#video sl

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A Guide To Audioholics

In the past, audioholics has offered up some great reviews on upcoming and sometimes unobtainable pieces of audio equipment.  This is one of the few welcomed review websites out there, because it’s free from advertising slogans and pressure to market items to the community.  Some of the newer HDTV’s and projectors they’ve reviewed tie in to what many Video DJs see as necessary for their performances when using Video SL or Virtual DJ.  They’ve also been covering the growth of certified wireless technologies, which will no doubt be the future for those using wireless headphones or speakers. Audioholics has written out a brief guide on how to use their website, with the bread and butter being their reviews section.  Sometimes they are able to preview a product that hasn’t hit the market yet, and other times their Pro Reviews are written with by folks who analyze details of a product, giving you all the necessary bits of specific information you might not find on the label.  Their forum section caters to all types, and includes professionals, enthusiasts, and hobbyists alike – and you’ll be able to ask questions with zero spin on their answers.  The most important area, I feel, is their videos section – where reviewers give on-hand demos and honest product reviews in person.  http://www.audioholics.com/news/about-audioholics/guide-to-audioholics

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Welcome to Nothing Major

Music is just one sliver of the art world, and only makes use of one of our human senses.  Sure we can touch and see our instruments and find ways to interact with music – but the end result makes use of our ability to hear, above all else.  You cannot talk about art in general, without considering the visual side of things.  After all, whenever we attend a concert or a movie it is the combination of the visual and the sound that really melds everything together.  Pitchfork, whose focus has always been centered on music, is finally bridging the gap by creating what they call “Nothing Major”. Nothing major will break out of the shell of music alone, and will explore ideas and artists who are creating works of art on the visual side of things.  They will observe innovations and innovators in the field of visual arts, while following the culture of art and how it intertwines with our daily lives.  DJs, especially mobile DJs, understand the need to have more than just music.  It is often the lighting, the environment, and the ambiance that takes the listening experience to another level.  In the future, we ought to see more DJs embracing visual elements in their performances.  http://pitchfork.com/news/49011-welcome-to-nothing-major/

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Review: RekordKrate for iPad

How important is it to be able to mix harmonically?  Some may actually argue that it really isn’t that important at all, since the human ear will do the best job of being able to tell what clashes and what mixes well.  Some may also argue that sticking to a harmonically cycle of 5ths or a Camelot wheel, will detract from your mixing skills rather than improve them – or that having the ability to mix with songs that don’t harmonically match may actually run you better down the road.  Whatever your reason to use, or not to use a harmonic mixing program – we can agree that being organized is still necessary in either case. RekordKrate is a piece of software, ported for the iOS, and aimed at users who are looking for better ways to organize their music while they DJ.  Basically it feels the role smart playlist, for those who are using a different program such a Mixvibes or djay.  What it does is organize a playlist based on a song that is chosen, so that the process of finding then next matching track is narrowed down for you.  It won’t replace instinct or mixing skills but it will shorten the time for newer DJs. http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2013/02/review-rekordkrate-for-ipad/  

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PixiVisor Lets You Treat Video As Sound

There are plenty of apps out there you can easily waste your money on if you feel like it.  Of course this doesn’t mean that there aren’t powerful apps that are well worth the huge chunk of money that they cost, but that is all of that without a few experimental ones to play around with?  One theme that I’ve noticed with app developers is their uncanny ability to blend themes and find a relationship between two events that normally would be unrelated.  One of the better examples is finding ways to blend sound and audio together.  With a plug in like Video SL, one can blend video at the same time they mix their music – but what about actually taking images and synthesizing them into audible notes?  How would one even go about implementing this idea? [embed width="656"]http://youtu.be/_AcXzG6NzF0[/embed] It starts with finding an algorithm that takes images and turns it into sound.  There are already a few apps that can do something to this effect; one of them being the milkdrop plug in for Winamp users.  However, PixiVisor expands upon this idea in a revolutionary way.  It actually takes a palette of images and allow you to transmit the sounds to another device while you create them on the fly. http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2013/02/18/pixivisor-for-ios-now-available-lets-you-treat-video-as-sound

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Roku 3 Streaming Media Player

Our entertainment systems are quickly becoming packaged into smaller units, just like our cell phones were quick to become smartphone, with picture taking abilities and more.  We’re smart about what type of gadgets we carry around with us and we know what devices would work well with each other and which would not.  Imagine if our cell phones also came with a travel sized fork for us to dine with.  Would that really be useful?  No.  But if our cell phone could control something the same way a TV remote does, well then that is technology put to good use. Home theater systems can range from compact to large, but newer entertainment units that stream digital media, come in a size that can be held in the hand.  These mini receivers are not there to plug peripheral units into; they are there to receive information wirelessly.  The Roku and other units like it are capable of replacing the modern cable TV system by streaming video from the web straight to a monitor.  The beauty of this system is that it can be controlled with a remote and can also be wired to your personal computer.  Imagine being able to access your Serato playlists using your remote on your television. http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/digital-media-servers/roku-3-streaming-player-4200r  

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Visualizers For DJs: 3 Simple DIY Solutions

Video DJing is a technique that has been made completely accessible to all, yet many have never attempted to produce a video show that coincides with a DJ performance.  Why?  Why don’t DJs simply load up their playlists with music videos instead of just music, and deliver a performance that captures both sight and sound?  For one, it is lot more work than it seems, to have videos ready to go for the next song.  Videos take up a lot of space, and just a few of them could already take up to a gig of space.  You would need to have the ability to store terabytes of videos as well. Another reason why video DJing isn’t looked at is simply the added equipment involved.  Your venue will need to support a video projector with some sort of display in the back that the audience can see.  Buying a projector yourself will not be cheap, and having the nerve to bring it out in public may not be cheap either.  Video SL was created in order to allow a DJ to easily mix music videos alongside their music, but few people know that there are free alternatives to doing it this way, using iTunes. http://www.djtechtools.com/2013/03/15/visualizers-for-djs-3-simple-diy-solutions/  

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Live Experimental Audiovisuals

Nothing captures your attention more than when the majority of your senses are being put to the test.  When you are given the choice to choose where you want to divide your attention, your brain will likely structure one sense to have dominance over another (ie. sight over sound) – and when your life depends on it, these sense are automatic.  A good example is driving.  When you drive, your sense of sight take priority over everything, but your sense of sound can also be alarming when the sound of a honking horn is heard, and even the smell of gasoline or burning rubber can trigger the nose. When we listen to music, it is often hard to visualize.  More often than not, music is accompanied by a feeling more than an image, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t do well when paired with images.  Visual artist have found out that a synchronized display flows well with a song and effectively traps the listener into indulging in both sight and sound at the same time.  This type of immersion is what gives cinematic movies such an edge.  Modern DJs are becoming wise to this fact and are incorporating visuals in their shows now.   http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/03/sound-from-silos-live-experimental-audiovisuals-rumble-a-man-made-cave-watch-listen/  

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Quickstand Portable Projector Screen Review

Flat panel LED displays are becoming so common that even those with very low income can afford to make such a purchase.  Before the use of LEDs and Plasma was perfected – regular cathode ray tubes were the only option when going big.  They were bulky, heavy, and typically took more than one man to carry them across the room.  If you wanted to go bigger you literally needed to have a squared amount of these cubes packed together in some ungodly formation.  At that time, projectors were also in their infancy and were either costly, hard to maintain, or both. Now that flat panel LED screens are so common, we have figured out that it doesn’t require three men to lift a 50 inch flat screen TV in the room – but that doesn’t make them portable either.  The next generation of projectors might be a better option.  Projectors have gotten smaller and lighter, but a large enough area to display the view is hard to come across as well.  Luckily, these screens do not need to be thick in order to work, and they can be completely portable as well.  Becoming a video DJ is now is more realistic than it has ever been. http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/projectors/projector-screens/elite-screens-quickstand-portable