r_e_c_u_r: DIY Video Sampler (no coding & soldering)

Scroll down to the smileys to skip my boring back story.
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At the end of almost every year I somehow seem to be drawn to hardware video synthesis. I owned some circuit bent analog video equipment a few years ago, which was awesome but took too much space in the end and I also briefly visited GLSL shader coding, which was too overwhelming for me though. At the moment there are a few really cool, but also very expensive developments, like the Erogenous Tones Structure, the upcoming Sleepy Circuits Hypno, the Neon Captain Radiator, the LXZ products of course and the upcoming Critter & Guitari Eyesy.

BUT! Too expensive right now and then I remembered that I still had a very much unfinished 3TrinsRGB+1 kit very deep in my DIY drawer. I started building it in 2014, but it was a bit annoying to solder for me back then and it had a part missing or I misunderstood something, so I didn’t continue with it ... until now. Finished it quite easily actually, although something is wrong and it’s probably only 95% functional. But good enough for me after that long time and not knowing what I might have messed up back then. So I look forward to check this out.

THEN I though about capturing video and applying more effects to it and my search lead me via several Etsy stores (like this or that one) back to the above mentioned Erogenous Tones Structure ... aaargh ... still a thousand bucks ... damnit! But in its Muffwiggler thread someone mentioned an interesting little DIY product ...

 

The r_e_c_u_r open source DIY video sampler, feedback effect and shader player:

-> -> -> github.com/langolierz/r_e_c_u_r
wiki: github.com/langolierz/r_e_c_u_r/wiki

It runs on a Raspberry Pi 3 with a cheap GPIO display, a USB numpad and optionally a video input like a USB capture card, USB webcam or a cheap Raspberry Pi camera. That’s like less than 50€ and no soldering required! You can even attach USB MIDI controllers to sequence it externally and in case you do want to solder, there is also a way to make it listen to 0-5V CV

Apparently you don’t even have to “code” anything. Mapping keyboard buttons and MIDI commands is done by editing simple JSON text files and for the rest there are GUI menu settings.

Here’s a YouTube video demo (without audio unfortunately):


Shader demo (skip to 2:00 for MIDI control):


By the way, if the controls look too complicated with the function button combinations, you can also simply connect a full USB keyboard or a USB MIDI controller and map those functions to their own buttons.

I just ordered the Pi, a display, a numpad, an MCP3008 IC for CV input and a Pi camera and look forward to try this out.


EDIT: Unfortunately this project didn‘t work for me (see posts below), but it‘s still cool and could very well work for you

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Here are more Raspberry Pi video projects:
scanlines.xyz/t/raspberry-pi-based-video-gear/99

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Now, that all being said (or written), my problem with video stuff has always been that it’s difficult to manage simultaneously to a music performance. Video is really its own fun, but complex, discipline. I still have to find a way to combine the two with a magical box that lets me create my own unique visuals quickly, which then react to my music without much setup. Haha! Yeah right. Don’t think I’m going to find this, but at least the r_e_c_u_r is cheap and who knows ... maybe I can indeed create a MIDI/CV setup and sample a few synth videos to create spontaneous video glitches.