Watch Eclectic Method’s ‘Ridiculous’ VJ Set Using Algoriddim Vjay [VIDEO]
By Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.
It’s no secret that DJs trigger samples made by other people. So why keep it a secret by only playing audio? Video DJs bring a new level of transparency to the DJ craft by including video in the mix, usually depicting the source of the audio sample (although really, they can attach any video).
Not only does this give clubs something to show on a big screen, but it adds another dimension to a DJ’s art, assuming they’re up to the challenge. For audiences that have a hard time paying attention, which is probably all of them, adding video to the mix gives them another thing to focus on.
Algoriddim vjay, released in June and currently available for half ($10) of its eventual price, brings VJing to the iPad in rather spectacular fashion. The same way a DJ uses headphones to cue up the next track and keep everything on time, the vjay iPad app offers two little video windows, with an audio/visual mixer in the middle that lets them summon each one in the mix. The crowd sees whatever is displayed in the big middle window when the iPad is connected to a television wirelessly (via Apple TV) or using a standard wire. Alternatively, you can use it to save video mixes for uploading to YouTube, Vimeo, and so on.
This app can’t handle 1080 high definition video — most likely due to the associated processing demands — but other than that, we’re hard-pressed to think of anything wrong with it. If a DJ (ahem, VJ) is willing to put in the preparation work by setting up all the video files and figuring out how to work them in to a compelling performance, the possibilities are fairly astounding.
As a demonstration of that last point, witness the ridiculousness of the following video, which depicts Eclectic Method shredding with vjay, their every move chronicled by an overhead camera.
“Eclectic Method live shows are not as intentionally hectic,” the group’s leader Jonny Wilson told Evolver.fm, “but as a hands-on demo, this video is made to show off as much as possible in as short a time as possible.”
We would say that it succeeds in that regard. As commenter Toqom says on YouTube, “Check this out, someone found a use for an iPad”:
