Mix in 3D, drop in 3D objects, lighting, text, particle systems: EboSuite Sensei delivers an entirely new ecosystem of modeled 3D VJing. Powered by Unreal Engine under the hood, SenSei runs as entirely self-contained Ableton Live Devices. And the results are already impressive – even on an M1+ Mac or decent PC GPU.
EboSuite had a formidable existing set of 2D video instruments, mixers, and effects for Ableton Live. SenSei is a new product with a new rendering engine; you get the same hands-on, plug-and-play approach, with a fully Unreal-powered backend. There’s even full Syphon and Spout support for integration with other tools. (Think Resolume, TouchDesigner, VDMX, etc.)
This is all going to be heavily, heavily dependent on the content you add and parameters you adjust, so it’s going to be frankly hard to demo, but you get some indication of the range of the tool. Different users could get very different results with the plugins provided, and EboSuite says more are on the way.
[flashing images warning]
They’ve packed an incredible amount of stuff in here. I have to admit, at first I expected to have to download some complicated Unreal files, but they’ve managed to build all of this into Live devices. It’s an incredible amount of work, and it means you can interact with Unreal in a way you’ve been unable to ever before — in a way you’ve been unable to with any 3D environment before. All you need is Live 11+ and Max for Live.
Full features include 3D effects, mesh loading, 2D effects, vertex stuff, the lot, wow:
- Complete 3D scene building with multiple cameras, three light types, and Overview Map navigation
- Video integration supporting EboSuite sources and external apps via Spout/Syphon
- 24 unique 3DFX vertex effects across 6 Vertex Shaper Stack plug-ins for video plane distortion
- 3D text generation with 60 fonts, clip color support, and 3DFX transformations
- Mesh Loader accepting GLTF/GLB files plus 22 included meshes for slicing and swarming
- 60 2DFX plug-ins for video manipulation before applying to 3D objects
- Particle systems including fire, smoke, impacts, lasers, amplitude visualizers, and nature elements
- Post-processing effects: film grain, light leaks, chromatic aberration, blur, distortion, vignette
- Macro Mapper for instant MIDI controller mapping of grouped plug-in parameters
- Separate Unreal Engine application for maximum performance without affecting Live’s audio
(more video examples and feature walkthroughs on the product page)
You can also approach this as a 3D application for mixing video, so you don’t need to be an advanced 3D modeler. (I love some of the retro vibes of some of this; it’s like Mind’s Eye vibes!)
Before you ask, yes, you could build this on your own in Unreal Engine, with some effort. There are even template projects and whatnot for providing MIDI and/or OSC (OpenSoundControl) links between Live and Unreal, working in Unreal Editor to develop your scenes.
That’s great, and I’ll keep sharing those projects. But that process is also very time-consuming. For existing users, even, I imagine SenSei will have some immediate appeal. I’m personally excited to have this as a prototyping tool, because you can quickly combine elements and see what works, and then build the more advanced custom system later. If you are an Unreal user, you can also export scenes into this environment and play with them there. For solo AV artists, for dealing with collaborators, it moves a bunch of stuff from impossible (or at least inadvisable) to possible, playful, and fun.
In fact, this may sound counterintuitive, but I think having rapid prototyping tools is a great way to stop all the Unreal AV projects from looking alike. That “template” looking impact you get is partly because there wasn’t an easy playground in which to try what-if ideas. Until now, that is.
And if you’re not up to speed with Unreal, there’s just no contest. SenSei has an installer you run once, you open up the devices, and you go. Handy with Blender? Add your own 3D assets. It’s finally a chance for people with design sense to get into this without contending with weeks of working in what is still a pretty hefty game engine.
This tutorial walks you through the process:
Here they show what a composition might look like:
I love this, partly because it means you can jam. Just like musical jam sessions, it’s often messing around with other people around, spawning some natural competition, improvising, all of those things, that gives you a chance to develop chops and expand your voice.
Of course, this is a premium product; you can see a ton of work went into it. So don’t fret; if this is not in your budget or isn’t your way of working, there’s still the Unreal platform itself, which is free for the vast majority of use cases. I expect the free and Patreon and premium tools will all coexist, and it is important at some point for people to be able to charge for their labor.
I’ll try to look at this more in detail when I’ve played with it more. I just finished teaching some MetaSounds courses, finally, and I’m still refining how we can teach these platforms and express ourselves in them. So keep us posted.
A funny side effect of all of this: putting this under MIDI control and jamming with it immediately sets it apart in people’s minds from AI-generated imagery (or even before genAI, “stuff you ripped off the internet”). And that’s a good thing.
EboSuite SenSei is available now from Isotonik Studios, with an intro price at 25% off. (Isotonik has their Black Friday sale on now, too, but this discount is independent.)
If you buy something from a CDM link, we may earn a commission.
You can also grab the 2D EboSuite demo downloader combined with the 3D app to try both. EboSuite TWO is also on sale now.
And here you go, if you need some retro inspiration, I give you this. Not made in Unreal. Know your roots! (This looks as good in the upscaling here as it did in my head when I watched it on LaserDisc! Not joking! Song is a banger, written and sung by someone who actually does understand quantum mechanics, Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, alongside Thomas Dolby.)
[flashing images warning — like, major]