Скачать или смотреть ESS SYNTH[bank] - Critter & Guitari EYESY Video Synth Explorations

The EYESY is a customizable video synth that is now part of the ESS SYNTH[bank]. We were inspired by Lisa Glenn Armstrong’s Patchbent workshop at ESS last fall, where she showed us her custom EYESY patches and how she uses sound to drive changes in the visualizer. We created our own custom mode featuring our logo and compiled a demo to show off this great sound-responsive tool.

This demo was created using Python in the EYESY’s access point editor. The custom trigger mode switches between uploaded images and text ("Experimental," "Sound," "Studio," and the ESS logo) whenever the audio level exceeds a threshold. Incoming MIDI CC data, routed through the EYESY's built-in MIDI port, modulates other visual parameters like dot size and color, image scaling, and background colors.

The modular synth serves as the sound source for the EYESY, first routed through the MOTU UltraLite into Max/MSP, then sent to the EYESY’s audio input. After some experimentation with the EYESY’s audio input settings, adding an isolated clock pulse from the Pamela’s Pro Workout module into the main audio mix improved trigger accuracy, syncing image changes with the audio clock. This clock pulse is excluded from the audible and recorded audio mix.

Max/MSP played a key role as a versatile control hub for this system, managing routing to multiple outputs, generating LFOs (sent through the ES-3 module), and customizing the ranges of MIDI CC values for fine-tuning the visual aesthetic. Even with all of this preset routing, the EYESY’s button and knob controls can be played in real time, so the device remains a fun tool for live performance alongside other synths.

Thank you to Critter & Guitari for their support, and we’re excited to keep exploring the EYSEY with our artists and push its creative potential further.

Kate In

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