VID PIX
You might recall me mentioning (quite a while ago) that I was on the look out for a modern stand-alone video music visualiser. If you don’t, it doesn’t matter, I barely remember saying it, but I’ve recently found something along those lines, so here’s the video.
This has been a really problematic week to try and get anything meaningful done. It’s been jam packed full of chores and obligations and the first half of next week looks to be no better. So it’ll be a few days before I’ve got a clean enough slate to properly get stuck into something.
However please do rest assured that I will be working on the next video until there is a next video, at which point I’ll then move onto working on the video after that. I needed to mention this because I know from experience that if there’s any sort of unusual delay between uploads I’ll start getting emails asking if I’m OK and when my next video is out.
If I ever do decide to throw in the towel on YouTube and instead spend the remainder of my days catching up on my backlog of unplayed media, I’ll be sure to let you know first, but it’s definitely not happening this week.
Take care.
UPDATE: Trimmed off a few seconds to remove a sticking point.
Comments (52)
Hey there Mat , I don't know if it's something you're interested in but I was perusing Amazon looking at some different stuff, and I came across this item and thought it might be right for you. https://a.co/d/hpsOnyt It looks like it covers a lot of bases, it's got a built-in screen and HDMI input in a " Boombox"
Yes it’s amazing what you can get for the money nowadays. Of course it’s complete rubbish as far as quality goes and the audio is likely to sound like a wasp in a a Coke can, but still it’s a lot of stuff for the money. Not available in the UK at the moment, but I’m sure I could get the same thing badged up as another defunct brand. I’m not sure if there’s enough interested people though to warrant a video. I’ve got a modern boombox video planned so I’ll see how badly that one goes down first.
For those who are wanting to read the Chat and it's missing, here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/chats/e710e9914f3b40d58979bbdda577b35d?focused_message_id=2fe0c63e-ea4e-44b7-bc53-bd65f74ccaa9
The slow zoom into the visualizer effects at the start: trying to enrapture me in a sense of awe and sink into the music. My ever-distracted brain: good lord I bet that thing's heavy. Look at the size of that tube, it must weigh a ton. Not surprised it doesn't have a handle. Probably no plastic hinge that could take the strain. :D
Have you considered emailing the guy who made this to see if he could make the device you actually want? He clearly has the expertise.
I’ve emailed him to let him know the video is coming out. However the 8-bit visuals aren’t really what I need. It’d be like asking McDonalds to make a Beef Wellington.
There's some sort of giant ferrofluid visualiser you can get but it's costly at £1000 but I think it's the most impressive thing I've seen for this job. Burnslap FAV is the name and you have to sign up to preorder limited runs.
There are a lot of £60 versions of this on eBay. Perhaps I should pick one up but so far whenever I’ve seen it online the effect has left me extremely underwhelmed.
I hope your health is doing good Mat, I know the British aren't known for soliciting sympathy, but here's some well wishes from me.
I'm also not so overwhelmed with what this little device shows, but the idea of trying to make my own one might be interesting ;-)
I love your visualisation videos, Mat. The best ever Ebay purchase I made was the cheap USB visualiser made from perspex rings you did as part of a roundup about 5 years or so ago. It still works and I still want one that's five feet high and one foot wide.
Perhaps it's time for me to have another look if there's anything new out there.
Probably you won’t remember this, but I offered to build you a clone of the Atari Video Music — and I actually built it. Then we never went any further with it because that was when the whole “locked-at-home” period started. I still have the prototype; it was one of my very first videos. (I sent you a DM here on Patreon)
No I do remember it, I saw the video but I thought you’d decided not to go ahead with building me one. I guess at this point the time has passed. But if you ever decide to make a Bluetooth receiver with a slightly more advanced visualiser output, be sure to let me know. You could sell as many as 3 or 4!
Was not expecting to see Link from the original Legend of Zelda and the other 8-bit characters :)
I would use the power from the boombox rather than a battery (which will be empty at the time you want to use it). Or daisy chain the unit's AC input (at the cost of one extra transformer). Get a 9V or a 12V out of the boombox's transformer and add a socket at the back of the unit to plug in the visualizer. There are cheap DC converters to match the needs of the visualizer.
I love it! I'd love to see if there were any stereo effects being missed out on. Did you consider that when connecting the walkman in mono? Thanks !
It looks the same to me whether the input is mono or stereo. At the start of the video with the ‘boombox’ that was using the stereo input.
Can I just ask here, the tech moan Patreon chat has disappeared from my view . I've updated the app but it's vanished. Any ideas why ?
Does the category "Chats" appear on the main page patreon.com/techmoan? The categories will be Home, Posts, Chats, and Podcasts
I’m not into music visualisers, but I really love the Dream Ranger graphics on this.
So I guess I’m one of the 3 or 4 other people you posit would be interested in a similar device. This is an area I’ve gotten a little too into. By this I mean devices that can take a live audio input and react to it. The visualizers built into Winamp and old consoles rely on the music already being a digital bitstream, which is fine… but I want kooky visuals no matter what I’m playing… a record, or god forbid singing… etc. I’ve got the VidPix, and I think what you’re saying is right on. It might be the closest nothing we have to a plug & play playful audio visualizer. The few other similar devices out there are more aimed at hands on video performance, so aren’t ideal for plugging in and letting it do its thing. They’re also remarkably costly, even compared to this. A few years ago there was BitVision that was vaguely similar, although it flicked graphics on and off rather than having them pulse pleasingly to sound like the Atari Video Music does. It also needed some programmer chops to really make it fun. There’s a box called Eyesy that’s more intended for live bands and artists to project audio driven animations. It’s quite plug & play, but does benefit from some hands on performance with it. I think what you might like is a weird box I’ve got called MilkyMist. Although it’s stupidly rare. It’s got milkdrop built in and will react to incoming music as well as incoming live video and make it all part of the swirly music driven madness. There are more, but you quickly get into very costly platforms that I enjoy for creating live video art, but are too finicky and complex for a bit of fun. The technology is easier than ever, it’s odd that VidPix is the only lower cost video toy like it I can think of. There should be tons.
Do a search for Cthugha and try a few different versions. The version I had could take audio from a soundcard. In fact back then it had to as CD drives were always routed through the PCs soundcard. I would imagine that the most pathetic netbook would be overkill for running the original versions. In fact the issue I had was that a 486DX2-66 was actually a bit too fast.
See, I like watching stuff through tiny B/W CRTs, particularly TV programmes from the late 1960s that still exist on their original videotape, so are at the right frame rate. I swear I'll be the only one posting here who still hasn't gone 4K at home yet. In fact, I've only ever seen 4K in department stores, showing demonstration films!
Didn't the PSOne include quite a nice visualiser for when you played audio CDs ? With the official RF modulator it would plug into any old TV. The best visualiser I have ever seen was Cthugha. That would also take audio into a PCs soundcard. An issue I had with the version I had was that is looked nicer running on a 25MHz 486 PC than after I upgraded the PC to a DX2 66 when it became a bit too frantic. The web says it was ported to other platform but I don't know which.
Plenty of consoles did, but unfortunately none of them are small battery powered bluetooth receiving boxes with RF out.
It's been awhile since we've had a music visualizer video 'round these parts, so this was a welcome return. I get the aesthetic you're describing as your ideal visualizer which would be more to my tastes as well--this 8-bit thingy is just a bit too janky and jarring. Definitely hope you can find a visualizer that would be more what you've envisioned [did I actually use that word?] and will be interested to see you show it to us.
*Very* 1983! As 4,548 people have pointed out, the Italian Leg Lamp was a Major Award won by Ralphie's Dad in the ... well ... 1983 film _A Christmas Story_. We know the lamp was Italian because the shipping crate was marked FRAGILE, which as we know is an Italian word pronounced fra-GEEL-ay. It's really a good movie and while I and my spouse are not very Christmassy, we do have the film on disc and try to watch it every year.
The diamonds do hit a nostalgic spot for me, only because the local Christmas party had 80s disco lights with diamonds (despite the party being in the mid to late 90s). Could be interesting to display on the 14" CRT that I just sits here sleeping.
"If I ever do decide to throw in the towel on YouTube and instead spend the remainder of my days catching up on my backlog of unplayed media..." So much for the Techmoan music reactions spin-off channel. :D
We get concerned because 1) we like you and 2) because of Recent Events.
1) Yes, 2) Yes.
• Whenever you're silent on Patreon for more than a week I'm not concerned about a new video. I'm concerned that you've been kidnapped, severely injured, or died. I'm losing it 😵💫. • I'm happy to see a video of the color TV Boombox you picked up a while back. Superb. • I don't have much more to say about this topic other than I miss WinAmp visualizations. It'd be awesome if a device with those could be attached to CRTs and reactive to ambient music. It's good to have obligations; it means you're indispensable to the people in your life. Take care 🤍.
I get that it's a niche hobby product but considering I can buy something that can play PS2 games, new, around the same amount makes it feel like it costs a bit more thna it should. The leg lamp is very Christmassy, it's from the film "A Christmas Story". I like the device though, if I had the cash and if I wasn't happy with my current setup i'd definitely have one. It's retro aesthetic is pleasing and I can see myself using it as a companion to the milkdrop visualisations I currently use.
I love that Philips colour TV boombox, I remember thinking before when you showed it on patreon, how it needed to go on my retro tech bucket list. Vid pix is definitely a nod in the right direction to an awesome visualizer for an old tv. Will be interested to see if anything else follows up.
I realise that this doesn't solve what you're wanting to do at all, but this video prompted me to look at Apple Music to see that, yes, it still has the old iTunes visualiser hidden away in there. Nice! (I think that might even date back to Soundjam MP days..?)
I wish they would bring that to the Apple TV. If I’m already playing music off of something connected to my TV, why is the only view option a parade of album covers?
I've been playing around with the 3D animation program Blender to do something more like what you want. But it doesn't work in real time, you have to link the music to the animation, then render each frame one at a time, before finally creating a video from the individual frames. So not what you want at all, in fact!
Hmmm. It could be my setup, I’m not using my usual headphone… but the audio seems ever so slightly out of sync. But again, it could just be me.
"It wouldn't be worth anyone's time or effort..." - Well, hold up here! Little-CRT boomboxes aren't the only use case. How cool would it be to attach one of those to a full size CRT TV, many of which have excellent speakers? If the visuals are good, it'd turn the hundreds of thousands of CRT TVs out there into visual wonder stereos (with Bluetooth and such)! There's a big potential for this if anyone makes such a thing, and your tips on design are excellent. Tempted to build it myself if I can find a reasonable platform for generating those better visuals...
Oh I’d welcome it, but unfortunately it’s not my time or effort to promise.
Ironically, going through your backlog of unplayed media could make a really interesting YouTube video.
I’ve got a sealed videogames for systems that are three or four generations back which I hoped to get the time to play ‘one day’.
What music did you play in the video?
It’s all just YouTube audio library stuff, I’d have to look back to see which tunes I used.
The Leg Lamp is from A Christmas Story (1983)
It's Italian Fra-gi-le!
“… If I ever do decide to throw in the towel on YouTube and instead...not this week” Well thank the lord for that. Not sure what I’d do if I didn’t get my great reminder of my north western roots every so often. Have a lovely weekend Matt and I’m still enjoying the content after all these years. I subbed in around 2009 (I think) and this is the one channel I e stuck with throughout the intervening years. 👍
Hopefully the chores and responsibilities will not be too much of a burden for you. And maybe you come across more old stuff to show us. Nothing more relaxing than watching you changing belts. ;-) i’km just saying.
After a vacation (and some busy weeks before that), I've built up quite a backlog of unplayed Techmoan videos, so I kind of welcome a chance to catch up on them. Since you mentioned a week full of chores and obligations, I hope everything's going well on your end.
It’s just the usual stuff that anyone has to deal with.
Does not impress.