We've had fun digging into Milkdrop and making it a tool for VJ-ing.
NestDrop allows you to perform with high-resolution high-fps visuals which react in realtime to the music and then broadcasts the video via Spout. Since the Milkdrop engine is at the core you can easily bring in your own Milkdrop presets. Use any audio source to drive the visuals, even live audio.
Cool to see that others are still interested in Milkdrop! I’m currently working on a compiler to convert Eel (the non-shader preset equations) to WebAssembly.
My hope is that we can improve the performance and security of the Butterchurn, the JavaScript Milkdrop port we’re using for https://Webamp.org
Holy damn this is awesome, thank you so much for this!
for me that's an awesome throwback - over 10 years ago when i started out vjing i actually used Milkdrop a lot in club shows, using WinAmps linein:// plugin for the audio signal and mapping Milkdrops keyboard shortcuts with Bome's MIDI Translator to interact with it on an MPD.
Oh nice! Your dome stuff looks awesome as well but I don't have enough projectors (and won't be at any festivals/burns for the foreseeable future, so no friends' geodesic domes to mess with anyway). Still...love seeing it and thinking of what cool stuff might be done with it.
Thank you! While the NestDrop visuals do look incredible when projected on a dome, it's not a requirement and you can work with the visuals any any software which supports Spout. Working with domes is just our approach.
What would be a good way to connect an instrument to interact with the software? Is there a recommended projector/display that had been tested with the software? Really interested in learning more when I get some free time
Any monitor or projector arrangement will function perfectly, it all depends on your context. Simply route the Spout visual stream into your software of choice.
NestDrop will use the Windows default audio output of your computer. You can change which output is the default by going in the Windows Sound panel, Playback Tab, right-click on the device you want, and select “Set as Default Device”. Note the change in Video Decks will reflect only after the Decks are restarted
If you wish to use live audio as the source for NestDrop, you can follow this procedure to activate the audio loopback in the Windows sound settings. This loopback technique will send the audio input directly to the default audio out. If you're using a microphone to capture live audio then it's important to mute your speakers or you could possibly create a feedback loop. This is especially vital if your computer is connected to a large sound system where the speakers could be damaged.
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/126383-listen-microphone...
thanks a lot for the curated collection! I've been tinkering a bit with milkdrop visualization on the raspberry pi 4 using projectM [1] and found the amount of mediocre presets in the full collection quite high :/ will certainly be using your curated list as a new starting point for finding my own favourites
I'm not a VJ and will never be, but this brought such a sweet smile to my life. So thanks. Pleasant memories of bad songs, and good visualizations, in Winamp abound.
Same here, having fun with the kids showing what old programs could do with visualising music! I always wished I knew how to connect winamps visualizer with a live sound source.
If anyone likes looking at these visuals but doesn't have a windows pc, you might enjoy this web-based milkdrop port able to work with your mic as a sound source: https://butterchurnviz.com/
I've been having fun putting together living room DJ sets with visuals driven by Acid Cam or Project M on my mac, but neither of those are really made for real-time VJing so i usually just pick a preset at the start of the set and stick with that. I'll have to set up my webcam and OBS on a PC to play with this. Thanks for sharing!
Cool stuff! I did some experiments with pre-rendering Milkdrop visuals for high-res uploading to YouTube which might be of interest to you. Not practical for realtime (I guess this is where OBS comes in), but pre-rendering is great for quality. Example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyhisYKU2Dg
When using NestDrop you can easily record the Spout video stream by using the Lightjams Spout Recorder. Depending on your GPU there is a delicate balance between resolution and fps.
https://www.lightjams.com/spout-recorder.html
Wow this is awesome. A real throwback for me in some ways, and super in line with my current interests as well! Though it does occur to me how inexpensive you're pricing it at, you sure the pricing model is what's best for you financially? If not, it's well within the community etiquette to reshare this tomorrow and solicit pricing tier feedback. If so, I'm happy for your success and thanks for sharing this!
can you give me a headstart? so your prog enables me to do projection mapping with winamp visualisers basically, right?
so if i own some discotheque with some projectors, i could use this regardless of input music in auto-random-mode all day all night?
NestDrop doesn't include projection mapping tools. But it does output a Spout video stream, so you can link the Spout video stream into Resolume or MadMapper and then do your projection mapping.
i have 4 projectors running, can i use one computer to feed all 4 projectors, with the dj's output fed to the computer, and a single 1080 geforce with projector size is 1024x768?
in case of the computer not being fast enough, i just use 2 pcs, how do i sync the winamp stuff?
so glad you had fun into making a milkdrop fork so VJs can even get less relevant with this software i guess, just clicking through the presets, if not totally automated - i like it, since it puts Vjs into their place.
Sure anyone can just click presets, but performing with Milkdrop visuals is just one piece of the puzzle. Layering it with pre-rendered custom visuals is another piece that heightens the art form. And then the actual performance of matching the mood and changes in music, it's a skill that is difficult to master when performing live and juggling many different aspects. Combine that all together and you have something that takes an artists eye to pull off in a polished fashion.
I wanted to use music without worrying about copyright concerns, and so I used my own techno music. It's just a demo video to showcase the preset collection that I curated.
You can save different user profiles. The information saved into the XML file includes: settings selections, window position, Preset favorites, Preset hotkeys, Sprite effects, open & closed queue windows (name, size, position, Preset lineup, linked Sprites, deck number).
You can also organize the Presets into your own categories and subcategories using the following folder architecture.
--- Category: Folders placed directly into the Presets folder are treated as the main categories . A section label is automatically created to help easily identify categories within the library window. They are also listed within the ‘Active Preset Locator’ context menu.
--- Subcategory: Any nested folders within the main category folders are treated as subcategories. Bookends are used to separate all subcategories within the library window.
NestDrop will index all Presets found within the <Plugins\Milkdrop2\Presets> folder. It will also index any nested folders. You can install your own Presets to this location.
Personally I think that VJ-ing is all about human intuition and carefully listening to the music. It's tricky to improvise and find visuals that match the given mood, layer realtime NestDrop visuals and pre-rendered visuals together, all while trying to keep things fresh and alive. I don't think it's a skill that can be automated with the same level that a person can pull off. NestDrop just creates visuals which respond to the beat, it's just one piece of the puzzle... Not an utter solution.
NestDrop allows you to perform with high-resolution high-fps visuals which react in realtime to the music and then broadcasts the video via Spout. Since the Milkdrop engine is at the core you can easily bring in your own Milkdrop presets. Use any audio source to drive the visuals, even live audio.
I also curated a best-of collection of 9,795 presets which are organized into categories & subcategories. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2020/02/21/nestdrop-presets-coll...