4 Ways to Visualize
Your DJ Set

by Carlo a.k.a. Synwrks

Vizloom
What's in scope
Your own visual identity music drives the visuals Works for a live show keeps an audience watching Within an emerging DJ's means a laptop, a screen, limited time What we compare today Left out: pop music-video DJ style and selection dictated by video availability Left out: Youtube background playback 'waveform' visualizers Left out: big production needs ShowKontrol, Disguise, lighting rigs
Before we start

Scoring

DifficultyRamp-up, preparation per new visual, and how much you must babysit it during the set. Higher is heavier.
Artistic agencyHow much of the look is yours to decide: expression, quality ceiling, storytelling.
Sound correlationHow closely, and along how many aspects, the visuals follow what you actually hear.
DJ software
VJ software
Node-based real-time engines
Music visualizers
Procedural video editors?
Video DJ plugins
DAWs
Sync and show control
Video makers inside the DAW
Video editors
3D animation
Streaming and capture
Example workflows
  1. 1The O.G. Real-time Visualizer
  2. 2VJ Software
  3. 3Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track
  4. 4Trying Something New
1

The O.G. Real-time Visualizer

1 · The O.G. Real-time Visualizer

Pros

  • Really easy to set up.
  • Some of these shaders look really beautiful.

Cons

  • The correlation to what you hear is often hard to see, so after a while it feels generic.
  • Unless you pull in other video sources, you're constrained to abstract shapes.
  • Many look a little dated. Perfect if that vintage feel is what you want.
1

The O.G. Real-time Visualizer

Example workflows
  1. 1The O.G. Real-time Visualizer
  2. 2VJ Software
  3. 3Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track
  4. 4Trying Something New
2 · VJ Software

Why video?

Compatibility

Flexibility

Predictable resource usage

Storytelling

Fewer degrees of freedom for audio correlation

2

VJ Software

2 · VJ Software

What about node-based apps?

A ton of flexibility

Built for hands-on control and many inputs

Hard to learn

Risky resources usage for your DJ laptop

2

VJ Software

Example workflows
  1. 1The O.G. Real-time Visualizer
  2. 2VJ Software
  3. 3Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track
    1. Scenario 1Video Editor + sync
    2. Scenario 2DAW Video + sync
  4. 4Trying Something New
3 · Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track

Why pre-render one video per song?

3 · Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track Scenario 1

Video Editor + sync

CDJ
Mixer
CDJ
Pro DJ Link · ShowKontrol
Laptop · ResolumeLaptop · DJ software
Compact controller
3 · Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track Scenario 1

Video Editor + sync

3 · Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track Scenario 1

Video Editor + sync

3 · Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track Scenario 2

DAW Video + sync

3 · Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track Scenario 2

DAW Video + sync

3 · Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track

Why not AI video generators?

Do-it-all AI video maker

≈ 2

Sound correlation

$$$

Cost per track

Short AI gen clips

Manually edited to the music into a bigger music video

Clip reusage → lower costs

Example workflows
  1. 1The O.G. Real-time Visualizer
  2. 2VJ Software
  3. 3Pre-pare Visuals for Each Track
  4. 4Trying Something New
4 · Trying Something New

Vizloom

4 · Trying Something New ?Vizloom

Vizloom workflow

4 · Trying Something New Vizloom

How does it do that?

Where templates come fromBundled with the appShared by other artistsMade by you
4 · Trying Something New Vizloom

A first guess, then you

4 · Trying Something New Vizloom

Five minutes, or make it your own

5 minApply a template, fix what is off
10 minTighten instruments, swap visuals, try new colors
When inspiredNew visual tracks, deeper into the nodes graph
Over timeYour own templates: your style, automated
Render queueFull resolution, whenever it is convenient
Your DJ softwareDrop the videos in and have fun mixing

Thank you for watching

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