PLAYBACK Imaginando VS: Adds visual component to DAW-based tracks.
Visual Synthesizer:
IMAGINANDO
VS
By Wesley Bryant-King
While music might be an audible medium, for decades, performers and venues alike have sought to turn music into an audio-visual experience. Traditionally, of course, that’s achieved primarily through lighting and lighting effects. From simple solutions like lighting heads that respond to audio through an on-board mic to DMX to automated systems for DJs like SoundSwitch, no doubt lighting is key. But over the years, video has played a central role, as well, in creating a more immersive, more engaging experience for the public. Since 2014, Portugal’s Imaginando has been creating some forward-thinking music software for both the studio and DJ markets, including the acclaimed DRC Polyphonic Synthesizer plug-in, to apps that turn a tablet into either a DJ or DAW controller. The company’s most recent introduction is VS – Visual Synthesizer. Calling it a “visual synth” is probably apt, in a way, but it belies what I think it really is: a music visualization system that outputs its results to video, providing creative and visually interesting, musicsynced video content in real-time. So, who’s it for? Well, VS would be equally at home whether adding a dynamic video component to a conventional DJ set or forming a visual video centerpiece for a performing DJ, playing their own music from a DAW.
42
DJLIFEMAG.COM
|
VOL.1 NO.2
How It’s Built Imaginando’s description of VS as a synthesizer is in fact accurate in one sense; you feed it either MIDI data or audio, and it uses those inputs as modulators to drive up to eight layers of visual presentation. There’s also a background layer which accepts a static background image, a video, or simply a solid color (which defaults to black). The visuals themselves are synthesized in real-time from what Imaginando calls materials, and 50 of them are included with the product. Some of the materials consume large portions of the screen, while others are smaller and more focused. The materials range from large patterns to laser-like, amorphous shapes. Because they’re layered together, hundreds of combinations are possible – and, as you’d expect, you can control the stacking order. Beyond these choices, you can also adjust the color of the materials, and set blending modes in the same way you do in applications like Photoshop, providing a wide array of options in how the layers visually interact with one another. Once the layers are configured as desired, VS provides several controls that affect how the layers behave, and what they’re reacting to from the MIDI or audio source material. It’s here, too, where VS does indeed seem like a synth in and of itself, as there are four low-frequency oscillators, simplified envelopes, and audio modulators. The LFOs can shape the visuals based on the oscillation patterns built into the software, while the envelopes do so
