Vector Synthesis
Derek Holzer
Derek Holzer
Vector Synthesis: Tired Eyes/Enter the Void [Scan Processing]
This clip uses audio signals to display video on a modified Vectrex console. A photograph is scan processed with the classic Rutt-Etra technique. The brightness information modulates the Z axis (depth) of the raster, which is then projected from 3D to 2D space with perspective treatment. Coded with my Vector Synthesis library for Pure Data.
macumbista "Maile & Odette, Lisbon (2020)" This is my final post for @t.ransienttt . Inspired by @kris10roos , several weeks ago I began to collect images taken by people of themselves while in isolation. My intention was to make these media archaeological portraits from them. Still images led to one minute videos optimized for social media platforms, and I decided that this online residency would be a good showcase for them. I still have a considerable backlog of these to do now, and will likely continue the series as stills for now. Once again, the images you see are drawn by audio waves on a 1980's Vectrex CTR monitor, and what you hear is also derived by treating these signals with various high and low pass filters.
My thanks to @koneensaaito for their support of this project.
#vectorsynthesis #macumbista #videosynthesizer #puredata #videoart #vectrex
#oscilloscopegraphics #ruttetra #scanprocessing #mediaarchaeology
Vector Synthesis: Syntheshape Depth Rotation
The Syntheshape is a simple analog circuit designed to produce 2D graphic art on the oscilloscope by Mitchell Waite in 1974. During my Toolmaker Residency at Signal Culture in Owego NY (OCT 2015), I tried unsuccessfully to hand-build one of these circuits. After leaving the idea aside for a while, I rewrote the Syntheshape in Pure Data while at the Vector Hack event in Zagreb (OCT 2018). To update it a bit, I added a depth axis for 3D. The three audio signals which describe the X axis, Y axis, and brightness of the shape are sent to be visualized on a Vectrex vector monitor, and the same signals are heard after being processed by the low pass filters of two Benjolin analog synthesizer circuits.
Helsinki, 09 OCT 2018
Vector Synthesis - Sometimes Simplicity
This video employs my Vector Synthesis library for Pure Data to produce an animated vector image using audio signals, which is then displayed on an XY oscilloscope. Here I have a polygon generator going from 0 to 12 segments, along with a phase modulation which gives the illusion of rotation. Display monitor is a hacked Vectrex game console.
Vector Synthesis - Sometimes Simplicity
This video employs my Vector Synthesis library for Pure Data to produce animated vector images using audio signals, which is then displayed on a hacked Vectrex game console. What you see is what you hear.
This clip started as a project to mask out a rectangular area in a Lissajous figure through selective brightness control depending on the XY coordinates of the beam. Then I figured out how to invert the effect and crop the area of brightness to a small rectangle. Then I started switching between the two at audio rates, moving the masking area around, changing its size, adding modulators, etc etc. What’s interesting here is that half the visible effect in the clip comes from the frame rate and exposure of the camera which I used to capture the Vectrex screen. As often, what I saw in the monitor was remarkably different.
Vector Synthesis: Cubic Rotational Drone (Radio Belgrade Electronic Studio II)
This is the second patch of my week long residency on the EMS Synthi 100 located at Radio Belgrade Electronic Studio. The cube is created by reading the data tables for the three axes (X, Y, Z) in my Vector Synthesis library for Pure Data with a ramp oscillator of the Synthi 100. Other Synthi 100 ramps are used to modulate the size of the cube and the rotations, all set at various near-harmonic relationships to the main oscillator. The Random Voltage Generator of the Synthi 100 makes small variations in the frequencies of those ramps. The lines are a bit rough due to the irregularities in the analog waveforms. Two signals (X and Y) are then sent to be displayed on the Synthi 100 oscilloscope, a Tektronix 5000 series modular rack.
Vector Synthesis: Liquid Iron Lattice (Radio Belgrade Electronic Studio IV)
This is the fourth and final composition created during my residency at the Radio Belgrade Electronic Studio, using their amazing EMS Synthi 100. The video integrates both the Vector Synthesis Pure Data code and the analog waveforms and processing of the Synthi 100 to maximum advantage — a true hybrid digital/analog synthesis.
For this work, I created a simple 2D grid raster rotating in 3D space. I then applied to this grid a scan processed photograph of a simple architectural detail in the building where I am staying. The brightness values in this image push the 2D grid upwards, with a number of sine wave signals from the Synthi 100 responsible for the fluid motions of the grid. These signals were then displayed as vectors by my modified Vectrex monitor. They were also sent back into the filters and spring reverbs of the Synthi 100 for modification, and were then summed with the signals sent to the Vectrex, resulting in a variety of generative feedback effects.
Vector Synthesis: Divisions of a Circle
"Divisions of a Circle" uses a new and improved version of the [vs-poly-gui] abstraction from my Vector Synthesis library for Pure Data to multiplex a 3D icosahedron in space. It is then rendered on a Vectrex vector monitor using three audio signals from Pd (X, Y, and brightness).
I'm excited to show this one during upcoming workshops at Humboldt University Berlin, the Cable Factory Helsinki, and Norberg Festival Sweden.
You can find the library at: github.com/macumbista/vectorsynthesis/
macumbista Oops I turned it on and now I’m in trouble.... #ilda #laserdisplay #kvant #macumbista #puredata #vectorsynthesis #synthshape
macumbista Two months of wolf tracking data from northern Finland with Antti Tenetz @tenetz for Vector Hack 2020 @vectorhackfestival