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Wandering VJ Report – west coast edition

Posted Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Hello Glitchies,

For the first time in a while I have a large chunk of undisturbed time, combined with a functioning internet connection.  I thought it would be fun to share some of what I’ve been up to, since it includes some VJ-related stuff.

For those who don’t know, I packed up my stuff in Boston and hit the road to do some traveling a couple months ago.  I’ve managed to spend time in LA, Oakland, and most recently San Diego.  I took my video toys along for the ride, and I’ve been searching out opportunities to do visual art projects when possible.

In Oakland, I visited a space (and a business) called Flowtoys  I was invited over by Flowtoys videographer and “OG” (you can guess what the G stands for) Robb Pope, aka VJ ADD.  I met Sean von Stade, the founder of Flowtoys, a company that makes spinning movement toys (poi, staff), with embedded LED lights.    I found out that in addition to poi (both fire and LED) Sean is also really into lasers – in fact, he built his own little handheld rig with a green laser pointed at a motorized, spinning piece of lamp glass.  I mentioned that back in Boston we have own Sean who likes lasers and spinny, blinky things.  All in all it seemed pretty clear he was a kindred spirit.

It turns out that longtime VJ and former Bostonian Toshi “Dr.” Hoo lives right down the street from Flowtoys as well, so one night Toshi, Robb, and I hung out and played with some hardware and software toys.

I got a chance to see Toshi show off some nice blend techniques in Modul8.  We also chatted for a bit about the audio beat-detection features for automating effects – I’m still not a huge fan of FFT analysis, but Toshi was able to get some nice synchronization at various points.  As usual, a lot depends on the type of music you feed it.  We also booted up Resolume Avenue, and played with some of the audio and video effects.  I’m still wrestling with the question of whether it’s better to combine audio and video triggering in one program, or use a protocol like MIDI or OSC to synchronize independent pieces of software.

Meanwhile, Robb was editing footage from a shoot at Flowtoys.  They make LED movement and dance objects like poi and staff, similar to the ever popular psyhoop.  He took some high-contrast footage (to highlight the spinning glowing poi) and added a bunch of delay effects to give it a nice “blurry trails” feel.

I spent the bulk of the evening trying to construct a “Wii staff” – taping two wiimotes onto the ends of a broom handle, then spinning it around to see if I could control Whorld with it.  It definitely worked – technically speaking – but it didn’t quite pass as a visual instrument.  Could be a matter of playing around with the control code, or it maybe the Wiimote isn’t the right tool for that particular idea.

The original WiiWhorld, on the other hand, was a big hit with some new crowds.  I set it up at a loft party in San Francisco, and then a week later at an afterhours chillout in San Diego.  In both cases people got sucked in quickly, and people started waiting – in that amusing “I’m not waiting, but if you’re done I’ll have a play” sort of way – for the chance to try it.  It was fun to get a fresh response from an entire roomful of people who had no idea what it was.

I’ve also spent some time tweaking a patch I put together a while back to control Whorld with the Korg NanoKontrol.  It’s been about 90% done for a while now, but I need to give it some more polish so I can put together a proper public release.  If anyone out there has a Windows PC and a NanoKontrol, and wants to give it a try, let me know.

I’ve played a bit with Processing – got so far as to install and play with the OK Go “WTF” effect patch written by Memo Atken – but I’ve been doing some work-related coding lately, so the appeal of playing with code-based art has diminished a bit at the moment.

Looking ahead, I hope to get back to the bay area in a week or so, and then drive up to the pacific northwest.  Soon I’ll be heading overseas – it should be interesting trying to figure out what (if any) VJ-related gear I decide to bring along in my backpack…

cheers,
j e f f

p.s. – I’m seriously bummed that i will be missing the Together festival, and the Hansel and Gretel re:imagined show.  It’s nice to see a big visual show with a strong unifying theme – I have no doubt that some really interesting work will come out of it.

Whorld MIDI default controllers

Posted Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

These are the default MIDI continuous controller (CC) assignments for Whorld.  This list can be used to program an external MIDI device to work with Whorld.  All controllers are on channel 1.

whorld_midi

Software Roundup

Posted Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

DJ Mix – Deeper (2009)

Posted Thursday, June 18th, 2009
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Jeff Mission - Deeper
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mixed live by Jeff Mission @ WZBC | June 15, 2009 | 11 tracks | 68:38

Artist Track (Remix) Label Year
Culoe De Song The Bright Forest Innervisions 2009
Hauswerks Dig Deep 1Trax 2009
Gorge Garuna 8Bit 2009
DJ Rame Mind Clip Manocalda 2009
Aki Bergen Afrikanism Neurotraxx 2009
Miro African King One Louder Berlin 2009
Jeff Bennett Desire (2007 Version) Night Drive 2007
Tiger Stripes Survivor Get Physical 2007
Gabe Rohypnol Label Unknown 2008
Dusty Kid Klin Boxer 2009
Nick Curly Kalimba murmur 2008

DJ Mix – No Parking (2009)

Posted Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
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600px-noparkingsvg
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mixed live by Jeff Mission @ WZBC | May 11, 2009 | 10 tracks | 49:23

Artist Track (Remix) Label Year
Biosphere City Wakes Up Touch 2006
Spencer Parker Untitled Head Liebe Detail 2009
Josh Wink Minimal 23 Ovum 2009
Hauswerks and Gaz James Odyssey Hauswerks 2008
Format B Cosa Nostra Funk Opossum 2006
DJ Sneak Bingo Bongo Strut No. 19 2009
Worthy Ah Chord Trapez 2009
Microtrauma Aktin Microtonal 2009
Sleeper Thief Full of You Mobilee 2006
Gabriele Del Prete and Lucio Aquilina Middle Age Minisketch 2008

DJ Mix – Bounce (2007)

Posted Monday, May 4th, 2009
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bounce
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mixed live by Jeff Mission @ WZBC | September 17, 2007 | 12 tracks | 58:22

Artist Track (Remix) Label Year
MRI To Be Honest Force Tracks 2000
Thomas Schumacher Sleepy Hollow Spiel-Zeug Schallplatt 2006
Tiefschwarz Ghostrack (Shonky remix) Souvenir 2007
Micky Monzza and Joseph Disco Bounce Baby Great Stuff 2007
Fabio Gianelli Tweak Ocean Dark 2007
Yello Oh Yeah Oh Six (Bodzin and Huntemann remix) Universal 2006
Aril Brikha Berghain Kompakt 2007
Gui Boratto Mr. Decay (Robert Babicz Universum Disco mix) Kompakt 2007
Claude VonStroke Deep Throat (John Tejada remix) Dirtybird 2005
Koljah Mahlzeit Sushitech 2007
Chaim Cosa Nostra Supplement Facts 2007
Ken Nordine Green Asphodel 2000

Rockin it from the seas of new technologies

Posted Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Consider this a test more than anything, but I just jumped into the world of enlightened mobile technology with the purchase of a G1 – jumping past the ambivalance of my love-hate relationship with technology and into the warm, familiar arms of gear lust once again. So far so good, the fires are stoked with new ideas of what’s possible, both creatively and in a general sense of our ever-evolving world. Naturally, this is my first blog post from my new toy.

DJ Mix – Drift (2009)

Posted Saturday, May 2nd, 2009
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drift
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mixed live by Jeff Mission @ WZBC | January 5, 2009 | 8 tracks | 48:07

Artist Track (Remix) Label Year
Rone Flesh (Sasha Invol2ver mix) Global Underground 2008
Fergie Recluse (Gregor Tresher mix) Great Stuff 2008
James Harcourt Call and Response Twisted Frequency 2008
Rene Amesz Ploert (DJ Remy and Roland Klinkenberg mix) Noir Music 2008
Gabe Sonar Room Sprout 2008
Sasha Who Killed Sparky? (Astro and Glyde mix) emFire 2008
Rievaulx Boxing Shadows Kickboxer 2008
Sébastian Léger Majuro Mistakes Music 2008

DJ Mix – Glitch (2008)

Posted Friday, May 1st, 2009
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glitch
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mixed live by Jeff Mission @ Beatfix Studios | October 3, 2008 | 13 tracks | 61:37
with your emcee Zebbler :-)

Artist Track (Remix) Label Year
District One Handsome 100% Pure 2008
Paolo Mojo Nightlaw Toolroom 2008
Frankie Salute! Faste Music 2008
Hauswerks and Gaz James Odyssey Hauswerks 2008
Gabe Amnesia Sprout 2008
Koen Groeneveld Wake Turbulence Abzolut 2008
Sebastien Leger Bambou Mistakes Music 2008
Tiger Stripes Sthlm Hustle Audio Therapy 2008
Lutzenkirchen Paperboy (D-nox and Beckers mix) Great Stuff 2008
Sunshine Jones If You Wouldn’t Mind (Tiger Stripes mix) King Street Sounds 2008
Marshall Keep It Real 303Lovers 2008
Butch Mushroom Man AFU Limited 2008
Lucio Aquilina Magic M Cocoon 2007

VJammPS2.PIE

Posted Saturday, April 25th, 2009
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// VJamm PS2 script by Jeff Mission – http://beatfix.com
// keymap joystick (or PS2 controller) to control VJamm demo version
// change “Joystick2″ to your joystick # as needed
// optimised for Naki DDR handheld pad :-)

debug=Joystick2.x

if (!Joystick2.Button9) && (!Joystick2.Button10) then {
Key.LeftBracket=Joystick2.Button7
Key.RightBracket=Joystick2.Button5
Key.Backspace=Joystick2.Button7+Joystick2.Button5
key.left=Joystick2.Button6
key.right=Joystick2.Button8
}

if (Joystick2.Button10) {
Key.2=Joystick2.Button7
Key.4=Joystick2.Button5
key.6=Joystick2.Button6
key.8=Joystick2.Button8
key.0=Joystick2.Button9
}
key.P=doubleclicked(Joystick2.Button10)

if (Joystick2.Button9) {
if Joystick2.Button7 then var.mode=0
if Joystick2.Button5 then var.mode=1
key.C=Joystick2.Button6
key.L=Joystick2.Button8
}
key.X=doubleclicked(Joystick2.Button9)

if (var.mode=0) {
Key.Q=Joystick2.Button3
Key.W = (Joystick2.y=-1)
Key.E=Joystick2.Button2
Key.R = (Joystick2.x=-1)
Key.T = (Joystick2.x=1)
Key.Y=Joystick2.Button1
Key.U = (Joystick2.y=1)
Key.I=Joystick2.Button4
}

if (var.mode=1) {
Key.A=Joystick2.Button3
Key.S = (Joystick2.y=-1)
Key.D=Joystick2.Button2
Key.F = (Joystick2.x=-1)
Key.G = (Joystick2.x=1)
Key.H=Joystick2.Button1
Key.J = (Joystick2.y=1)
Key.K=Joystick2.Button4
}

if (var.mode=2) {
Key.LeftBracket=Joystick2.Button3
Key.Backspace = (Joystick2.y=-1)
Key.RightBracket=Joystick2.Button2
Key.left = (Joystick2.x=-1)
Key.right = (Joystick2.x=1)
Key.2=Joystick2.Button1
Key.0 = (Joystick2.y=1)
Key.7=Joystick2.Button4
}