Can you use the Digitakt to control lights?

Don’t forget TouchDesigner!

TouchDesigner is awesome.

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Wow! TouchDesigner is AMAZING!! Thank you for letting me know about it!

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This is just a quick setup I made to show you all the beginnings of what I’m working on. The idea is to uses mirrors and lenses to shoot light beams through these prism cubes around my room. I also just bought a projector for $40 bucks! so I hope to incorporate that as well.

The basic set up would hopefully be utilizing the midi data to trigger visuals for the light beams, a flood light, the projector and hopefully in the future some lasers! I’m researching all the suggestions that this awesome community gave me and I’ll keep you posted as I venture off into this experiment!

Cheers!

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Hot damn, TouchDesigner looks awesome (and expensive)! Do you have any experience with it?

Yeah a little!

It used to be that the “low res” version (final stage output at not greater than 1024 px or something) was free, as long as you don’t make a profit from the work. That was a while ago though and it might have changed with 099!

They have special pricing packages and it’s worth contacting them to ask, if you like it.

I reckon it’s the bomb for visuals… :smiley: it’s incredibly powerful. Matthew Ragan has done a million structured tutorials and they’re very good; look him up on YouTube.

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That looks so pretty!!

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Thanks for the extra info! Once I get the cash to build a new PC (previous one just bit the dust), I’ll definitely check TouchDesigner out.

Have you found TouchDesigner to be moderately understandable to wrap your head around, and has community documentation been clear/helpful?

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it‘s the toughest software to learn that has ever been created so don‘t expect it to be easy or user friendly. I tried to get into it several times and gave up :nerd_face:

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Contrary to the experience of @MacroX, I found it pretty easy to learn. It was my first 3D software; I never tried Houdini for example. There are some concepts that you have to get your head around (CHOP, SOP, TOP etc) but once you know what they mean, you can start simple and work your way up to pro. Everything is visual; you can see the effect each node has. I love that aspect; it’s so satisfying and fun to create with.

There’s a TouchDesigner community forum, which isn’t as good as this one :smiley: but it’s great. You can subscribe to the mailing list to get daily digests.

I really do highly recommend the Matthew Ragan tutorials! He’s an excellent teacher. And you can learn on the free license.

(I just checked their license page, and the Commercial license (or Pro, if you want official support + some extra mega nerd features) is probably what you’d want for a live show on a big projector. They do an educational discount price too.)

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Thanks Tengig, you’ve been super helpful and rad :star_struck:

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Hi there! Its doable by using bome’s midi translator app. Ive used one time to control GrandMA with an APC40. It converts midi to artnet. Hope that is useful.

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I am myself a heavy user of vvvv.org now that touchdesigner has come up, I think it is worth mentioning.
Much less friendly ui, but it is free for non-commercial use. And there is just one version, the complete one and the community is amazing.
I down sick for a while but controlling my visuals from digitakt is definitely something I am going to play around with, once I get more energy.

And yes vvvv can do both dmx via artnet or some USB dmx dongles and midi

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Ill second vvvv as a powerful and very fun tool to play around with, much like Quartz Composer for mac. Since Quartz is part of the Apple dev environment, also free, and a few tutorials out there for DMX conversions. Just figured it also deserves a spot on the list.

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If you are looking for middle ware - Chataigne (Chestnut) - great application

Chataigne what ?

Intro

Chataigne is made with one goal in mind : create a common tool for artists, technicians and developers who wish to use technology and synchronize softwares for shows, interactive installations or prototyping. It aims to be as simple as possible for basic interactions, but can be easily extended to create complex interactions.

Okay, but what does it do exactly ?

While Chataigne won’t do much by itself, its purpose is to be the central hub in a project involving multiple interfaces, softwares, devices and sensors. You can see it as a Conductor, which will control all the softwares with the big picture in mind. Chataigne as been designed to fit both linear shows and realtime/interactive project needs.

Seems cool, tell me more !

You can check the tutorials to better understand what and how you can use Chataigne for your projects.

http://benjamin.kuperberg.fr/chataigne/#tutorials

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this looks super interesting! Are you using it?

Yes, takes a little getting used too - but not with Elektron hardware (yet).

Does it process program changes?

I’m getting a Critter and Guitari ETC Video Synthesizer!! I like it so much!

Here’s a youtube video of it being played with the Digitakt!

amku from the Visuals for music, tips/starters! thread mentioned it as a hardware video synth.

Analog visual synths are so cool! Does any one have any other recommendations?

Hoping to get a Vortex Decoder next. I think those images are so amazing! The Rainbowonic makes some of the most beautiful video I’ve ever seen! Huge Tachyons+ fan!!

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This stuff really interests me also.

Used the Critter & Guitari ETC software on the Organelle (OTC) and it’s great, pretty much all I’m using the Organelle for so decided I would sell it on and get myself the ETC hardware.

After seeing this thread it has got me thinking about other options though…

Those Tachyons+ boxes look amazing @DigiNerd Do you know if they would work in a similar way to the ETC controlled via midi?

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The Tachyons+ boxes do not have Midi input or Audio input like the ETC. The box I’m interested in has two video inputs and 3 CV inputs.

My hope is to send the video from my ETC and video from a handheld camera to the Tachyons+ Vortex Decoder box, and hopefully send Midi clock data by using the CV inputs.

I was also planning on getting a 4 channel video mixer to help make things look extra glitchy on screen.

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