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  #1  
02-12-2021, 08:57 AM
aitso aitso is offline
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hi everyone! i've been lurking here for a little bit, mostly as a way of learning a lot more of the technical sides of vcrs, and outdated video equipment. it came up in another thread that i don't use things as an archivist, which seems to be the standard use case on this forum, but instead as part of a video art practice.

strap in, this is a wordy post!

i was encouraged to start a new thread about these things, outlining what i use this stuff for, in hopes of expanding my knowledge, and possibly my gear pile. the real clincher for me was the realization that there were other video artists lurking here too, who could also benefit from this. helping expand the knowledge around this stuff is great.

first, a bit about me. i've been doing live video manipulations for music performances since around 2006. it became my job in 2017. my last tour ended in february 2020 (covid pretty much killed the live music industry), and i've been sitting at home learning more and more about the technical sides of what i do, while transitioning to streaming and making music videos.

in the early days, i largely filmed things on cheap digital cameras, and processed/edited them on my mac. eventually i got an old super 8 camera, and a vhs based camcorder. super 8 looked pretty, but was very much out of my budget to do properly. at the time, vcrs could be found at thirft stores for next to nothing, and blank tapes could be had at dollar stores.

as i got more into it, i realized that there was a large array of outboard gear (colour correctors, titlers, mixers, etc) that could take composite input from these vcrs, and do crazier things to the footage before it hit my video capture card. a lot of this was also available on the cheap at yard sales, thrift stores, etc.

eventually i started to get reasonable paying gigs, and even a few paid tours, so i was able to pick up some modified machines (theres a community of people who modify things like archer video processors to do ridiculous stuff). i also got better at getting the content from these experiments and modified video chains into higher res formats, so that i could project them over bands.

the trouble with all of the above is that i only understood the vague theories behind how all of this stuff worked. my chain at the time was vcr->video processor(s)->blackmagic capture card. "vcr" was whichever of my thrift store finds was working best that day. video processor was whatever i had on hand (these things broke fast if you got them in beat up shape from questionable sources, and couldn't maintain them). one day i would get cool results, the next day the results would be bland. sometimes tapes would break, sometimes processors would die (sometimes with wild looking results). my process was a lot of "i wonder what this will do, yep, that looks cool".

it was working for me, and when i was getting enough work to quit my other jobs, i just rolled with it. trouble is, this gear was getting more and more scarce, and since i was touring, and creating new content for each tour, my time was getting scarce too. so, i started to invest in modified/rebuilt processors (from builders like tachyons+/big pauper modified circuitry). i picked up rebuilt/cleaned video mixers (things like the edirol v4/v8), and i started to learn about basic vcr maintenance so that my thrift store finds could last longer.

during the pandemic, i started to get more and more involved in reading about the technical sides of how the modified circuits worked. i also started to learn more about vcrs, since i was getting into sampling from old vhs tapes, and recording to them was giving me nice grainy results. that lead me to this site a couple times, however it took me a while to realize that the content here is a wealth of information, and i should setup an account to dig deeper.

so, with that long winded introduction out of the way, i'm looking for suggestions on vcrs and tbcs to look out for or buy. my budget is that of a pandemic destroyed artist, so i'm looking more for the undervalued gems (my current favourite tbc is a kramer fc-400 that i got for $180 cad).

i've also taken some photos of my current studio setup, and if you've got energy to read more ramblings, i'll share how i use it all. if any of you have insights into things i'm doing wrong, and possible improvements, i'll be forever grateful!

gear.jpg - this is my current composite video setup. i use 1/4" patch bays to create a signal path depending on what i'm up to. it generally takes an input (vcrs or hdmi to composite convertors), then sends the signal to processors and or mixers. then i either send them to my blackmagic for capture, or to a crt for capture via a 4k camera, or even to a projector for 4k capture (if i don't want crt scan lines).

v4.jpg - this is one of three mixers in my current setup. the v4 may be the weakest mixer i own, but its so easy and simple that i will never tire of it. its almost indestructible, and these come up for sale regularly in the $200-$300 range. it has basic tbc in it, but it wasn't till i got my first stand alone tbc that i realized how generally bad the built in corrector was.

tbc.jpg - a kramer fc-400 time base corrector. i rescued this from a studio that was liquidating all of their outdated gear. it was $180 cad, which is very cheap for a tbc, but the quality of this one seems amazing to me. its gotten me interested in getting more, as the modified gear works amazingly well with it.

modified archer.jpg - this is one of my many pieces of modified processing gear. this was done by tachyons+ (he calls this the psychenizer). it takes video input, and the knobs on top basically destroy the signal in wildly unpredictable ways. everything from distortion, to ghosting, to colour mangling, to other things that words would need to be invented to describe. i currently have 9 machines like this one, all of which have their own character and effects. these are the machines that made me really want to learn more about tbc, as the signal destruction that goes on benefits heavily from it. there are effects that simply lead to signal drops without tbc.

vcr.jpg - these are my current connected vcrs. they are not good. they are simply the 2 that are currently working best out of the very tall pile that i have. my entire collection of vcrs likely cost me 1/4 (over 10 years), of what one nice restored one would cost. the go video is mostly for playback, as it seems stable enough for sp tapes, and has yet to eat one on me. the hitachi is largely what i dub to if i want something that will play back shaky and grainy. it is a garbage vcr, and for some reason the play/ff/rew buttons often don't work properly (sometimes play fast forwards, etc). the only reason i keep it around is because of how destructive it records. this is a negative for a lot of people, but the recordings it makes look a very specific way that is hard to emulate. the colour looks off. the wobble is noticeable, the grit is obvious. all of this looks cool in its own way. would i ever back up family footage to it? not in a million years. as i said, the vcr is my weak link, so good suggestions for clean recording, clean playback, reliability, etc are all appreciated.

rescan.jpg - this is just a shot to show one of my methods for upscaling. thats a large trinitron crt (these are often free if you're willing to carry it out of the old home, but bring a friend), with a 4k camera aimed at it. i'll take that 4k footage into my editing software, correct any distortion that may come from a misaligned tripod, then bring it down to 1080p. if i don't want crt scan lines, or moire, i'll do this with a projector on a clean wall. sometimes just capturing it in 480p via the blackmagic works too, but then i stretch it in software, which can leave noticeable artifacts when its projected to 50 feet wide over a band.

anyhow, thanks so much for reading this. if anyone has any questions, or thoughts on these methods, i'd love to discuss. my goal with this is to learn tricks that could make my processes easier, give better results, and even just things around why i shouldn't be doing some of the things i do.


Attached Images
File Type: jpg gear.jpg (146.1 KB, 6 downloads)
File Type: jpg modified archer.jpg (101.5 KB, 5 downloads)
File Type: jpg v4.jpg (115.9 KB, 3 downloads)
File Type: jpg tbc.jpg (85.9 KB, 7 downloads)
File Type: jpg vcr.jpg (83.3 KB, 3 downloads)
File Type: jpg rescan.jpg (141.0 KB, 3 downloads)
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  #2  
02-12-2021, 08:59 AM
aitso aitso is offline
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also, if you want to see any of the results of the above nonsense, my youtube channel has footage from live shows i've done (although it took me around a decade to realize i should film stuff), as well as some live stream archives where i was remixing nature vhs tapes live:
http://www.youtube.com/aitsoaitso

my instagram also has stuff:
http://www.instagram.com/aitsoaitso

if these links are considered spamming, lemme know, and i'm happy to delete this post
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  #3  
03-29-2021, 11:52 PM
ironroad ironroad is offline
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Oh wow I love this! What beautiful work, and what a fun technical process.

20 years ago I had a friend who would modify cheap 1980s audio synthesizers so they'd glitch and make all sorts of unexpectedly beautiful (or hellish) noises. It's great to learn people are now doing the same thing to the old video processing devices I threw away in about 1990.

I'm so glad I ran into your article here. I'm not very familiar with your type of art, and it was great to hear you speak so clearly about something you're passionate about. I've been fascinated by the LZX video synthesizers--have you ever used one of those? They look ridiculously fun. I'm guessing what you're doing is like a more homemade version of the LZX stuff, but I don't really know what I'm talking about.

Glancing through your youtube channel is very inspiring. I will head back there in the near future for some deeper dives into what you've done. Thanks very much for posting this all here.
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  #4  
03-31-2021, 01:55 PM
aitso aitso is offline
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most of the modified hardware requires a source video coming into it, so its a bit different than the LZX stuff. the LZX stuff can actually create video signal as well as process it. my mess of modified processors is similar to some of the LZX stuff though, as some of those modules can take signal in and do interesting things.

i don't have any LZX stuff in my setup at the moment. i'm planning to change that in the coming years, but covid has shut down live music, and touring revenue is how i fund most of this stuff.

a lot of the processors get used to modify things i film to vhs, or even garage sale vhs tapes if i'm mangling the signal enough that copyright isn't a concern. i've also been experimenting with sending higher resolution signals into this setup, but i'm still not happy with any of the hdmi to composite downscalers i've found.
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  #5  
03-31-2021, 06:35 PM
ironroad ironroad is offline
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I love what you do. I guess I'm sort of unaware of the whole genre since I almost never go to concerts.

I've been casually interested in trying some of the LZX gear that's able to process video, but I'd be just as interested in working with the type of modified vintage gear you have. Are there people who modify old gear for sale somewhere, or do you have to know a guy?

My interest in this gear would be to augment the video effects I already make in DaVinci Resolve. I can do a ton of stuff within Resolve, but it all feels very different than what you do. Resolve (at its best) can feel very lush and organic, but always retains a hint of feeling "too perfect," a problem that most modern computer-generated stuff has. I'd love to see the intersection of your work carefully added into parts of a Resolve/Fusion composition, further manipulated in there, etc.

So I guess that's as close to a "tip" as I have for you. Learn Resolve (assuming you don't already know it). It's free and incredibly powerful. Once you learn the process of working with color through its node-tree structure, I think you'd come up with all sorts of interesting modifications you could do to your existing work (as long as it didn't need to be done live in real time).
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  #6  
03-31-2021, 06:47 PM
aitso aitso is offline
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i've been working with the adobe suite for a while, but most of the effects, i stick to the machines for. you're right, they definitely provide a lush texture that its hard to get with software. and even with software, that perfection feels noticeable.

there are a few people who build these machines. the pandemic has caused a bit of a rush on them though, so most of these people have a backlog. patience and politeness when dealing with them goes a very long way.

these are some of the ones who modify things primarily:
www.tachyonsplus.com (possibly the best known)
www.glitchart.com
www.coolpics.biz

these are some who build new circuits, based on the methods that were gleaned from circuit bending old gear:
www.etsy.com/shop/statikstramentz
www.lofifuture.com
www.syntonie.fr
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  #7  
03-31-2021, 06:58 PM
ironroad ironroad is offline
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Oh neat, thanks very much! It will take all my effort to resist buying some of those beautiful toys.

I really recommend Resolve over other commercially available software. Maybe you're already familiar, but Resolve's node-tree structure is much more like the way you work. On screen you basically wire together different effects boxes, and you can split those wires anywhere you want, stack the boxes in any order, route alpha channels on separate wires, etc. And when you have such perfect control of the effects, they become much more useful and powerful. Not to mention that Resolve started out as the industry standard color-grading program for feature films (back when it cost a quarter million dollars to buy one Resolve workstation), so the effects themselves are all very high quality.

It makes working in layers (Adobe-style) seem downright foolish for video.

Last edited by ironroad; 03-31-2021 at 06:58 PM. Reason: typos
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  #8  
05-10-2021, 09:14 AM
InFract InFract is offline
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Hello there,

started to do some video art with analogue stuff as well several months ago. Mainly I'm working as a freelance cameraman, which is pretty nice for the complete video art thing, because I have professional video gear to work with and also have the knowledge for editing, after effects and so one.. I ordered a vortex decoder from tachyons+ to integrate into my glitch rig and was asking myself, if the device will work without any converter with PAL. Where are you from? Do you use the device with NTSC only? Also - will a simple stepdown converter for the power be enough? I'm from germany, so there is 230V here, instead of 110V in the USA.

Thank you!
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  #9  
05-10-2021, 10:06 AM
aitso aitso is offline
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i'm based in canada. i presume converters will work, but i've never brought any of my gear on tour. if you ask tachyons+ about it, he'll likely know what you need. chances are you'll need a stepdown for power, and you'll need pal->ntsc in, and ntsc->pal out.

there are some builders in europe that are working with pal gear though if you're after something specifically pal. pushkar and mezkalin come to mind.
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