Visibox intentionally makes it hard to accidentally stop a playing video during a performance. But by default, Visibox will stop any playing Clips when you activate another Song. So you can set one of your SPDX pads to "Next Song" and that will both stop anything that is playing and advance to the next song in your set. Alternately, you could set a pad to "Stop" so you can hit that to stop at any time. OR, you could set the "When Retriggered" behavior to "Stop" and then when you trigger a Clip that is already playing, it will stop. Find all of these options (and more!) in the Visibox Manual at manual.spaceage.tv/.

It's quite responsive! Given, the hardware and media plays a part. Don't trigger 8K video on a 12-year-old computer. But we've done a lot of optimization and when you activate a Song, it caches and queues up all of the associated Clips (videos, images, etc). So the time between a MIDI "note on" event and the video appearing on the screen is usually only about 10 to 40 milliseconds. We've also optimized for smooth transitions between Clips, so you won't get flickers or black frames when transitioning from one video to another.

@@spaceage nice. thank you

You might want to watch my video projector video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZqZgXubnq18frc 8K may be overkill. In addition to needing a VERY expensive video projector, your media will be that much larger - though it may not matter much if you're just showing images. Keep in mind that most movie theaters these days are only showing 2K… and they tend to brag when they've got 4K. If you're going to project a 20 x 40 foot image, the brightness of the projector will be most important. You'll probably need 5,000 lumens minimum to spread that much light across that much space. And more is always better. And of course, we hope you'll use Visibox to trigger the visuals. Send us a support message if you have any trouble getting set up! 🙂 spaceage.tv

Hi @elybeth! Visibox runs on macOS and Windows computers. So if you want to bring Visibox on stage, you'll need some sort of a laptop to run it on. I recommend a MacBook Air. As of this writing, Apple just introduced the M4 Air, so you can pick up an M1 or M2 MacBook Air relatively inexpensively. If you're worried about the logistics of managing a computer on stage, many artists will hand off this duty to the sound person, or an off-stage tech who can worry about ins and outs of running the video. All that said, we've done everything we can to make it easy for the on-stage artists to control the visuals themselves. Check out the other videos on our channel for information about video projectors, controllers, etc. etc. We've also got a lot of great how-to articles on our website at spaceage.tv

The larger the projection image, the more diffused (dimmer) the picture will be. So you'll want a brighter projector. Also, the larger the projection image, the further the projector will need to be from the wall. So you might want a short or ultra short throw projector. The shorter the throw of the projector, the flatter your projection surface will need to be. Traditional cyclorama backgrounds are curved, so if that's what you're projecting on, a conventional-throw projector might work better if you've got the space. If you're doing a permanent installation in your own studio, you can ceiling mount and you'll have a lot more control. But if you're looking for a projector to bring to a 3rd party venue, an ultra short throw will be less likely to be in the way of the dancers. Ultra short throw projectors can be a bit bulky though. And you might find a more portable short throw that would work for you. Okay, that's a lot of information. Here's the short version: Get a minimum 4,000-lumen short- or ultra-short-throw projector. The brighter the better. 1080P is probably fine. A laser projector will be a bit more rugged and last you longer, but anything will do. Respected brands include Epson, BenQ, Optoma, ViewSonic, Sony, and Panasonic. Hope that's helpful. Also, check out Visibox! It's a great way to project visuals during performances. It's also a nice system for audio playback. spaceage.tv

I've certainly played a lot of shows with bright lights shining in my eyes. It can be irritating, distracting, and headache-inducing. For better or worse, it also creates a level of disconnectedness from the audience. Projectors are just a more focused, super-bright light to contend with. Bright lights in general, and laser projectors in particular, could potentially damage your retinas. Maybe sunglasses would help? 😎 The further you are from the projector, the more dispersed the light will be, but ultimately, you'll need to test it out and see what works for you. I suppose you could also use a light meter and do some research on the dangers of retinal damage. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3144654/

Great! Send pictures and videos! We love hearing about this stuff.

Did you find a solution afterwards? I am running into the same problem.

Hello! The TV stands in this video are the "Perlesmith Mobile TV Cart with Wheels" from Amazon: a.co/d/hQwVyb8. They're not quite road-worthy, but they're inexpensive at USD ~$65/ea. Also, TV's VESA mount points are centered horizontally, but not vertically. So, although functional, it's a little awkward. Just keep that in mind. Let us know how your setup works out. We love seeing people's audiovisual creativity!

@@spaceage Thanks for the info. I see I can get them here in the UK. I'll let you know how it goes later in the year. Cheers.

@@stuartjameswright Just remember to get the UK version of that TV cart so that you can drive it on the correct side of the road! 🙂

Agreed!

If the Elgato software is running, Visibox should not take over the Stream Deck. Elgato's software does allow you to send MIDI messages. So you can use the Elgato software to send MIDI to Visibox via inter-application MIDI. We've tested this on the Mac and it works great. It sounds like you just want to control Visibox directly (without MIDI). That should certainly work too. If you are still having problems, please contact us through our website spaceage.tv/contact and we can help you get this working.

Thank you very much for this reply. The expected behavior makes sense. In Windows, for me, the Elgato Stream Deck app doesn't overwrite VisiBox on the Stream Deck, which causes an annoying overlap where one button activates both the Stream Deck app and VisiBox. Thank you, I just received your email reply to try to solve this. I truly appreciate it 🙏

Yes. Because Visibox needs to display visual content in a window, it is a standalone application, not a plugin. It can be used in conjunction with other applications via inter-application MIDI though.

There are several filters and effects that you can add to Clips. Real-time manipulation is still on our roadmap though. There are also retrigger actions that act like effects. A lot has been added to Visibox since this video was made. You can read the Visibox manual at manual.spaceage.tv or just download Visibox and try it out!

You could certainly use a more professional audio interface than I have here. And a better audio interface will provide better digital-to-analog converters and cleaner line-level outputs. However, the issue isn't the signal being strong enough. The DI box allows you to "direct inject" (DI) the audio signal into a conventional microphone input. It does this by impedance matching, providing a balanced audio signal, and usually providing some signal level adjustment or pad. Since so many performers use backing tracks these days, most clubs can take a line-level output in one way or another. Usually, they have their own DI boxes for this purpose. The DI box allows a sound person to just grab a couple of mic cables and plug them in. Providing your own DI is more about being prepared for all eventualities and ready for anything. And if I've learned anything over the years about playing live venues, it's that you need to be ready for anything.

Can I ask you how it is cheaper? I am sincerely curious, as I am trying to decide which is the best option for live gigging.

@@michelebucceri Well, when you buy a projector you also need to buy a light bulb for it, and several replacements in case the bulb or projector explodes. Plus, projector screens can be very expensive and the scrim can wear down easily. And you’d need a lot of projection mapping programs to get the effects you’re after, so the money it costs for each program adds up quickly. On top of that, since projectors and specialized lightbulbs consume a lot of power, the power bill for your gig is likely to be quite high…and because of the added heat, you run the risk of fire damage to ceilings, walls, or other surfaces. LED Screens don’t require special programs, bulbs, replacements, or scrim, despite being priced a bit higher at first. And the power draw is lower so the power bills will also be lower, plus maintenance doesn’t need to be carried out as frequently.

@@co-jt6gd thanks for the thorough response man! Could you mention a few models to keep in mind, since you seem quite expert?

@@michelebucceri ADJ, Chauvet, Blizzard, Elation to name a few.

You can't project an led screen onto a set. An led screen is basically useless in theater except as a special

Yes! The Roland SP404mk2 should control Visibox just fine. You may need to do some MIDI configuration and you may want to turn off the sounds coming from the pads that you're using to control Visibox. But you should be able to connect the SP404's USB part to your computer's USB and Visibox should recognize it. Then open the MIDI Map window, select the SP404 from the drop-down menu, and hit "learn" next to the functions that you want to control. Hit the pad on the SP404, and Visibox should recognize the MIDI note that the 404 sends. We've got a free 14-day trial, so you can download Visibox and see how it works with your SP404. Reach out through our tech support form if you have any issues.

Pretty sure the 585 cannot throw from the ground, so you'd have to mount it to something to throw from above. Curious what you ended up landing on projector wise?

Sorry, late response. I ended up with the 535w. It’s great for my needs.