If you missed it earlier this fall, Tarik Barri has a great walkthrough of Videosync, the live visual software integrated with Ableton Live on the Mac. Bonus – from the same dev, Beam lets you perform live with lighting, and we can see that in action, too – plus there’s an early-bird edition just for Max.
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Videosync for Live
First up, just as a reminder if you missed it the first time around, it’s a real pleasure seeing Tarik Barri talk about how he works with Videosync in his live performance practice and how he contributed to the tool. This is a unique, module-by-module tour, covering everything from instruments to warping video (yes, like audio), to envelope followers and the Voronoi effect:
For more on Videosync 1.3, I covered it feature by feature on its release:
Videosync – visual engine for Ableton LiveÂ
Beam for Max
While we’re here, Videosync developer Showsync also has a powerful lighting control tool called Beam. Beam is also available for Ableton Live, plus for you hardcore patchers there’s a dedicated edition just for Max.
The Max version is right now in a new Early Bird edition you can try for free. (You’ll need a Max license, of course.) The full license for this release is right now just €59 (before taxes/fees).
Yes, this is DMX, but it’s more than that – add custom control interfaces, MIDI, sensors, joysticks, real-time data feeds from web APIs, generative systems, and whatever else you can integrate with Max. And you can do pixel mapping with Jitter. This is all a pretty big deal:
Features:
- Control via lighting fixture (and by fixture, not by memorizing DMX values, though those row numbers are available when you need it)
- Mix manufacturers
- Specify colors (RGB, RGBW, XMY)
- Patch lighting just like it’s audio signal (even with catch~ and throw~)
- Use audio to control lights
- Pixel mapping with Jitter (beam.matrix !)
- Connect via DMX, Art-Net, DMX-USB gadgets, CITP Capture, etc.
Beam for Live
Of course, if you just want to add some lighting control to your Ableton Live set, Beam for Live is the way to go.
Also this fall, they quietly posted a live show with this rig in action – and you can see it’s a load of fun. Here’s O D Y S S E E, up in the mountains, playing modular + lights:
Yeah, I’m sold; this looks fun. Finally, instead of the lighting op shining stuff in our eyes, we get to mess with the lights!