AV Installation with Resolume

Resolume is made with a specific purpose. Instead of cramming as many features into the interface as is humanly possible, we try to make an intuitive and fast live performance tool.

With that in mind, it's always a pleasant surprise to see people use Resolume for a completely different end. Usually installations in exhibitions are the playing field of people with beards and glasses, tinkering away with their self written software. But why re-invent the wheel every time when you don't need to?

This is what Will Copps must have thought when he put together his AV installation 'Digital Synthetic' for the Smithsonian.



Using the power combo of Ableton Live and Resolume Avenue to provide the playback and effect manipulation platform for the installation, he didn't have to worry about writing custom software to do this. That doesn't mean there wasn't any tinkering involved. As Will explains:

I control it via MIDI. The interactivity is tied to a SONAR sensor that is connected to an Arduino board. I uploaded some unique code into the board through the Arduino coding environment (based on Processing) that tells it to send one value to the computer when someone is close and another value when no one is there. I then use a Serial-to-MIDI converter that translates those values into MIDI signals that I send into a virtual MIDI cable through MIDIOX/MIDI Yoke.

In Resolume, that then controls turning the value on the Trails effect Feedback from a low level (when no one is around) to 100% feedback (when someone is in front of the piece). In Ableton Live, these MIDI signals control an overall reverb level (more reverb when someone is in front of the piece) and also to control clip launching.

Basically I have about twenty different audio tracks running simultaneously. I have several different clips for each track recorded as loops, and I have programmed Ableton to launch most of them randomly. The loops are all different lengths, so the chances of Ableton ever playing the exact same thing twice are incredibly slim. Also, when someone walks in front of the piece, it triggers a couple unique clips on some of the tracks, so the viewer is effectively altering the course of the audio forever.

For even more AV integration, Ableton is sending midi to Resolume as well.

To get the synesthetic effects, I send MIDI out from Ableton clips into Resolume. Most of the audio tracks have what I call "ghost tracks" next to them... they are there to house MIDI clips that don't play any sound. I draw automation in these clips and send the data out through a Midi Yoke cable into Resolume, where the data controls specific parameters on the visuals. So, for example, if one clip plays a long synth chord every 280 bars for 10 bars, the "ghost clip" will send data to increase the opacity of a blur effect for those same 10 bars.

There are some limitations to this method as far as what I can do, but it definitely serves my purpose!

We couldn't agree more. Will has raised the bar for what you can do with Resolume besides club VJing. Now let's see where you can take it!

For more info on the project and an all too recognizable little setup story http://willcopps.com/?p=692. And for more info on Will himself http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/artists/index.cfm?entity_id=79156&source_type=Ap