Vixid’s firmware programmer extraordinaire and software guru Vince has previously shared with us some PD patches to help control various aspects of the VJX in ways impossible when you’re just using the knobs, buttons and sliders on the unit.

The physical layout and control scheme of the mixer has allowed a huge amount of functionality to be packed in to a small space, and the preset system is robust for loading and saving layer setups on the fly, but it’s physically impossible to load more than one track preset at a time. Preset management is also one of the only VJX functions not controllable via MIDI, so you can’t quickly load an “entire mixer” preset.

Or perhaps I should say “couldn’t”, as Vince has come up with an extremely elegant solution which utilizes the free, Open Source, cross-platform patching language PD (Pure Data) to send and receive messages from the VJX, allowing you to save and load the entire state of the mixer.

Vixid Control Snapshot V2 (PD Patch. 16KB Zip File)
Note: This software is Beta, please get in touch if you have any problems or discover any bugs.

Along with PD, you require a MIDI interface with both MIDI-IN and OUT to allow your computer to talk to the VJX. If you don’t already have some MIDI hardware lying around the place, DealExtreme has a cheap one for US$17 (including worldwide shipping)

Once you have PD installed and your MIDI interface connected, open the TestSnapshot.pd file. Ensure that your MIDI device is active (PD Menu: Preferences > MIDI Settings)

The VJX sends MIDI out with every control or parameter you change. So with a MIDI interface active on both IN and OUT, the PD patch can listen to everything that happens on the VJX, enabling you to save or load the entire state of the mixer.

This is a great framework, but as PD is free and open, I think we can expect more. I’m starting to learn PD to help me control my VJX in new ways, and I’d like to share what I come up with. I hope other VJX owners will join me, so we can learn together and make all of our performances better.

After a simple introduction to controlling your VJX via PureData, Vince has shared with us a slightly more complicated patch, this one is for sequencing the 3 video outputs.

This patch initializes the VJX, and then allows you to sequence which of the four tracks is shown on which output, save and load presets, and change the switching speed via BPM. I don’t have 3 similarly sized monitors to show this off, so Vince was nice enough to shoot us a demo video from Vixid Headquarters:

Triple Output Sequencing – Vixid and PD from Create Digital Media on Vimeo.

It may look like a simple fruit machine, but this displays how fast and flexible the VJX’s routing controls can be.

As before, Vixid have kindly supplied the patch for others to use and modify to their own needs.
Download vixid-OutSeq-v3.zip (8KB).

If you haven’t used PureData before and are feeling nervous, you really should check it out. It’s free, cross-platform, and really will help you get closer to your Vixid. We’ll be releasing more PD patches over time, perhaps eventually combining them into a super-patch which rolls all of this awesomeness into a single Vixid uber-interface!

I have been making progress in my voyage of Midi, Cameras and Vixid. I haven’t shared this on Vixid.noisepages.com yet, as I wanted to create a more robust solution in the freely available PD rather than Max/MSP, but in the meantime Vince from Vixid has come to the rescue, with a Vixid Input Switching patch for PD.

Download vixid-pd-4layerswitch.zip (4KB).

This patch doesn’t do input switching – just track/layer sequencing – but because it is working with tracks that are frame locked by the VJX, the switching can be frame-by-frame, which gives some extremely interesting effects when used with multiple camera inputs.

The next step, of course, is to bring input switching into the mix. We’re planning a series of frameworks which you can use to create your own Vixid control setups, but while you wait, here’s a reminder of what can happen if you stay up too late learning to code with lots of video cameras and a VJX nearby.

Vixid Multi Input Test 2 – Cunningham Style from Jaymis on Vimeo.

Be careful out there.