6 Excellent VJ Resources To Find Visual Loops
I am always interested in the Electronic Music scene. The first time I went to a party, one of the things I noticed right away was this kid hunched over in a corner with his laptop and a midi keyboard – he was controlling the visuals.
I thought to myself, what the hell is going on? After talking to him for a few minutes I learned that he was a VJ (visual jockey).
One of the main questions I asked was where he was getting his visuals. He told me that there are many places online to find DVDs for VJs that have some really awesome visuals. Additionally, he said, he would also record footage and remix the hell out of it.
I think mentioning VJing on BeginnerDJ may be worthwhile because it’s a very interesting subject. If you’re interested in checking out where to get some of those really great visuals you see at parties, start here:
MindCandy
MindCandy is a well known visuals DVD for VJs and people that want to display trippy footage during their parties.
MindCandy Volume 1 is available on DVD which includes 4 hours of footage created by a mix of programmers and people that just want to psych you out.
The MindCandy DVDs have some very impressive visuals to be chopped and remixed for anyone that wants to add a bit more craziness to their party.
DVJ Vision
DVJ Vision is a website/group which makes VJ visual DVDs. DVJ Vision offers quite a few sets of DVDs with many different kinds of visuals.
Compared to much of the other visuals I’ve seen, DVJ Vision DVDs offer a great mix but nothing that will really blow you away. It looks like many of them are very ’screen savery’.
This isn’t to say they aren’t worth it however. The visuals on DVJ Vision DVDs would be great for parties that want to show some visuals but may not have a dedicated VJ.
Starloops
Starloops is one of the biggest suppliers for visual DVDs. The company do a lot of work to cover many different visual subjects such as silhouetted dancers, space, abstract and glitchy visuals.
Each DVD from Starloops have dozens of visual footage but with enough remixing a VJ could create hours of footage using only a few loops.
Resolume
Resolume is perhaps the be VJ software available at the moment. Not to get caught up in the technical aspects of the program, it can basically do whatever you need for VJing.
The Resolume team and community create some of the best visuals I’ve seen. Although Resolume is a bit expensive ($300), it offers a ton of footage packaged with it. Additionally, new footage can be downloaded from the Resolume website or from loops shared through the community.
Machinista
Machinista is a free visual DVD that aims to show the world through the eyes of the machines.
The footage of Machinista is footage that was submitted to the Machinista festival. Out of the 259 entries, only 28 loops were used for the DVD.
The visuals on Machinista are extremely well made and very trippy/glitchy. As an additional bonus the visuals are distributed with creative commons licence.
Source Visuals
Source Visuals has a very wide range of visuals for the VJ and others that wish to show some footage during a party. These loops range from trippy tunnels, water, fractals, animals, abstract images and a ton of others.
The DVDs are priced between $25 – $50 depending on the size of the video you need. Grabbing all of the DVDs would be pretty expensive so if you checked out the samples first, you’ll save out on the possibility you buy something you don’t like.
Combining visuals with music…
VJing is another part of the Electronic Music scene. Mixing together music and video builds a very intense party which makes it all much more enjoyable.
It’s great to see when VJs and DJs are in sync – the visuals match to what’s being mixed.
If you happen to be holding a party, you may want to check out some of these DVDs to provide a bit more flare to the event. With a couple pieces of gear, you’ll be able to provide another way to blow peoples minds.
Over and out
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