New Plugin For Ableton! Lighting , in development

ava · Post by **ava** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:50 am

Currently creating a new VST Plugin kit for Ableton to control DMX Theatrical/Disco Lighting.
Will contain of a few vst's and a new USB hardware interface same size of a packet of cigarettes.

Heres a screenshot of one of the vst plugins:

Current Features are:
Lighting controlled by audio volume split in to 4 bands: Low, Lower Middle, Upper Middle & High. Also stereo, left or right.
Lighting controlled by LFO's Sin, Cos, Tan Square, Triangular, Saw-Tooth, upwards ramping sin and more...
Lighting controlled by Ableton's envelope editor on each channel. Great effects.
Lighting controlled by multiple Plugins, data is merged together for extra effects.
Drop as many plugins that is required to cover your lighting fixtures on to any tracks.
Crossfader - Fade between Tracks just like audio.
Software Development kit for developers, add Lighting to your existing vst's.

Im looking for some more ideas, have any?

Heres some examples of lighting our system can control:
http://www.decks.co.uk/articles/dmx_lights_homepage/

koneko · Post by **koneko** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:07 am

thats look awesome !!
any chance to generate some video signals out of Live? as abstract as it may get.. that would be very cool to have it packed in a VST plugin

ava · Post by **ava** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:09 am

koneko wrote:thats look awesome !!
any chance to generate some video signals out of Live? as abstract as it may get.. that would be very cool to have it packed in a VST plugin

Yes, we intend on producing a video screen and im going to give a secret away here , also a new media codec, audio video and lighting! Simular to mp3 but superior quality.

BUT, it's windows only for now.

koneko · Post by **koneko** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 10:16 am

the "windows only" makes me sad of course. but go ahead, that looks promising.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:11 am

I hope for simple video option in VST fromat, rewire, whatever. Arkaos has rewire but I dont really care for its FX, who wants to see the infamous kaleidoscope or bloody tunnel, and the GUI is still in the past century.. If I had option of having straight video playback track(s)in Live, no cheesy or whatever FX just possibility to midi control, I wouldn't bother about any VJ software.
I simply dont believe in all in one solution, but more modular system, meaning Live just playing the the video while the FX can be done by hardware or software module.
Separating the FX and video playback makes things simpler and safer for live performance.
If Ableton wont bring such option, I believe if reasonably priced you might earn some money with such VST. As far as I know the VJ scene, everybody,already using- like Cold Cut or knowing it from others, loves Live, since its concept really fits the VJing ideas and workflow. Apart from people who are already doing visuals, there must be hundreds of Live users who are interested, thought about or would like to check it out.
The VJ software is far away from audio world, actually half amateurish, in the sense that the creators are mostly doing it for themselves and due to limited niche market nobody can really make much money with it. So most of the software remains half baked and most unfortunately half reliable. I dont think it will change, until AV becomes more mainstream, popular. On other side the prices of quality software have to be rather steep like VJamm for example.
So if I was you I would go for modular concept, VST video player , Video VST FX modules with various FX sets, DMX module etc so you could leave to the user to go for what they need, leaving flexible upgrade options. If there is really money in it I am not sure, the fact that Korg wound up their video line speaks for itself. When you see that you can get decent complete ( though simple) Vj software for as little as 59 $- http://www.neuromixer.com/ or standard software like resolume for 200 and Arkaos for bit more then there is not that much to make. The idea of inexpensive modules might work better., side effect, if your software is cheap enough nobody will bother to crack it.

ava · Post by **ava** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:17 am

rikhyray wrote: side effect, if your software is cheap enough nobody will bother to crack it.

All my plugins will be locked to the DMX interface. No serials or dongles required!

Thanks for your post.

ava · Post by **ava** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:25 am

The video screen will probably be a simple case of playing different videos depending on what notes are sent to it. Also be producing an overlay so clubs and pubs can display there logos or artwork ect with effects controlled by ableton or which ever system you are using.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:34 am

ava wrote:
rikhyray wrote: side effect, if your software is cheap enough nobody will bother to crack it.
All my plugins will be locked to the DMX interface. No serials or dongles required!

Thanks for your post.

That is the way to go.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:36 am

Looks good!

I've got Live running 29 lighting DMX fixtures as well as audio, Arkaos video, a visualizer, and remote pan/tilt/zoom cameras. It makes it easy to choreograph and sync the audio, lighting, and video to work together, especially when using the same LFOs for lighting and video.

The real power is in Follow Actions, MIDI effects, virtual MIDI buses, dummy clips, and the ability to sequence an entire song's lighting, video, and cameras, and make it as fixed, random, automatic, or as manual as you want.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:40 am

ava wrote:
rikhyray wrote: side effect, if your software is cheap enough nobody will bother to crack it.
All my plugins will be locked to the DMX interface. No serials or dongles required!

Thanks for your post.

Which hardware ? This one ? http://www.decks.co.uk/products/lightin ... trol/ilead

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:22 pm

rikhyray wrote:Which hardware ? This one ? http://www.decks.co.uk/products/lightin ... trol/ilead

That's a DMX controller, not a DMX interface.

Here's a DMX interface: http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_me ... escription

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:32 pm

hambone1 wrote:
rikhyray wrote:Which hardware ? This one ? http://www.decks.co.uk/products/lightin ... trol/ilead
That's a DMX controller, not a DMX interface.

Here's a DMX interface: http://www.enttec.com/index.php?main_me ... prod=70303
&show=description

That`s their product ? I was worrying aleady, you know the size/weight factor. I am counting every ounce, really, as it adds when you fly. That is why I chosen KrossFour not Edirol, well the fader and clearer interface is another thing.
What do you think about that VST, Maestro?

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:44 pm

I don't know if that's their particular interface, but it will probably be something similar.

The VST looks like a quick way to get some lighting going, but I feel there's much more control and creativity to be had with Follow Actions, MIDI effects, virtual MIDI buses, dummy clips, etc. The ability to create complete integrated audio/video/lighting sequences, drag 'n drop them into Live's browser, and 'play' them live or sequence them is awesome.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:16 pm

Of course that is the Live thing. How do you manage your work with Arkaos ? Do you actually prepare it is such way the you dont even see it and handle everything from Live. I didnt check yet such option.I just gave up NuVj, it is great for beginners, specially with US price tag but the very idea that you cant use it in case hardware breaks down and this plastic ware can break any time, already killed it for me. Then using midi keyboard let me have many more clips ready to fire. AV sctratching with NuVj ? In dreams perhaps, that whole things looks better on pics then works in real life. I sold the NuVj just yesterday so didnt decide yet for software to use. I could get some small IBM and run Resolume ( controlling it via midi wit Live) on it but really want to avoid another notebook. If I go for second notebook I would rather get something very small, light to run some vizualizer like Milk drop or G force only.
Since I decided for hardware focused VJing, software will be just 20-30 percent of it- one of few channels, till Live features video channels- if ever or some VST I have to have something didnt check the neuromixer yet, Arkaos could be another option. If I could stay away from GUI and do everything in Live that could be fine.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:56 pm

I don't use the Arkaos interface live. All lighting, video, and cameras are either pre-sequenced, or 'played' with a Faderfox and drum controller.

I use a Mac Mini to run G-Force, and it's piped into Arkaos along with two remote pan/tilt/zoom cameras through capture cards in the G5. The visualizer parameters are all controlled by Live, which makes it easy to choreograph the colors and patterns with the audio and lighting.

I want to move on to a hardware video mixer. I'm holding out for the Vixid, which has full MIDI control. http://www.vixid.com/index.php?lang=en

We're probably hijacking the thread here, so I'll drop you a PM with my specific setup.