Critter&Guitari ETC Video Synth

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

^actually thought i read on the site that you can program your own modes in python or something. not that thats for everyone but python is fairly easy to pick up.

[01010111]

I'm actually fluent in Python. So, this might actually be a cool option for me. Still going to make an LZX system for vector scanning and synthesizer visualizations, but this might be a funner way to process audio than using LZX's Sensory Translator.

[MechaGodzilla]

I've always wanted to use one of c&g's video things for a live show but I could never work out a cheap way to project the video onto the band. If there was enough space, it'd be easy to setup a screen behind the band and project onto that but very rarely do I play a show with that much space on stage.

[Seance]

I've always wanted to use one of c&g's video things for a live show but I could never work out a cheap way to project the video onto the band. If there was enough space, it'd be easy to setup a screen behind the band and project onto that but very rarely do I play a show with that much space on stage.

Make everybody wear white clothes and project onto the band.

[MrNovember]

This is pretty cool! I've been looking for another input for my BPMC Premium Cable. I think I'll still just go for a Gieskes Oscillatoscope, though.

[jrfox92]

Yeeesh.
That price is waaaayyy to much for me to be interested right now.

I say that while GAS'ing for a Space Case.

[oldangelmidnight]

Looks like Sesame Street.

[MechaGodzilla]

I've always wanted to use one of c&g's video things for a live show but I could never work out a cheap way to project the video onto the band. If there was enough space, it'd be easy to setup a screen behind the band and project onto that but very rarely do I play a show with that much space on stage.

Make everybody wear white clothes and project onto the band.

Other than the white, that is what I want to do! I just don't know enough about projectors n stuff

[Seance]

I've always wanted to use one of c&g's video things for a live show but I could never work out a cheap way to project the video onto the band. If there was enough space, it'd be easy to setup a screen behind the band and project onto that but very rarely do I play a show with that much space on stage.

Make everybody wear white clothes and project onto the band.

Other than the white, that is what I want to do! I just don't know enough about projectors n stuff

Even better than white might be silver. There is a reason they call it the "silver screen".
Clothes that have been spray painted with Rustoleum "Aluminum" color would work pretty well.

Video projectors can be expensive (especially ones that project a lot of lumens of brightness).
But there are also cheap video projectors available. If you have a laptop with QuickTime videos
on it, then usually all that is needed is a simple cable to connect your computer to the video
projector you have. A lot of more modern video projectors have HDMI inputs. The older standard
was VGA inputs on a video projector, and so if your laptop doesn't have that output, you can
usually just get an adapter to output video to the projector.

Depending on where you are living you can sometimes find old Super8 or 16mm film projectors that
still work. Shooting stuff on film is ridiculously expensive these days, but you can still sometimes find
old home movies or random educational films at thrift stores or from some hoarder online. Such randomly
found footage can be projected randomly as "found footage". Even if your film projector malfunctions,
which is always a possibility since film is fragile and film projectors are a cross between a sewing machine
and a meat grinder, it can look interesting when the film tears or catches and stutters in the frame.

But even with random old film footage, people on the internet are starting to charge absurd
amounts of money for it.

If you don't know about projecting images, the simple solution is to find a friend who does and get them
to help you out. Or maybe YToob has some DIY tutorials?

[MechaGodzilla]

^^ I wanted to hook up the kick or bass to the b&w videoscope and project it onto the band like pink floyd's oil slides.

[Seance]

^^ Could be cool.

Or you could experiment with what equipment you can find. If you can find an overhead projector
then you could get a person to man a clear glass tray of oil paints and dyed water over which they
press another clear glass tray and actually syncopate the visuals to the music manually.

Drawbacks include:
—the need for a special effects person
—the faintness and diffusion of the overhead projector light source
—inks and waters are messy


If you had a video camera and a sound-tap from some segment of your band and a cheap speaker, then
you could send audio to that speaker and have a camera hooked up to the projector so that you could
capture how the sound vibrations create patterns in particles above the speaker. Salt, sand, rice could
work if you have a metal plate attached above the speaker. Or liquids can be attached in a tray above
the speaker cone. Stuff happens in response to frequencies in real time. Messy but fun visuals?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvJAgrUBF4w[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMq8mmqgQ4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WKU7gG_ApU[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zoTKXXNQIU[/youtube]

[MrNovember]

This thread got really awesome. I love these ideas

[01010111]

This thread got really awesome. I love these ideas

agreed!

Definitely going to steal the rustoleum idea for the stage persona I'm developing.

[kaeth]

Or you could experiment with what equipment you can find. If you can find an overhead projector
then you could get a person to man a clear glass tray of oil paints and dyed water over which they
press another clear glass tray and actually syncopate the visuals to the music manually.

Drawbacks include:
—the need for a special effects person
—the faintness and diffusion of the overhead projector light source
—inks and waters are messy

This is a good idea! I've done liquid light shows a few times. Liquid watercolours, and oil-based candle dye is the standard pairing, but you can use all kinds of stuff. The brightness all depends on the projector. I use a couple M3 9700 models, which cost me about ~$65 each, and the brightness is more than sufficient for a small to medium size club. I find the main drawback for overhead projector shows is that the venue limits where you can set up your table, and still get a good distance/angle from the stage. At some venues, you might have to rope off a section of the floor and risk people knocking your expensive glass, or just standing in front of the projector because it's not high enough to clear their heads.

Here's a pic from my first show at an art gallery with a simple one-projector, two-plate setup.



Another thing you can do with overhead projectors is get some moiré patterns printed on transparencies, layer two identical or similar ones, and manually manipulate them.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CooHixJLTJU[/youtube]

Works great coupled with the liquids. I like video and laser light shows too, but I love keeping the analog visuals alive!

[Seance]

Here's a pic from my first show at an art gallery with a simple one-projector, two-plate setup.

Another thing you can do with overhead projectors is get some moiré patterns printed on transparencies, layer two identical or similar ones, and manually manipulate them.

Works great coupled with the liquids. I like video and laser light shows too, but I love keeping the analog visuals alive!

Nice!

Yeah. Space can be a concern. If a venue has a sound board that is located central-back area,
they don't tend to want you suspending sloshy staining liquids over their sound console.

Which is why old town-halls with an existing video projector suspended from the ceiling can be
awesome. But... although such town halls exist in my slice of rural Ontario, such things aren't
wide spread everywhere.

The moiré effect from screen/pattern overlay is a great way to make moving weirdness.
It would also be cool if this Critter& Guitari stuff had a "green-screen" capability. Like... if
the device output a color area that could be filled by whatever video signal you fed into it.
So you could have space shapes made by the audio coming into the device, and then inside
the green shapes (for instance) you could have whatever video you fed into the machine,
but just in that green shape areas. This kind of stuff was easily enough done with the Video Toaster
devices that gave the aesthetic of all cable access shows from the '80s into the '90s. But... I don't
think those devices are easy to come by anymore.