Madeon is a French electronic producer, who uses gadgets and technology like they’re an extension of his very being.

With an on stage setup that baffles even the best in the business, this 22 year old producer has reached where he is because of his focus on the audio-visual aspect of a performance, as a unit.

His stage setup should be trademarked. It’s a diamond with arrow- like shapes on either side.
All made of LED.

Geometric.
Symmetric.
Minimalist.

We, here at Resolume, couldn’t pass on the chance of understanding his rig and how he perfectly triggers his visuals to the music, live.

Thanks very much for speaking to us Hugo!
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First things first, the answer many have been curious to know, can you explain your live setup to us? All the gadgets you use and their purpose?

The show is run on two laptops which are on stage with me.
One runs the audio side of things in Ableton and sends MIDI through ethernet in real time to a second, dedicated video laptop running Resolume.

I have two Novation Launchpads to play musical parts and modify existing stems, one Novation Launchcontrol XL to handle some additional fx and general controls (including tempo) and a Korg SV-1 keyboard.

There is also a Xone K2 plugged into Resolume to control some video effects.


You do a great job of syncing your visuals to the music. Can you explain to us how you do this with Resolume?
All of the audio clips and parts in Ableton are grouped with matching MIDI clips that trigger videos and effect in Resolume.

All of the editing is done in real time, it's really useful as it means I can edit the video show easily between shows by simply changing the MIDI score.

It also means that I can improvise, extend or shorten a section, with the knowledge that the video show will keep up.

We have noticed some LED strips being used in your setups. Do you control DMX fixtures with Resolume as well?

No, we haven't explored this yet but i'm looking forward to it! At the moment, all of the fixtures are triggered manually (no timecode, shoutout to Alex Cerio!)

We really like the pixel mapping of the buttons on your Launchpads. Tell us about this.
This is a simple MIDI score sent to the Launchpad to animate it. Novation kindly built custom Launchpads for me with unique firmware features enabling me to switch between this type of "animation" mode and a regular functioning mode seamlessly.


Audio-visuals is so important to you- sometimes the content looks like the launchpad. It’s gotta be intentional?

Absolutely! For the 2012 shows, there were sections of the show where the screen matched the Launchpad completely. There were also pixel-style grid animations that were completely in real-time (with 64 layers in Resolume for each of the 64 pad), each pad corresponding to a different MIDI note. Very fun to program!


What thought process do you go through while creating visuals in your studio? What software do you use? How long does it take for you to prepare a render/ clip?

I work with a number of companies on making the content for the show but I make the content for about a third of the show.

I mostly use After Effects. I'm not very familiar with 3D softwares so I make 3D animations in AE polygon by polygon which is quite excruciating!

I like to keep making content on tour as new ideas occur to me, it's always a work in progress.


Give us a rundown of your studio equipment. What is an absolute must-have?What would you like to change/ upgrade?

A great computer has to be the most indispensable gear.

Whenever I upgrade, my production style always seems to adapt to use more plugins until I reach the limit again, it's constant frustration!

A zero-latency, unlimited-resources dream computer would be the best imaginable upgrade.

Why did you pick Resolume over the other software available out there?

Resolume reminded me a lot of audio softwares I was already familiar with.
It's intuitive and powerful, the effects are extremely usable and the latest updates in Arena 5 added mapping options that enabled my latest "diamond/chevron" LED setup.


With this, we come to the end of this interview.

Thanks much for taking the time out to do this Hugo, we are all very grateful.

Our hunger for technology and the things you can do with it has been duly satiated. For now.
Time to go try all of this out now, eh? :)

You can check out Madeon's work here: [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3upMS3MjWo&list=RDD3upMS3MjWo[/video]

Photo Cred: Charles Edouard Dangelser

We go round and round in this month's release.

Laak drops another quantity bomb with CRQL. All footage in CRQL is rendered as square videos, because that makes sense when you think about it.

Get CRQL by Laak from Resolume Footage



Ablaze gets down with the kinetic tactics on OverlayEccentrics.

Get OverlayEccentrics by Ablaze Visuals from Resolume Footage



And BluElk broadens your view with Panoramic.

Get Panoramic by BluElk from Resolume Footage

Since the big Arena 5.1 and Avenue 4.6 release we have released two micro updates. They're not small enough to win a Nobel prize but we're happy to do the maintenance and give you a more stable Resolume.



Arena 5.1.1 & Avenue 4.6.1 Micro Update:
- [FIXED] Master Fader & Composition Fade Out broken when using the output menu
- [FIXED] Solid Color Effect Show Image parameter not working
- [FIXED] Spout via Advanced output not working

Arena 5.1.2 & Avenue 4.6.2 Micro Update:
- [FIXED] Crash during startup
- [FIXED] Advanced screen setup and outputs not working in OSX 10.8 and lower
- [FIXED] Bezier outlines rendering is broken
- [FIXED] Certain blend modes still show white
- [FIXED] SVG output does not take into account perspective warping
- [FIXED] Crash when creating and deleting a fixture on Windows

We now offer installers that do not include example footage so your download is much smaller & quicker. You'll find this link in the Other Version dropdown on the download page.

As you all know, Resolume stacks layers vertically. To us, it always felt a bit weird to control those layers with a midi controller that puts its faders horizontally. So we got this little guy in the office because we liked the vertical fader layout, and wanted to see if it was a good match for Resolume.

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The good news is that the Samson Conspiracy is a regular USB midi controller, so it pops right up in Resolume and works out of the box. Even the XY pad can be assigned to do fun Kaosspad type of stuff.

The rotaries are the same faux endless controls that most midi controllers have these days. They send out regular 0...127 midi cc data, but can be spun endlessly. They don't respond to midi feedback though. This sucks when using layer focus mapping to map the same rotary to different controls. For instance, you could map it to the active clip speed. When you then switch between clips, the control won't update to the speed value of the current clip in Resolume. So when turning the knob, the speed value will jump to whatever value is set to.

A great thing is that the rotaries are velocity sensitive. When you turn them quickly, you can cover the whole range of 0 to 127 in one turn. But when you turn slowly, the sensitivity increases, and you can very precisely adjust the values with increments of 1. Pretty nifty.



After doing a couple of mixes with it, I get why most controllers put their faders horizontally. This may be a personal thing, but my mixing style is mostly fading layers in and out rhythmically, while occasionally triggering effects with the pad. I quickly found myself turning the controller 90 degrees to get the faders horizontal again. Somehow, it feels more natural to my hands that way.

Even then, theres is a set of rotaries between faders and pads, very close to the end of the fader. This is both annoying when fading all the way up, as well as when switching from fader to pad and back. Also, most of my show compositions are built up of 8 layers of content, composited together with alpha channels to create the particular look I need for that stage. 4 faders is just not enough control for me.

All in all it's a great controller, but not my style. I guess we'll just have to make Resolume with a horizontal layer layout instead :)

http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/usb-midi/controllers/conspiracy/

You know how it goes.

You think you know how this game works, and that you've got the level boss' attack pattern all figured out. You know his weak points, and all you need to do is wait for him to step left so you can shoot at that gap in his armor. Then, just as he reaches half health, he mutates and is back to full health. And he's full of new tricks.

The Arena 5.1 / Avenue 4.6 release is Resolume's Boss Fight. New features, new tricks, new workflows. You know, to keep you on your toes.

Hit that download!
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New:
- ArtPoll and Art-Net Unicast
- Much lower memory usage when using still images and non-DXV movies
- Load images as guides for in Input and Output mapping
- Export slices to .svg

- Clip Menu Item: Strip Audio
- Type 4 space separated numerical values to enter a slice top, left, width and height coordinates
- RGBA fixture colorspace
- Maintain fixture scale and proportion when switching fixtures
- Duplicate lumiverse
- Button to toggle snapping
- Multiselect and drag slices between and within screens
- Roll over rotation range for slices
- Mouse hover popup in DMX Output window that shows the channel value as a number
- When deleting a column with an active clip, make the first clip in the column before it the active one
- When moving a Slice mask completely outside of a slice, paint the slice outline red
- When creating new fixture automatically start giving it a name


Fixed:
- Blackmagic output broken in 504
- Soft edge params are universal
- Resolume does not accept Art-Net messages coming from the same computer
- Twitch crashes on OSX when moving it from clip to layer or comp
- Dragging a slice to a differently sized screen adjusts the slice's output width & height
- RGBW(A) fixtures don't output the correct values.
- Apparently there is now also a RevB for the Enttec Mk2
- Unneccesary Undomanager memory increase
- Alpha dropdown does not show on DXV content with alpha when Quicktime is not installed
- Params missing from Slice multiselect
- Slices are snapped without moving the mouse
- Art-Net output already in use by different entry doesn't update its error message when the output is freed
- Preview flickers on active clip with alpha
- Massive FPS drop after loading a different preset or after undo
- 360 softedging places the blend in the entire area outside the comp
- Advanced output window covers all other system menus
- Snapping works for only for slices on the selected screen
- Enabling autopilot after clip has looped makes it jump to the target clip immediately

- Softedge is applied on disabled slices
- SoftEdge textures dont get updated when slice is moved through params.
- DMX automap default value for Master Speed is off by 1
- Soft edge has a black line.
- Fixture is missing right click options
- Use computer name as default node name instead of "Resolume"
- Y Mirror Broken in Output
- No right click context menu for masks?
- CMD/CTRL-A in the Advanced Output gets passed to deck
- Ghost rendering when resizing slice using transformer draggers
- advanced.xml can cause Arena to crash on startup
- Duplicate plugin folders are scanned twice
- Reconnecting a clip with different length results in wrong playback speed
- X,Y controls missing when editing the points of an input mask
- Performance drops with a *lot* of slices
- Windows version loads hidden osx files as blank clips
- Clip preview is straight alpha, clip-in-layer preview is premult
- Composition bypass doesn't bypass layer routed slice
- No right click context menu for masks?
- Lumiverse output appears empty
- Fixture is missing right click options
- BPM stops when resync gets triggerd by dmx
- Can not move perspective point on output slice with keyboard arrow keys
- Stingy Sphere on a layer gets the wrong viewport values
- Time Remaining shows time till clip end, not till clip outpoint

Arena 5.1.1 & Avenue 4.6.1 Update:
- [FIXED] Master Fader & Composition Fade Out broken when using the output menu
- [FIXED] Solid Color Effect Show Image parameter not working
- [FIXED] Spout via Advanced output not working

Arena 5.1.2 & Avenue 4.6.2 Update:
- [FIXED] Crash during startup
- [FIXED] Advanced screen setup and outputs not working in OSX 10.8 and lower
- [FIXED] Bezier outlines rendering is broken
- [FIXED] Certain blend modes still show white
- [FIXED] SVG output does not take into account perspective warping
- [FIXED] Crash when creating and deleting a fixture on Windows

We now offer installers that do not include example footage so your download is much smaller & quicker. You'll find this link in the Other Version dropdown on the download page.

We're proud to announce the first official release by Diana Gheorghiu. After sneaking in FerroCious under an alias, she's now back with the amazing Progressions:

Get Progressions *exclusively* from Resolume Footage.

Ghosteam is back with amazing eye to detail and gorgeous reflections

Get LightRooms from Resolume Footage.

And Ostwerker brings an HD update to his classic PartikelStorm.

Get PartikelStorm 2*exclusively* from Resolume Footage.

Say what you will about Facebook, it's an amazing medium to get in touch with people. You can get the skinny on what's happening on the other side of the world, and see things you would otherwise never know about. Case in point: Richard De Souza. I got connected to Richard about a year ago, and since then, my newsfeed started filling up with one jaw dropping stage design after another. Seems like the Australian continent, besides spiders, is hosting buckets of raw talent as well.

Who are you and how do you spend your day?

I am the director of MNVR (Manoeuvre); an Australian based new media company primarily focussed on concert visuals and interactive. I’m always working on something. If not in production mode I’m either VJing or developing custom VJ tools. I love tinkering and I spend most of my free time progressing my art and process.


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How and when did you get started in this whole VJ circus?

I’ve had a love of music for as long as I can remember though my strengths have always been with the visual arts. In 1999 The Big Day Out, a national touring festival here in Australia, put a callout for video artists. A friend and I threw a reel together and were selected to do visuals for the Big Day Out’s Boiler Room. That summer we were VJing in front of thousands of people for what was then Australia’s largest festival - I was hooked. It was all Betacam and VHS back then, cueing tapes and mixing cams. VJing at The Big Day Out became my summer hobby for many years and I would spend all my spare time working on show content. Live visuals in the festival dance scene were new here. There were no rules and few points of reference so I felt free to do what I liked. It was hugely exciting being there so early in the Australian scene and has given me the oppportunity to operate visuals for likes of Aphex Twin, Justice, Avicii, The Bloody Beetroots to name a few at various points in their careers.

The industry has changed so much from the early days. Visuals have become a respected and essential part of live performance. As more electronic music festivals took off I made the leap from the architectural industry to full time professional VJ, 3D artist and content producer.




You do a lot of amazing custom tour content. What's your process for coming up with the overall identity of the show and the look and feel of each song individually?

It's always about representing the artist to the best of my ability - put the show first - it sounds simple but many people get that wrong. Vision is there to strengthen or amplify the experience of the music; it should never detract or take over. My process varies on a show-to-show basis. Sometimes minimal visuals and different techniques should be employed but I decide this by getting to know the artist.

The best shows are either a great pairing of musician with like-minded visual artist or an environment that allows symbiosis. It’s really just about gauging the intent of the artist and their music, taking the time to listen and study their person, catalogue, performances and media. If you have spent some time with an artist it's pretty easy to translate their personalities and music visually. Music is highly emotive anyway; it already carries a ton thematic content within to draw from.


When dealing with single tracks I always consider the hero shot. This is generally a compositionally strong or thematic element that identifies the peak moments of a track. By placing these hero moments throughout the set you can avoid motion graphics run on, where an hour of mograph blends into a singular moment. The idea is that the audience will identify or recall key imagery attached to a particular song strengthening the emotional impact of the show. If you orchestrate these peaks and troughs you avoid a visually flat show.

You also do incredible stage designs. What's your stage design process like? Do you have ideas for specific visuals and design a stage around that? Do you also design the light plan and overall stage deco?

I've done a fair bit of concept design over the years. With my background in architectural visualisation and animation I can flesh out the initial concept to a point where I can sell an idea pretty easily. I’ve also been fortunate enough to work on some big stages at festivals like Stereosonic and Future Music Festival so I have an understanding of what works and what doesn’t.

I tend to think in 3D regardless. Much of my VJ content is 3D animation so stage design for me is just another structural element in a larger meta 3D composition.



I work alongside some very talented lighting designers and production crew that flesh out my initial concept designs. In a larger team environment it’s a matter of letting everyone play to his or her strengths. When you have skilled people around you and everyone has input and ownership of the creative process, that’s the environment in which you get the best results.

You've got a lot of nifty TouchDesigner responsive stuff going on. Especially 'California' on the Peking Duk tour intrigues me to no end. Can you elaborate a bit on that?

The idea behind the Peking Duk show is that it's a post-EDM punk rock show. Everything in the show follows that simple design ethos - from visual design to playback and performance. Visually it’s supposed to look like a live comic book mashup of punk t-shirt illustrations and rock poster art. Instead of using the usual white outs and strobes it has a bunch of animated visual stabs and toon effects that sync up with the different visual tracks. I really wanted it to be a departure from the generic stock mograph look that many shows have.

Peking Duk (Adam Hyde & Reuben Styles) are very active on stage and perform with a rotating cast of collaborators, guest vocalists and musicians. The show is never the same twice but is always a hell of a party so the visuals needed to reflect that.



The show is split up into key tracks that Peking Duk are likely to play for which I have accompanying visuals, and then freeform sections that I adapt to on the fly.

California was initially developed in TouchDesigner to carry the freeform sections of the show but it is now used throughout. Basically I'm using TouchDesigner to do audio analysis live, then I render a trigger based texture palette of sprite animations. They are very simple solid pulses, gradient ramps, animated noise that respond to audio. I send these rendered textures over to Resolume via Spout and position them behind alpha channelled layered animations using Visution Mapio on a layer and column basis. I then launch column compositions instead of running a solely clip based show.

The generative element gives the show added life. Having an automated element sitting behind what I’m doing live broadens the scope of the show and creates a much tighter visual experience overall.



VJ'ing at a show like Godskitchen must be very different from regular VJ work. How does it differ and how do you keep a show like that fresh for a full night?

Designing for a show like Godskitchen you have multiple show arcs. Not only do you have multiple artist set arcs, but you also have a larger show arc to take into account. It’s important to consider how a night builds, with the introduction of different elements as the night progresses, from the video rig, to lighting, pyro and lasers.

I usually have some thematic show content woven into the video design that is either audio reactive, real-time or real-time 3D. These framing elements are usually persistent throughout the whole show and are treated like a video light rig rather than just a screen. These design elements tie into the other show elements like artist intros to create a larger show story.



What has your overall software and hardware journey been like? Do you tend to stick to a particular set of tools or do you switch around a lot? You also design a lot of your own software, right?

I started in 3D computer graphics. By the late ‘90s I was working on SGI machines doing real-time 3D interactive environments in VRML. It was definitely a revelation - real-time 3D, graphics acceleration, interactive and web deployment but there were many things you just couldn’t do because the hardware and software weren’t up to it.

My interests haven’t really changed but hardware and technology have caught up. The only limitations now are time, resources and budget.

I jumped on laptop VJing as soon as I could. Originally I was pushing out 3 layers of 320x240 on Resolume 2, which seems ridiculous now, but given the tape-to-tape alternative, at the time it was revolutionary. Resolume is still my core go to performance application.

I’m a bit of a control scheme nut. I have a somewhat ridiculous midi controller collection and I'm always working on new control schemes. My TouchDesigner work creating custom performance interfaces is just an extension of that. I’ve always wondered what touch screens or motion controls like Leap Motion would be like in live situations so I created my own custom tools to integrate these elements into shows. Having my own tools removes many technical limitations and allows me to focus on the creative. For me creative is always at the forefront but sometimes there are technical hurdles to navigate first.




How does Resolume fit into all this?

Resolume has been hugely influential as it’s the first real-time compositional environment I used. I’ve always used it like a real-time version of Photoshop or After Effects. The immediacy of feedback that Resolume gives is essential for my creative process. It has influenced many of the software and workflow directions I’ve taken over the years.

I actually run through compositional design sketches in Resolume, creating collages of ideas and forms from video elements and effects that I then round-trip back through the preproduction process to create final artwork.

Even when working in TouchDesigner I pass the output through Resolume via Spout. Resolume’s video playback, effects stack, layer routing, and mapping are just so extremely powerful and flexible I can’t imagine creating a show without those tools.

Who is currently blowing your mind in your field?

I have always loved UVA (United Visual Artists), their work for Massive Attack in particular the 100th Window Tour was inspirational and influenced me to follow live visuals as a career path. Their blending of sculptural architecture, vision as lighting and considered space is fantastic. To this day they still do beautiful, political and thoughtful work.

Where can we find you online?

I can be found online at http://www.manoeuvre.tv

This month we got three sets straight from your rapid eye movements.

Chromosoom drops a set with dreamlike classical dance. Classy and elegant, it's a breath of fresh air between all the abstract 3d.


Get WhiteDancer by Chromosoom, *exclusively* from Resolume VJ Footage.

And lastly, BluElk is back with Cronenberg inspired set, made of nightmares and itchy glitch.


Get OrganicForms by BluElkfrom Resolume Footage.

This month, we're proud to welcome Nexus 6 to the label. His first release NeonMetalBeats is an LED stage banger.


Get NeonMetalBeats *exclusively* from Resolume Footage!

Unit44 is back from a long hiatus, and trust us, he's just getting warmed up.


Get Pattern *exclusively* from Resolume Footage!

And STV in Motion always brings something special to the table. Lick those luscious lippies and prepare to be teased.


Get TeaseMe from Resolume Footage.

This month we got you covered whatever your taste is.

Catmac tunes into your psychedelic vibrations with ChaoticGeometries:

Get ChaoticGeometries, *exclusively* from Resolume Footage.

Laak is back with more minimalism in VJ Survival Kit 4:

Get VJ Survival Kit 4, *exclusively* from Resolume Footage.

And Ghosteam gets lethal by mixing water and electricity in WaterWorld:

Get WaterWorld, *exclusively* from Resolume Footage.