Video Visual Jockey
Posted: November 8, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a commentThe goal of pressure project three was to create a patch, or collection of patches, that are controlled through a MIDI device. The controls should be used to create a visual experience through music, like a DJ but for visuals, a visual jockey.
We were given a MIDI control board to test out, and we mainly focused on using the knobs and sliders on the board to transform and manipulate 3D models, and a brief test on lighting. I felt I had a good knowledge of those nodes and wanted to expand my knowledge with other nodes.
I enjoy video editing, and I knew TouchDesigner had built-in filter options, so I decided to use the MIDI controller to manipulate filters, speed, and effects on the videos I input.
My knowledge was slim to start out, so I lightly followed a tutorial on using the pixilate controller node. This ended up teaching me about other nodes like matte, edge, and a few other nodes that can be used to manipulate others.
I used this base knowledge of how filters work to toy with other filters like time machine and change to color. I feel like as much as tutorials are helpful for specific issues, toying around with TouchDesigner is such a major part of furthering your knowledge and creating something that is new and unique.
I wanted mine to feel unique to me, so I used different videos that I found resonated with me or my interests, while also keeping the emotion in mind of the songs it would be used for. I knew matching the visuals to the feeling of the audio was a major part, so I wanted to make sure I covered all bases when it came to matching the vibe of the audio. I used the switch node, activated with blending, to glide through my videos.
I toyed with the idea of incorporating 3D visuals overtop or between the videos, but I found I just couldn’t really get the moving visuals of my filters to cohesively flow with any sort of particles or full models. I had tried to overlay the video visuals on top of models, but it just felt too messy and not really visually appealing.
My final project resulted in the blending of the filters and videos made through the use of the MIDI keyboard. The colors, visuals, speed, and other effects can match the vibe of the song depending on how good the visual jockey is, which I definitley have more progress to make. Next time, I want to try and map my board more clearly and focus on how it can manipulate my visuals more. Overall, I just want to be a better visual jockey.
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