betting on the DJs. Josh Randall points us to this demo video of the next version of Rane’s Serato Scratch Live:

(Video by MixRevolutionTV, via YouTube — thanks, Josh!)

Scratching video in and of itself is nothing new. Numark’s CUE pushes this, as well, and the whole Numark VJ approach seems to be pushing DJs to add visuals. Long before that, the Ms. Pinky vinyl system (see various CDMusic coverage) shipped out-of-the-box with video support for turntablists — and the ability to create custom systems, thanks to its Max/MSP/Jitter support.

But it’ll be interesting to see if Rane can do it right. And there is something to be said for hardware. More discussion over on VJForums:

Serato Scratch Live’s v1.8 video features…

I agree with the consensus there: great visualists and great footage make for great results using just about any controller or interface.

Will visual turntablism spread the planet, though, or just prove a niche crossover? We’ll be taking a closer look at Serato Live 1.8 (among other things) soon.

Live visual instruments often lack that … certain something. Other than occasional oddities like the Livid Viditar, generally visual performance instruments just don’t have the panache of musical instruments. The solution: pack a bunch of hardware into the body of a white-lacquered grand piano, of course! (What, that seemed like a logical leap?)

As seen on our sister site Create Digital Motion:
BabyGrandMaster: DJ/VJ Studio Packed into a Piano

The innards look like someone held a sweepstakes for VJ and DJ gear and then consulted Prince for industrial design tips. (And that’s even before you add the optional pink neon underlighting and fog effects. Seriously.) For visualists:

1. Dual Pioneer DVJ-X1 DVD Players
2. Edirol V-4 Video Mixer
3. [Triple] Marshal LCD Monitors

I suppose this is one answer to Jaymis’ question of what he should use for a gig case. (Come on, someone’s discarded Young Chang may be sitting at the local scrapyard. Pain that sucker, drop in your gear, good to go. Uh, sorta.)

Dedicated audio + video mixers, or all-in-one?

Jaymis examined the Numark AVM02 last month. It’s an innovative concept: one mixer for audio, video, and video FX. But it’s not without its shortcomings; most notably, there’s no MIDI, and some of the FX capabilities are lacking. And that raises a question: is it better to get one piece of gear that does everything, or mix and match?

Enter the Korg KM-202 and 402 audio mixers, previewed today on Create Digital Music. They look fantastic as audio mixers: simple mixing functions, plus lots of audio effects via an integrated KAOSS Pad — even vocoding, a little synthesis, and loop sampling are included, and everything can be beat-matched.

That’s the good news. The bad news: like the AVM02, there’s no MIDI input — all the more annoying, given it does have beat-driven capabilities. For MIDI, you have to upgrade to the pricier ZERO4/ZERO8, but those would be wild overkill for live visualists. Still, I still think, depending on the pricing of the KM-202, I might prefer a KM-202 for audio and (sorry, Korg) Edirol V4 video mixer to Numark’s all-in-one deal. Mixing simultaneous audio and visuals is a new area, of course. But it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

This, of course, brings me to a more important question:

Why the heck doesn’t the KORG KrossFour have a KAOSS Pad?

The KrossFour is Korg’s entry into the video mixing market. If you haven’t heard about it, it’s because it’s been somewhat overshadowed by Edirol’s wildly-popular V4. I’m sure the KrossFour sells, but there’s not much to say about it, other than it does have the plus of coming with a crossfader onboard. (Edirol makes you buy an accessory to replace their T-bar; which you prefer is a matter of taste.) I tried one, and it’s a decent piece of kit. It just lacks that extra something to make people notice it, like, oh, something really out-there with an X/Y pad and effects. (Now, where would Korg find something like that … not in the form of their KAOSS Pad Entrancer video effects unit, by any chance?)

Korg helpfully suggests you pair the KrossFour with their KAOSS Pad Entrancer for effects and KAOSS Pad mixing. Most VJs I know with Entrancers do just that — only they use the Edirol V4, not the Korg KrossFour. Besides, whatever mixer you use, this immediately creates a problem: where do you put the effects unit? Before the mixer? After the mixer? Either way, you can’t assign the effect to a mixer channel. If Korg would just meld the two, problem solved — and the KAOSSFour would become the instant, de facto tool for VJs.

Now, I need someone to translate that into Japanese and send a nice card to the Korg office there. Here’s a subtle hint, in case they’re reading; perhaps our Japanese blogger friends (thanks for the links; we do read them!) can start posting this on their VJ blogs:

Polling all readers: who’s with me?

I’ve had a bit more time now with my (still shiny, still new) Numark AVM02 - or “Avmo” as it’s been dubbed by my bandmates - and have some more thoughts to offer, if you will hear them. If you haven’t heard the original thoughts or seen the unboxing photos you may like to check out my “First Impressions” review.

Obviously the biggest question I’m going to get is “how does it compare to the Edirol V4″, so I’ll come out straight away and disappoint those who are looking for that comparison: This article will focus mostly on the AVM02’s own strengths and weaknesses, and while some comparisons to the V4 and other video mixers may be drawn, you’ll have to make your own conclusions at this stage. I will be doing a full head to head features-and-quality shootout vodcast in the coming weeks, so I’ll save the serious V4 comparisons until then.

Unit Specs

The AVM02 combines a basic DJ mixer with what I guess could be described as a “DJ Style” video mixer, and is able to combine 4 Video channels and 4 Stereo Audio channels, mixing with independant (but linkable) Video and Audio crossfaders.

I have just received and unwrapped my shiny new Numark AVM02 mixer. Unfortunately way too late for the 3 gigs I had over the weekend, so it will be a week or so until I have a hands-on, performance review. In the meantime though, I have plenty of first impressions.

It’s shiny. It’s big (19″ rack standard). Build quality is very solid - no surprises there - and all faders, knobs and buttons feel like they’re attached to a professional mixer. The crossfaders are a little slow, needing to be pushed all the way across rather than travelling there with a flick, and the lack of ”transform” buttons rules out some fun mixing tricks which can be performed with the V4, but perhaps this will encourage me to develop better crossfader technique.

It has many inputs and outputs. Ignoring the audio stuff for now (which is so passe darlings) we have 4 S-Video and 4 Composite in (not switchable, not sure how it selects between them). 2 S-Video and 2 Composite out, and 4 composite monitor outs.

Put it next to the V4 and one thing is instantly apparent: You’re getting a lot of mixer for your money.

Numark launched their NuVJ VJ product, a combination of a DJ-style MIDI controller with software from Arkaos, back at Musikmesse in April. The hardware is now nearing release, and it’s priced at only US$300.

The gear is aimed at DJs, but it may appeal to anyone who wants a hardware controller well-suited to live electronic music and VJing. With driver support for both Mac and Windows and full MIDI support, it has the compatibility apparently lacking in Behringer’s BCD-2000, as reviewed here on CDM.

Numark NuVJ

The control surface itself looks terrific: two banks of 9 trigger pads each (for a total of 18) for triggering clips, big, solid-looking DJ mixer-style faders, knobs (which appear to be endless encoders) that should be useful for effects, and most importantly, two large wheels for scratching, speed control, or other effects.

The software side is a Numark-branded version of ArKaos VJ, the tried-and-true VJ software for Mac and Windows. No word yet on if or how this might differ from the full release, but there are a number of reasons why ArKaos may be a good choice on Numark’s part. Unlike motion dive .tokyo, the software bundled with Edirol’s competing hardware/software combination, recent versions of ArKaos support graphics card GPU acceleration, which is essentially for getting higher resolutions and framerates. ArKaos isn’t the only software to do this (Livid Union is one example), but it is to me an essential feature. ArKaos has gotten a bad rap among some VJs because it’s been used for a lot of really cheezy effects over the years, but if that were the standard, I don’t think we could talk about any software. With full support for FreeFrame effects (the open source effects standard) and Core Image plug-ins, this could be a strong VJ software choice, and US$300 is a new low in cost for software/hardware bundles. Good news for Intel Mac users: this app is already Universal.

Of course, there’s nothing saying you have to use ArKaos; this is still a competitively-priced controller even if you throw away the software and just use MIDI to control something else.

You might be confused by Numark’s product site; many of the features mentioned (camera input, BPM sync, effects) are in fact features of the ArKaos software, not the hardware itself. The NuVJ hardware is just a MIDI interface; there’s no onboard video processing of any kind. But no complaints here: the price is right, and this hardware could be a fantastic controller for both music and visuals alike.

I hope to test this hardware so we can see if it lives up to its claims; stay tuned.

Updated: Here’s a closer view and a complete list of controls, a number of which you could easily reassign if you don’t want these particular functions or if you use other software: