Analog Video Synthesizers

I'm thinking of "getting into" analog video synthesizers. They look like this:

http://i41.tinypic.com/30uptlu.jpg

or i should say, they can look like that. a lot of them seem to be modular units, and you can add/subtract the modules depending on what you want to do. so if you have a billion dollars, you can build this:

http://i41.tinypic.com/35btly1.jpg

anyway, the end result is you can dynamically fuck around with images and color. examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlTgpQ-Hscc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWrt5xMK9cM

anyone have any experience with this? i just stumbled on a link to LZX Industries, which seems to have a bunch of resources and tips and tutorials, in addition to selling a bunch of modules. Any other places I should check out?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDYwzKaicFo

analog VIDEO synthesizers!

but i do plan on doing those kinds of moves, esp the ducklips, once i am a video master.

i endorse this hobby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd6e7RELnRo

interesting stuff here

http://www.audiovisualizers.com/toolshak/vsynths.htm

dr stephen jones of severed heads and tackhead video fame is a key player in this space

so fucking cool. from my extremely limited knowledge, it seems like at a bare minimum, you need two modules: a Video Sync Generator and a Color Video Encoder. Unfortunately, LZX sells those for about $400 each. :(

aaaagh, great link electricsound, thanks so much. exactly the kind of thing i'm looking for right now as i get started.

The movie Sans Soleil has a lot of this, if you're interested.

do these make sound too, or can you rig them up to also manipulate/modulate sounds?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLdVry-Ab3c

that severed heads video is ripping my mind apart in the best possible way.

do these make sound too, or can you rig them up to also manipulate/modulate sounds?

i don't even know. my gut feeling is that you could use them to make sound (i.e., take the video signal and convert it to audio) and vice versa, and along the same lines, that you could have the audio feed into the synthesizer so that it impacts the visuals.

todd rundgren was all up on this stuff (he directed this video himself):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--lQIqVM1cM

also, if anyone knows any burnt out video dudes who are looking to sell all of their old shit, please let me know.

this shit is fucking awesome

I want to get really, really good at it. :-/

*SO EXCITED*

update: you guys are going to have to loan me $2K, really sorry

let's just make that $4K

Ok now i gotta drop this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyGCYoZ5Nlk

Btw, if you plug audio out RCA into a video in RCA it does some pretty cool stuff.

OK, so I won an hss3j (created by Gijs Gieskes) on ebay over the weekend. Looks like I'm going to be getting into this. That LZX stuff is out of my price range, but they do make a somewhat affordable thing called the Bitvision Video Synthesizer that is tempting. Also, Archer Video Processors, which were manufactured in the '70s, are pretty cheap and can do some pretty interesting stuff if circuit-bent.

Sorry about the broken links!

http://gieskes.nl
http://www.lzxindustries.net/bitvision

whooooooooa, jealous!

please post your works in progress here!

I will! Have you gotten your hands on any gear yet?

nope, i haven't. it's yet another example of my terrible habit of being super into things for 3.5 days, and then wandering off to get into something else, never to return

but i will live vicariously through you, if that's ok

No problem. Just know going into this that I am the same way except I bought a thing this time.

these things look cool. reminds me of when i was a kid i used to bust up my atari to create all sorts of weird sounds and visual effects.

You'll probably like this, then.

(lots of youtube videos of that thing in action; unfortunately I can't access them right now...)

http://gieskes.nl

That site is AMAZING. I desperate want all of those!

Particularly the HSS3J

I know, that guy is incredible. The hss3j that I won is a kit from his site that someone assembled and just decided they didn't want anymore, but there is also a fully assembled version that you can buy here; it's pricey but it also has extra circuit bends. I'll probably disappear from civilization for a few days once this thing arrives, but I'll report back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P56Wzrdm9us

Scanimate!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTO3CKM2Yy0

Lots of good stuff up on the Scanimate site and the guy's youtube channel.
http://scanimate.zfx.com

I love this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSNwBgO5qVY

Flying Asshole Wipe!

This page has a really good explanation of how it all worked http://www.scanimate.net/scan2.html

reading Dave Tompkins' How to Wreck a Nice Beach I found out about the 'Outerspace Visual Communicator', which seems pretty incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D2PjmB72X0

see: http://videocircuits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/bill-sebastians-outer-space-visual.html

here's a Sun Ra video that makes use of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPuK7hfWCfA

Love oldschool '70s-80s analog video effects so much! Reminds me of how I used to enjoy the early days of music video, before all those musicians decided they had to do stupid stuff like jump around and act and whatnot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17lkdqoLt44

OK, analog vfx PLUS rhinestone-cowboys-of-funk will always be classic