Geek-boy Light Show

Queue

Queue

Active member
Wasn't sure which forum to put this in, decided on this one...

I jam with my brother and some friends. We occasionally haul the equipment out of the basement and play for a party (2-3 times a year, tops). This year was my 20 year high school reunion, and we agreed to play at a classmate's home for a party. Usually we're doing the summertime mid-day outside thing, so stage lights etc. are non-existent.

For this 'gig', we set up in 2 adjacent bays of a 3 car garage (just in case weather was bad). I wanted to do something for a lightshow, but didn't want to buy/rent stage lighting... then I had one of those bathroom brainstorms.... pipe the sound from the main soundboard into the line-in on a laptop, run winamp (with the visualizations plugins) and VOILA! Instant lightshow that was reacting live to the music!!! Checked out one of the loaner LCD projectors from my company (we keep a few on hand for presentations, etc). We pointed the projector at the 3rd garage bay, with a white dropcloth covering it as a screen.

Needless to say, the results were INCREDIBLY WELL RECEIVED. If you haven't seen the winamp visualizations, think back to the 60's when they used to have the colored gels with liquid projecting behind the band, and someone moving it about to the music. This was that and so much more, the color and shape variations etc etc. But the best part was its reactance to the line in from the soundboard. It would practically flatline during silence, ripple during between song chit chat, and when we'd play, it would whip itself into a frenzy. TOO COOL!!

I know laptops and LCD projectors aren't cheap, but I thought I'd share the concept, as it worked VERY well for me.

Queue :)
 
That does sound cool. I've been trying to think of some kind of background. I think you just thought of it for me. Thanx Queue!;)


T.J.Hooker:cool:
 
TJ,
I did have to fiddle with the settings a bit on the Winamp line-in plugin to get things fluid. I'll dig 'em up and post them here. In case the computer you're using is somewhat anemic (like mine).

Queue
 
Queue,
As you can probably tell from my avatar, unless I find a cheap enough PC, I'll probably try it with Itunes. It's like winamp for macs. It has the visuals like winamp. I'm not to clear on the LCD projector though. The're probably pretty spendy eh? Is it a USB periphial ? Firewire or something ?

Thanx man,
T.:cool:
 
Hey TJ- let that apple out of the box!

This Projector deal is a good idea, but not for the cost aspect.
(unless you can scam a projector)

Where it shines is its simplicity and portability. Ever try setting up real lights at a venue? Major pain in the ass. This is (excuse the expression) plug-n-play.
 
Can't stawl, That's one "BAD APPLE"! If I let it out, all hell will break loose. It'll spoil the whole bunch !:D


T.J.Hooker:cool:
 
:( LCD Projector = $$$ Big Bucks $$$ :(

As the good Dr. pointed out, LCD projectors are expensive. I think the one I was using was a $3,495.00 MSRP unit.
:eek:

I'm sure there are some cheaper models out there, and resolution isn't really that important, as you're not trying to read the presentation. If your swirly is a little blurry, it might add to the effect. ;)

I did a quick looksee on eBay, there's a few going as low as $500.

Oh, and TJ, the one I used had a regular (computer) video cable hookup. I believe it was USB compatible too, but I went with the VGA hookup, because it was a bit simpler, and I was familiar with that route from previouse experience with pre-USB era projectors.

Queue
 
That is a great idea. I would like to see your setting for winamp, though. I have one computer hooked into a large TV at home, I have tried Media Player and a few other supposedly "reactive" PD programs for playing back MP3s, and it doesn't seem to do squat - no reaction to the music that is playing whatsoever.
 
Here's the details:

I used Winamp 2.76, with the Line-In Plugin v1.41.

The plugin comes with some pretty good documentation, but most of it is pointed towards getting a good sounding capture of the line-in. This is the exact opposite of what my goal was. I could care less how it sounded, I just wanted the bugger to react. So I had to read between the lines a bit and reverse a few of the suggestions. You invoke the plugin by choosing Play from the main menu, then Location. In the location dialog box, I typed line://mute,nch=1,srate=6,bps=8,numbuffers=5,bufsize=576,title=Geek-Boy Light Show,hideformat (that gives you the line-in, no audio output (just vis), mono, samplerate 6kHz,8 bits per sample, 5 buffers of 576 bytes each, the last 2 parameters control what winamp displays in the title of what's playing, and suppresses all the technical crap you used as settings). The default line:// gets you 44kHz, 16 bps, stereo, 10 buffers of 3528 bytes. That may work for you if your machine is faster than mine.

Queue
 
How the hell did you know to do that?
Click to expand...

I used a long-standing methodology that has facilitated results in many of my experimental endeavors:

Trial and Error! :D

(with some slightly educated guesses, based on the documentation)

...just kept punching in parameters until things got smooth


AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Queue
 
My friends in the corporate demo department here at the ''mother of all chip makers" do this sort of thing all the time.

Of course they have scores of 2GHz P4's and several high end, really powerful monitor projectors - plus thier own sofware developers to do the graphics. They even have a recording studio. I'm trying to maneuver my way into THAT department. :)

barefoot
 
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