Video tools

A personal overview of the video software I use more or less regularly. These are my own opinions, experiences and applications. I am not infallible so it might contain errors, which of course I'll correct if you find any.

Software

Resolume Avenue

I currently consider Resolume to be the "core" of my digital video toolchain. Basically all various sources are getting routed to Resolume at some point, and it creates the final composed picture, applying fx on top, etc.

While the usual workflow is working with videoloops, it's flexible enough for my needs, as it supports Spout sources, has lots of effects and capabilities. Most notably, through Spout, one can setup feedback send/return chains. I have used it at a couple of small venues, also linked to MIDI controllers and to audio interfaces to get live interaction and audio reactiveness.

It can get pretty resource intensive, but if you don't stress it it can run even on not-so-powerful devices such as a ROG Ally Z1. It's also considerably fast to get "something" running, though ultimately creating diverse scenes and covering up an entire gig requirees quite a lot of time and resources.

Resolume Wire

A node-based environment to create videoclips, video loops and stuff with all sorts of geometry primitives, effects, etc. You can do a lot of generation prep work in Wire and then import and mount it in Avenue.

I haven't used it a lot because I avoid working with loops, but it is powerful. It does require the same mindset that goes into the sort of graphical work you'd do with Illustrator, Photoshop, etc. Let's say my mind is not very graphically-inclined, so sometimes I struggle with that sort of workflow.

OBS + Spout Plugin

OBS is pretty much a decent alternative or complement to Resolume. Normally, you'd use it as a desktop video capture software, often used for streaming. But in general, it's also very useful for capturing video sources and also manipulating them to some extent.

You can for example use a Spout plugin, spawn both a Spout sender and receiver and create all sorts of feedback effects by playing with them, send the output to Resolume or directly send it to the projector.

LOVJ

LOVJ was born as my own sort-of-livecoding VJ software project, which has been going on for a while, went under drastic changes and still has no clear direction yet. It is based on the LOVE2D engine, so it supports anything that LOVE2D natively supports, plus I added support for Spout input and output.

You can run simple patches that draw basic geometries, or more complex patches that run shaders. It is supposedly a livecoding tool but the livecoding part is sort of broken as it does not always prevent/recover on syntax errors and so on. I will probably drop (or rebuild) this feature in the long run.

LOVJ started as a code-only patch-based tool but lately, considering accessibility and speed of deployment, I've been thinking it could switch to node-based architecture or something of sorts, and will probably need to support a GUI editor, abstractions, etc.

GlitchGBA

A GBA ROM that I wrote some time ago. You can run it in a gameboy emulator, and it is basically an environment to glitch textures and pictures imported into it. Capture its output through OBS and route it as a texture or something else in Resolume Avenue.

GlitchNES

The NES ROM that inspired GlitchGBA, still quite a lot of fun. Run it in actual hardware or via emulation.

Hardware

CHA/V

I have built it at a workshop years ago, I was inexperienced and the result was quite messy due to bad soldering and messy cables. It works but has no use in my current video workflow, as now I work mostly with digital based stuff. I could reduild one but now I'm more interested in building different devices.

r_e_c_u_r

I had a lot of hope for this device but ultimately, after building one, I figured out it was a bit too clunky for me to use and I wanted to attempt video generation rather than sampling, anyway.

Nintendo Entertainment System

I had one that I had glitch bent based on an old docuemnt by Casper Electronics, but I fried it and it's no longer working. There were a lot of patch points and it was used in combination with an Arduino step sequencer made with relays circuits.

I have another vanilla NES to bend but I'm quite worried about not being able to do a good modding job so I would avoid working on it at the moment.

Dirty video mixer(s)

I have built at least one (sort of crappy made), but I no longer am using many composite sources at the moment.

Panasonic WJ-AVE5

I have one in working conditions, still unmodded. I'd like to start modding it but I'm still sort of unconfident in my own skills and have made little research on it.

Edirol V-1

I have one, used for mixing several composite sources. Less likely to be circuit-bendable, but more adequate for actual mixing and compositing.