Ohm64 Backlight Control from Livid Instruments on Vimeo.

It’s been a long time since I touched Livid’s VJ software. But when it comes to hardware, they’ve been doing unbelievable work that could have Resolume and VDMX and Processing and vvvv and Max users turning their heads.

The Ohm64 looks simply fantastic. It’s got an ideal configuration for a lot of live visual applications, with 8×8 triggers and plenty of faders and knobs to go along with them. It’s also finally a controller that’s well-made but doesn’t cost a fortune – you get a well-crafted device made by the people who designed it in Texas, but at $599, it’s still affordable.

Visualists are doing all kinds of new things to expand their performance, so I believe having a truly open controller is essential. The Ohm64 delivers, with a chip and editor software that have extensive open support. That means that, as with the brilliant monome controller, you should see a community that experiments with creative ideas for how to use it. (Nor do I think this is necessarily monome competition – the monome is still beautiful for its minimalism, whereas this should appeal to people who ignored the monome because they needed knobs and faders for additional parameter control.)

For visual software increasingly using OSC, a future firmware update should provide native OSC support (and possibly even DMX in the near future). For everything else, there’s MIDI support now. And unlike the Akai APC40, that means real MIDI support, with actual MIDI in and out ports and endlessly customizable controller assignments and LED feedback, instead of the Akai’s single USB port and permanently-fixed layout. And this is fully bus-powered, so you’re not screwed if you forget your power brick.

I did a full preview for CDMusic. But next week I should get to try one in person, which is the real test.

Livid Ohm64

http://www.lividindustry.com/culture/ blog with more videos

Part of what makes Resolume Avenue so compelling as a live visual solution is that it can mix, mash, and loop audio alongside video, in ways often resembling Ableton Live. But that, of course, doesn’t make Resolume nearly as deep a live sonic tool as Ableton. So, to combine two great tastes – live video in Resolume Avenue, plus live audio and elaborate sequencing control in Ableton Live – the folks at Resolume have assembled a recipe that allows Resolume to be controlled via Live using MIDI.

The basic process:

1. Route MIDI from Resolume to Ableton, using the IAC Driver on Mac and MIDI-Yoke on Windows.

2. Make a MIDI sequence in Ableton that controls clips in Resolume.

3. Add some audio clips and scenes in Live for some live audio goodness.

4. Link parameters and sync for effects and icing.

Controlling Resolume Avenue with Ableton Live

This does nothing to stop a fantasy I’ve heard other folks discussing of late: imagine if we had an OSC (OpenSoundControl) sequencer? OSC is by nature time-based as a protocol, and you could even still sequence MIDI events (using MIDI over OSC) – or arbitrary events that wouldn’t be restricted by overly rigid event types like the MIDI Note? Does anyone know if such a thing has been tried? (Maybe it’s time to write one.)

Live Plus…?

That’s not to take away from the beauties of Ableton Live in this sort of setup. Combining Live and visuals, whether to add audio or sequence visuals or both, has been an ongoing theme on this site.

Live + Resolume (like the above tutorial, but + Ethernet) Tutorial: Ableton Live + Resolume with MIDI Over Ethernet, Free on PC (Linux, Mac Soon)

Live + Isadora + Max + The Karate Kid: Karate Kid AV Remix – and a how-to using the awesome Lucifer plug-in (which could also be nice with Resolume): AV Cutup Secrets: Using Lucifer & Live

Live + Isadora: Ableton Live + Isadora: Slicing, Syncing Audiovisual Tutorials

Live + VDMX: Toby *spark and Live Cinema: Ableton and VDMX, Soundtrack and Narrative

Live + robotic mirrors on projectors: DMX For Dummies: Controlling iCue Robotic Mirrors with uDMX and Ableton Live

Live + Jitter: Christopher Willits on XLR8R with Live Jitter, Ableton Live Visual Setup

Live + robotic cameras: Interview: Josh Cardenas’ Robotic, Midi Controlled Cameras and tour with DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist

And one instance of Live failing to be the tool for the job, only to be replaced by Max: Progress Report: 8 Cameras Plus Vixid Plus Patching Gives Craziness (Pd would work, too, which would be nice for a Linux netbook)

Now that Bart has gotten the ball rolling for Resolume, though, I suspect we’ll see a lot more ideas for combining Resolume Avenue with Ableton Live, or using Avenue as an audiovisual tool in itself; it just makes sense. If you work up your own setup or add your own twist after following this tutorial, let us know!

Jack Lykins sends us a really amazing video he assembled using Ms. Pinky, the vinyl control system, and its included Maxi-Patch Max/MSP/Jitter patch to control animation interactively. We’ve seen vinyl triggering and controlling video, of course – as on the Serato VIDEO-SL, previously reviewed here. But there’s something about Jack’s style of “narrative” animation on the turntable that’s really compelling.

Hope to see more of this setup.

Previously:

Hands-on Review: Serato’s VIDEO-SL for Visual Vinyl Turntablism

You know the ideal audiovisualist setup: two PCs, one running sound, one running visuals. But connecting those two machines can be less than ideal. Enter EthernetMidi, a completely free implementation of MIDI over Ethernet. It’s Windows-only for now – the Mac has its own free MIDI-over-IP implementation built into the OS. But there’s reason to root for EthernetMidi even if you’re not a Windows user primarily: the project is open source, and work on a Mac and Linux version means this could be the first tool to allow MIDI-over Ethernet between different platforms. (Pay no attention to the “LinuxSampler” name – they need a new moniker.)

Showing off how powerful this can be, pure_angles has put together a detailed tutorial for combining to favorite tools, Ableton Live and Resolume.

Musician Christopher Willits has an ongoing series for XLR8R Magazine in which he talks his own technical workflow. In the latest episode, he adds live visuals to his Ableton Live set using Max/MSP/Jitter. What’s nice about this is you see how some clever mapping can make visuals integrate neatly with music.

I’m somewhat insane, so my own setup often involves simultaneously running visuals separately with no communication with my music software. That allows me to set up less-direct relationships between visuals and sound.

But, while the techniques could be combined to a variety of setups, this also serves as a nice introduction to how you might use patching in Jitter alongside your music software.

Curious to know what you think of the presentation and content here, as I hope we’ll do more videos like this ourselves.

What You Talkin’ Bout, Willits? Part 10 [XLR8R]