Request for advice / assistance on a video circuit bending project
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Blacklava
Apr 15, 2015, 3:31:23 PM4/15/15
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Hello all,
I am very new to this forum and to the Hackspace itself so apologies if I am going about this the wrong way!
I am currently looking into becoming a member with hopes of using the facilities to work on a video circuit bending project that I am in the process of dreaming up. Specifically, I am interested in working with VHS tapes to create some glitched visuals with the end goal of producing both moving image work and probably a book of still images.
I have done some research into different techniques used to produce these glitched video effects and so far the routes I have considered include -
- Circuit bending a VHS camcorder
- Circuit bending either a VCR or television (though I am aware this is dangerous as these appliances are connected to the mains)
- Using a video mixer to layer different signals over one another
- Simply damaging VHS tapes to produce strange effects
- and finally producing a 'Glitch Synth' similar to one of the products shown here - http://tachyonsplus.tumblr.com/ , some of which seem to have been made by circuit bending video equalisers.
My problem is that I am not very tech savvy and a complete novice with regards to circuit bending (outside of my research), so I am hoping there might be someone here with some experience in the above or with video circuit bending projects in general who might be willing to advise or even assist me with this project?
I should probably mention that I am only really interested in working with VHS tapes and the related hardware. I know these effects can be easily replicated on a computer but I would personally like to keep this project strictly analogue!
Anyway, sorry for the long post, looking forward to hearing from some of you!
R
Adrian Godwin
Apr 15, 2015, 3:43:03 PM4/15/15
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I saw some excellent video circuit bending a while ago by Iain Sharp, now at Nottingham hackspace. he was using '80s video mixers. Tasos at the Music hackspace is also good at audio circuit bending and may well know about video too.
Mains is only dangerous if you don't know what you're doing, but you admit to that. It's fine to work on live mains devices - you can't really circuit-bend on something unpowered - but you first need to learn how to recognise the dangerous bits. If that's not practical, stick to battery devices, or devices with an external power supply.--
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Blacklava
Apr 21, 2015, 10:27:42 AM4/21/15
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Hi there,
thanks so much for getting back to me on this and sorry for my late reply, my post got buried and I did realise anyone had responded to me!
Thats really useful, I will look into contacting both of these people. As for the mains bending problems, I assumed as much, since I have seen videos of people who clearly know their stuff with mains connected circuit bent VCRs that work really well but yes, like you said I am a beginner so perhaps I best avoid those for now!
Chris Neale
Apr 21, 2015, 11:01:12 AM4/21/15
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You might find this interesting / useful as an introduction to how video recorders work, an episode from The Secret Life of Machines.
The whole series is excellent, you can easily lose an afternoon watching these.
The whole series is excellent, you can easily lose an afternoon watching these.
Tom Newsom
Apr 21, 2015, 11:20:18 AM4/21/15
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Video feedback is one of the most interesting and immediately-rewarding "hacks" you can do with analogue video signals. Check this out:
All done just by pointing a camera at a screen that displays the camera output. Put some controls in between the two and you've got your own analogue video synthesiser. Something I've wanted to do since the early 90s when I played around with my dad's camcorder :)
Toby Catlin
Apr 21, 2015, 11:30:33 AM4/21/15
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All Hail the hypnotoad
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Blacklava .
Apr 22, 2015, 1:15:07 PM4/22/15
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Amazing, thanks for sharing this,
I've been consuming just about every video I could find on the subject but am yet to come across this. Looking forward to checking it out!
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Blacklava .
Apr 22, 2015, 1:25:25 PM4/22/15
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Yes I am amazed by some of the results I have seen with this technique! Currently in the process of buying myself a camera so that I can start experimenting and making some of these myself.
One video in particular that interested me with regards to creating these feedback effects was the below. It seems the videos creator has some how managed to combine one of these feedback experiments with some existing material already on a VHS tape by recording over the top. He even went a little way towards explaining his process (you may notice me asking for more info in the comments section) but for the life of me I cant figure out exactly how he might have got this effect.. If anyone here can shed any light I would be more than grateful!
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Tom Newsom
Apr 23, 2015, 4:36:52 AM4/23/15
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I remember that the key to making really interesting patterns was to use the "invert" effect on the camera, so that in the most basic setup of pointing the camera square-on to the screen, you got a receding "tunnel" of black and white rectangles. If you then tilt the camera, the tunnel "twists" into a spiral shape (at a rate of 50 rectangles/second - you see the twist "race" down the tunnel). I'm pretty sure that's how the stark black & white images were generated in the video I linked to.
Tom Newsom
Apr 23, 2015, 4:51:34 AM4/23/15
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You will find this paper from 1984 of interest: http://csc.ucdavis.edu/~cmg/papers/Crutchfield.PhysicaD1984.pdf
Blacklava
Apr 29, 2015, 10:29:09 AM4/29/15
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Amazing, thanks again for getting in contact, I will definitely check out that paper. Cheers!
tek...@hotmail.com
Apr 30, 2015, 4:58:38 PM4/30/15
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I'm no artist but having lived through every domestic video format here's a brief summary of what i know.
There are lots of ways of screwing up an analogue video signal. Capture, storage, transmission, and display all create unique anomalies that cant be recreated elsewhere in the signal chain.
All CCD cameras are digital, and all late era VCR's have time base correctors, noise reduction, colour correction that digitaly process the picture
Older equipment relied far less on servos and pll's and more on manual controls, so there are tons more potentiometer adjustment points for screwing up or enhancing the signal.
Tube based cameras, vidicon etc had a totally different "look" to later CCD cameras. They saturated and smeared with bright lights and the tube rattled to the beat when exposed to loud music.
If you have ever tried extracting a mangled tape out of a VCR, you will know difficult it is to do anything with the tape in it's shell.
Track down some of the early 70's AKAI and SONY, Panasonic open reel video recorders. These are similar scanning head devices to cassette based VCRs but the tape and heads are exposed. (Not to be mistaken with the broadcast 1" and C formats, whose machines were the size of refrigerators).
I have an AKAI VT100, from 1968, and the later colour VT150, They are pretty easy to keep running; but even when perfectly calibrated, the picture qualiy is still "shite" by modern standards.
Cable lengths, cable types, and over the air links all affected the way things looked, so there's a lot of room for experimentation there.
I dont know if anything i've written constitutes as circuit bending, but one man's art is the maintenance tech's brain ache; or something like that.
Good luck
Hywel
There are lots of ways of screwing up an analogue video signal. Capture, storage, transmission, and display all create unique anomalies that cant be recreated elsewhere in the signal chain.
All CCD cameras are digital, and all late era VCR's have time base correctors, noise reduction, colour correction that digitaly process the picture
Older equipment relied far less on servos and pll's and more on manual controls, so there are tons more potentiometer adjustment points for screwing up or enhancing the signal.
Tube based cameras, vidicon etc had a totally different "look" to later CCD cameras. They saturated and smeared with bright lights and the tube rattled to the beat when exposed to loud music.
If you have ever tried extracting a mangled tape out of a VCR, you will know difficult it is to do anything with the tape in it's shell.
Track down some of the early 70's AKAI and SONY, Panasonic open reel video recorders. These are similar scanning head devices to cassette based VCRs but the tape and heads are exposed. (Not to be mistaken with the broadcast 1" and C formats, whose machines were the size of refrigerators).
I have an AKAI VT100, from 1968, and the later colour VT150, They are pretty easy to keep running; but even when perfectly calibrated, the picture qualiy is still "shite" by modern standards.
Cable lengths, cable types, and over the air links all affected the way things looked, so there's a lot of room for experimentation there.
I dont know if anything i've written constitutes as circuit bending, but one man's art is the maintenance tech's brain ache; or something like that.
Good luck
Hywel
Adrian Godwin
Apr 30, 2015, 5:01:47 PM4/30/15
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I believe there's a Tektronix video waveform monitor in the hackspace. It's not essential to circuit bending, but it may help you retain colour while distorting the picture. I last saw it under the electronics bench, but I don't know where it is now.
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Lester Hawksby
May 1, 2015, 5:20:26 AM5/1/15
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Is that the monitor-plus-PAL-vectorscope unit with two CRTs? If so it got NOD'd, exceeded its notification time and was going to be binned, so I took it home as it seemed too good to waste. I will happily bring it back if it can be marked as Space equipment and someone's prepared to take responsibility for it - Blacklava?
Best
Lester
Best
Lester
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