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Amsterdam gig report from the GarageCube forum

Picked this up from a GarageCube forum posting by user RickRobiN. His first post to the forum was accompanied by a very nicely laid technical diagram for a party in Amsterdam. The end of thread he provided a link to a very finely edited HD video documentation of the event. Some very smooth and interesting image making. Most memorable (pictured above) would be the jittering still images of photographers that flash.

Interview with sequencer module creator Gael Abegg-Gauthey

Some time this past fall Boris Edelstien of GarageCube showed me a module called '(vs) Layer Sequencer (Master). It was very nicely designed and it's functionality was intriguing. While it did not much fit my own needs Boris was entranced by it.
Initially I was going to write a review about the module, how to use it, it's pros and cons etc. I decided to contact it's creator(s) and ask some questions about it. I followed the URL address provided by the modules author and the response I received was very generous and detailed. As a result this module review has been transformed into a brief profile of Gael Abegg-Gauthey, the gentleman who replied to my inquiry.

Gael Abegg-Gauthey is 33 years old, and lives in the alps of France in Annecy. His artist name is VJ Lupin. He is the co-founder of VisionSonore "a visual playground company" dedicated to video events, video production and of course VJ gigs. He was a former Art Director/ developer (a title he jokingly refers to as "a 5 legged sheep") in a digital communication agency he also founded Megalos and Flash Teacher in a multimedia school(Gobelins - annecy) . He is an animation film geek loves to experiment with interactivity. His work is inspired by video games like Testuya Mizuguchi's Rez project, digital art by John maeda, Nam Jun Paik's videos, Gilles Roussi's living digital light sculptures and japanese urban pop (sub) culture . He discovered modul8 during a gig in Geneva and he was totally amazed with the new approach of "live moving visuals." He eloquently elaborated on this further in the following paragraph:

"Video compositing was what I was searching for in a live video software mixer. Thanks to my working habits as a graphic designer and motion designer I was used to composing pictures more than mixing images as traditionnal A/B mixing.
On the top of that modul8 was the first instance I could see being able create none square elements for a composition thanks to the alpha channel possibilities. I finally found a 'non-cheating' technique to make things tranparents as I was used to with other video software. Modul8 almost is the ultimate video playground to. I only wish it had several blend modes and then it would be the ultimate tool."

I need to mention that the first version of Modul8 had blend modes. I hope very much that it returns in v.3. Now for the Q and A.

M8.u - Was there a specific project that you were working on that made you realize you needed this particular functionality?

Gael - When I first had the idea for this module I was just a modul8 rookie. I was a former resolume user before I had enough money to afford a Mac. Switching to M8 presented amazing possibilities. I was somehow lost in this 10 layer architecture canvas. The resolume experience was more simple and now I had to be more efficient like when you are working in a video editing and video post production environment. I was really concerned about music and it's rhythm and tried to find a way to mix M8's possibilities with a music & rhythm matching tool. Then the paradigm of time pattern used in most video and music softwares seemed to solve my problem and I decided to build the sequencer module.
now thanks to this module I have more time to work on color, composition and effects while the modules switches on and off video patterns and builds an additional visual rhythm based of my translation of music into visual triggering patterns.


M8.u Have you been using it on many other projects since you have created it?

Gael - Yeah sure, I'm using it almost everytime I am playing at a gig or when Visionsonore uses Modl8 for video events. We used it for the short french films festival in Munich, for the 100 th anniversary party of Rossignol Ski, Schwarzkopf Hair show, and artist's shows like david grumel, delavegas, doctor flake, Flore...


M8.u Have you received any feedback about it from other users?

Gael - Oh yeah i didn't expect such positive comments on this module. Of course most of the users have requests and I'm frustrated not to having enough time to give them additional functions to fulfill their requests. If I have time I'll add the midi clock based function and a smart 10 layer sequencer setup. I also would like to create an effects sequencer. Programming is so fun with modul8 and the imagination of M8's users is endless. I hope many of them will try to make their M8 fantasies come true and share it with other M8 users.

In closing Gael mentioned that he is starting a video label for users, graphic designers and motions designers. His company has set up a survey to find out what a lot of us are up to in our VJ'ing practice. In his spare time he is writing a book on how to code modul8 modules. We have a lot to look forward to.

Modul8 used for installation entitled "Half Moon Rising"

John J.H. Phillips used modul8 in creating video for a collaborative effort with Carolyn Healy called "half moon rising".

In the following paragraph John explains the production process:

"Our installation uses three video projectors playing back 3 DVDs, each of a slightly different length (around 20 minutes each) so they are offset from each other over the day. Almost all the video was produced in the gallery after the sculpture was in place. I hooked up my laptop to the hanging projectors and did "site mapping" with M8. The majority of the clips I arrived with were black & white analog -> digital -> analog experiments I created during a residency at Experimental Television Center. I modified and, ah, modul8ed them until it all seemed to work together. I then saved each M8 preset as its own video clip which I organized in FCP then to DVD. One of the vid projectors has a four-channel "surround" soundtrack while the other two projectors have one track of sound only."

The installation is currently up at the Sharadin Art Gallery located at Kutztown University, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately I have not had the means to have a look at it myself. If you live in the area be sure to swing by and have a look.

Some very fine modul8 demos on YouTube

modul8 user Gary Oldknow from London, UK has posted some very impressive modul8 demos. Not only does he cover the basics in a most befitting manner but also presents it all with a very sensible aesthetic sensibility. Especially enjoy the lighting he chose for demonstrating the midi configuration.

Demo part 1
Demo part 2


Upon further investigation I discovered that Gary has been involved in some very big gigs. Have a look on his website. I can also recommend having a look at his other demos using the kaos Pad Entrancer and the CG8.

Thanks to eric for bringing my attention to this.