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At ArKaos, it’s now many years we’re developing software that drives LEDs in a way or another: our media server software MediaMaster and our VJ software GrandVJ are used every day to drive LED fixtures or LED walls, and of course we have the LED Mapper extension which, combined with MediaMaster, creates a very easy solution to map visuals on complex setups of DMX driven LED walls. However there is still something that makes it too complicated and / or too expensive for anyone to display visuals on LED devices: setup… Simple LED fixtures rely on the DMX or ArtNet protocol to work, which means many magic numbers to type, multiplying chances that something goes wrong and prevents your little pixels to blink.. On the other hand, big LED wall components come with hardware interfaces facilitating the setup but they are most of the time so expensive that they’re not an option for most performers and clubs.

First let me start by wishing you all a happy new year and a lot of success for 2010, on behalf of the whole ArKaos team! Now why not start this brand new year by looking at what were the most popular articles from this blog in 2009 (second half of 2009 that is, since we started this Blog in May..). This way we can better understand what kind of posts our dear readers like the most… 1 >> How To: Create audio-reactive Flash for GrandVJ (1,221 unique visitors) Here’s the first in a series of tutorials showing how to take advantage of the Flash capabilities within ArKaos GrandVJ. Note that it will also work for NuVJ and MediaMaster since the variables are the same. In this tutorial Ben Guerrette explains how to tap into the EQ data to create some simple audio-reactive animations..  

Things have changed at Mix Club in Paris after Lighting Designer Sebastien Jurkowski has left to embrace a very successful international career (tour with Joachim Garraud, Zouk Club Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, Hennessy Artistry party to mention a few..), they have now replaced their ChamSys MagicQ console with GrandMA Full Size and hired Nicolas Bailly as new Lighting Designer. If the consoles have changed the club continues to trust the 3 ArKaos media servers installed by Sebastien to display visuals on the LEDs of the DJ / LJ booth and on the various Plasma screens around the place. And apparently, Nicolas Bailly put these to a good use: here’s a video from a light show he set up at the club on Pryda’s track “Miami to Atlanta”.

Note: This is also valid for MediaMaster and NuVJ A post by Guest Author VJ Ecin (Ben Guerrette), find more about him at the end of this article.. Here’s my second tutorial showing how to take advantage of the Flash capabilities within ArKaos GrandVJ. This one covers the creation of dynamic text visuals. I’ll go explain how to tap into the “statement” variable within Flash so you can create your own text based clips. I’ll also touch on the “duration” and “position” variables, which if used properly, allow playback speed adjustment of code based animations. We’ll be using some basic ActionScript 2.0 that’s a little more advanced than the previous tutorial.. Note that it will also work for NuVJ and MediaMaster since the variables are the same.