In case you haven’t noticed, a theme has been emerging on CDMotion: alternative interfaces geared for performance, software that expands the range of expression, and projection that gets visuals out of the 4:3-ratio box. There’s no one solution, and the expense involved in the tools covers quite the gamut. (I may have to personally start the “ghetto” guide to this stuff.)

But bringing together these elements is still essential to raising the impact of visuals. I still hear the “but the visuals aren’t as important” over and over again from people outside our field, and I think it’s a phrase that is — mercifully — doomed to extinction as visualists expand their craft.

So, one artist collective we’ve been covering is Turkey-based artificialeyes.tv. We’ve seen the Video Moving System, the automated mirror system for projection, the Vixid mixer with its matrix and multiple blend mode features (among other things), and the eyeball-scorching interface of 3L (”Thrill”) now in beta.

To see it all put together, of course, we’d really like to hit the club in Istanbul. Barring that, though, Michael from artificialeyes.tv has directed us at some images and video.

It’s really clear to me from these images how little you need lights. And in motion, with architectural effects amplifying the imagery, the projector itself can be more than just lighting effect (especially with these in motion, something you don’t get from the stills).

We look forward to the day when visualists on music tours are norms, rather than exceptions. And no, playing lots of pre-rendered footage and/or hiding someone in the back of the house does not count. Fortunately, our own Jaymis has been lucky enough to hook up with a very lovely musician on tour in Australia, and has been right up onstage during gigs and playing live visuals that are tightly integrated aesthetically and in terms of timing with the music. This has had the effect of: a) creating wonderful touring for Jaymis and b) creating a large void in posts on CDMotion. The tour is nearly done, but while we wait, here are some snaps of what the action looks like! It certainly inspires me to push my live music sets that much further/harder/better.

Jaymis has promised lots of info from this tour, including some production/performance tips picked up along the way. Stay tuned! Really, please, stay tuned!

Related: Bobby Flynn and the Omega Three Gig Report or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Rock

Our own Jaymis has left CDMotion for a couple of weeks for something called a “vacation”, but he’s left a terrific gallery of images from the Elements 7 / King Unique event in Brisbane. In an intimate club venue, Jaymis fired up his full live performance VJ setup, complete with Behringer controllers and Resolume video; the musicians are full-on with Mac + Ableton + Novation Remote SL. Notice how have some controllers handy frees up the performer to really have a good time and do something, well, performative. Notice, as well, that everyone in Australia — man and woman alike — seems to be really happy and attractive. (Note to self: groom fully before touring Australia, and apply cool sticker to laptop.)

We will, my friends, end the age of “VJ” connoting dull visuals and someone hidden behind a laptop / mixer, and, whether you call them “visualists” or “VJs”, herald an age where live visuals are as much a real performance as live musicians. Result: better parties.

Or, in short, good performance + happy sound and visuals = happy and dancing peoples!

More on this rig when Jaymis is back from Vietnam.

in the mix: Elements 7 Featuring King Unique [photo gallery on a very excellent electronic music site]

Photosynth is one of the coolest pieces of software of any kind to emerge this year. And despite the fact that the name begins with the word “Photo” from a major software developer’s “Labs”, this time it’s Microsoft Live Labs giving us love instead of Adobe Labs.

Photosynth takes hundreds — or thousands — of conventional digital photos, analyzes them, and then through clever image analysis and comparison constructs an entire 3D geometry, mapping them onto the result. It sounds like complete voodoo, but somehow it works. When the project is done, you’ll be able to create your own 3D photoscapes without any special equipment. That’s a really appealing idea, given that past 2D/3D hybrid photo technologies like QuickTime VR required lots of special gear and manual stitching and labor. And even with those restrictions, QTVR created a loyal community that continues to thrive today; imagine what Photosynth could do.

Now, the really good news: instead of reading about Photosynth on blogs, you can actually try it out.