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Feature Request: Load more than one video per track

edited July 2014 in MixEmergency
Currently, ME can select a random video from a media folder and auomatically load it to play along with the audio file, in sync to its speed. This works great if you have a five minute video for a five minute track, but if you’re working with 5-second VJ clips it quickly becomes stale and boring for the both the VJ and the audience.

What I would like is a way of loading more than one clip to an audio file; even going so far as to be able to sequence the clips, and even if that sequence were limited to every 8 or 16 bars for now. So for a five minute track of say, 192 bars, you could have up to 24 different video clips or loops launched either randomly or in sequence so that the visuals change whenever the music goes through a major or minor change.

Even better (and I’m saying this as someone who is well aware there is now an effects sequencer but who just hasn’t looked into it properly yet), would be a way to sequence effects over the entire length of the track. This means that you could still get a lot of variation from the one, short video clip because the effects would change the look and energy of that clip every so often. Is this what the step sequencer can already do? If not, could it do it in future?

I’m sure this is achievable because the sequencing engine, media folder, auto-load and everything else needed is already in place and may just need a bit of tweaking to get it to work in this way.

It would be an enormous help to me as a VJ/DJ who plays the kind of music that doesn’t often come with a video version. I need to rely more on visuals and graphics, but face the prospect of having to create my own visual compilations first so that the one clip I’m currently allowed to load doesn’t get boring over time.

The fact that ME can record my output means I can then also use it to more easily create those compilations if I wanted to and in ways that most video editing programs would never let me do.

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on this and forgive my ignorance, but if it can already be done, I’d like to know how.

Thank you.

Comments

  • It's an interesting request - I can't say how easy this would be to implement (or how many people would use this) though.

    As for the FX Sequencer - perhaps you can give that a try first. It's not able to sequence effects over the entire track, but instead within 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 beats. The effect tracks (there are 8) can be toggled on or off too, allowing further variation. And, you can also load and save FX Sequences in the Presets window - so you can load different ones live.

    Check out the FX Sequencer video tutorials here:

    http://www.inklen.com/mixemergency/tips/fx-sequencer-overview
    http://www.inklen.com/mixemergency/tips/fx-sequencer-editing
    http://www.inklen.com/mixemergency/tips/fx-sequencer-advanced
  • Cheers Nick. I'll check them out. In the meantime, thanks for giving it some thought.

    This would be a badass feature but I agree, I'm not sure how many other people would use it. Video DJs and true VJs don't really have this problem (though they'd benefit too) but for a DJ-turning-VJ like myself it's a real issue.
  • Hey Marv. have you checked out this one yet?

  • No I hadn't but now that I have I can't wait to try it! Thank you. I knew I wouldn't be the only one facing this issue but I had no idea you'd already worked on a solution. That's awesome and very inspiring!

    From watching the video I already have a couple of questions:

    Can this be made to work with .mp4 files? This is important to me as the majority of my files are now in the .mp4 container. I realise I will probably only want to work with .mov files as I progress onto bigger and better visual systems but for now, .mp4 works well.

    At 3:40 you say it will cycle through the folder and load each file randomly. This is great because I definitely want some randomisation, but what if I wanted a particular sequence? Is there a filenaming scheme I could use to get it to load them in a specific order?

    None of these are deal-breakers but they'd be cherries on top of what is already a lovely cake. :)
  • WooHoo!!! You BEAUTY!

    Does EXACTLY what I needed it to, even giving me the option of jumping to another media clip if and when I need to (like when a tune has an extended breakdown and comes back in in a slightly different phrase cycle).

    I was having trouble changing the parameters at first because I thought I had to edit the qtz file in Quartz Composer and not from within ME itself. Changing and saving the original file had no effect until I went to Window>Parameters 2 in ME and changed it from there.

    So I started again with a fresh, untouched copy of the file from your website. Loaded it into ME and then tweaked the parameters from there. BUT..no matter what I changed the beats to, the media files only ever switched every 16 beats (or 4 bars).

    Yes, I hit return after any change. Yes, I tried loading up new audio files and counting to see where they changed media, but it was always every 16 beats. After checking, the original file was still set to 64 beats and no matter what I've tried, I just can't get it to work as it should.
  • Ok, I finally got it to work but I had to change the beats in the original file and keep quitting and restarting ME before the changes would take effect. And even then, it was still acting up. Someimes for instance, playing several clips for 8 beats but then playing one for 16 or even 32 beats even though I hadn't touched anything. Weird. but then, I've had a couple issues running ME on this Mac so it could be that.

  • Hi Marv

    Random implies that it is possible the same file is randomly loaded twice in a row :)
  • yeah, I think you're right. i can live with that, but I'm definitely having problems changing the beat values. It's just not updating.
  • Hey, I'm back after a year and a half to say that despite being able to use Radikarl's file as a workaround, I'd really like to see this feature implemented natively in M/E.

    One reason is because when loading Karl's file, what you gain in variety you lose in control. Unless I'm donig something wrong that can be corrected, I find that I'm not able to manipulate the videos in the same way I can when I load them from the media bank rather than through Karl's file.

    I can still apply FX from within M/E but I lose all SDJ-generated controls. I can't scratch the video or manipulate it via the deck and loop rolls, slicer pads and cue points have no visual effect. Is this usual behaviour for quartz files? Or is there something about the way Karl's file is working that prohibits this?

    Please look into this again. As amazing as M/E is, more often, I'm finding myself having to look to more traditional VJ tools instead of using the program I would much prefer to use. M/E is far more DJ-friendly than anything else on the market; I'd just like it to be a little more VJ-friendly too I guess. As Video DJs, we bring together both worlds, so I don't think it's suprising or greedy for us to want the best of both. :)
  • Would be great if ME changes the quartz every 5 or 10 seconds I also use a lot of MP3s and it gets boring to have the same image (Quartz) the whole track..
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