Resolume 2.4

Everyone’s favourite VJing app, Resolume, is back with it’s latest and greatest 2.4 upgrade. But don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s only a point upgrade, rather than a full one, as this new version sports both a complete rewrite and added functionality…and what’s more, it’s free to existing 2.x users!

MC Rebbe the Rapping Rabbi reviews resolume 2.4 in the Technofile

If you’re not familiar with Resolume, you can checkout my review of  V2.2 here. As for what’s new…4 major tings.

Firstly a BPM clock has been introduced that allows you to synchronise playback of video clips and animate effect parameters to the tempo of the music…allegedly. It does work, but counter intuitively, something that’s not helped by poor documentation, or the fact that  the main BPM controls have been placed on a separate tab, rather than on the audio tab, where they logically belong.  You can tap in a tempo (though it’s hard to get your timing spot on this way), enter a value manually (which is rock solid), or synchronise to an external MIDI clock source, but if you  are thinking of trying to get Resolume to autosync to the tempo of an audio sequencer running on the same computer, forget it. 

Having a BPM clock is as welcome as strangers in my tent, so full marks for adding one, but a little more user friendliness (or failing that, at the very least, better documentation) would go a long way…and rewireability would go an even longer way…longer even than my camel on a full tank of water.

Next up is DMX implementation, which allows Resolume both to be controlled by DMX signals and, better still,  to send DMX data from flash movies…nice one! Of course DMX integration isn’t new to VJing. Arkaos has offered this for a little while now, but they charge an arm and a leg for the privilege,  whereas Resolume have included it for free, enabling you to integrate lights, strobes, lasers, moving heads, LED panels and any other DMX compatible device, with your visuals.

Thirdly, there’s a useful new overlay mode called AlphaLuma which effectively makes the darker parts of an image more transparent than the lighter ones by determining the alpha value of the luminance of  each pixel.

And finally, as mentioned above, the Resolume engine has been completely rewritten, resulting in significantly faster playback and greater stability. That’s not to say that Resolume is uncrashable…I managed it fairly easily just by attempting to load a large movie, but it is, nevertheless, a significant improvement…and one that’s not just limited to the visuals… audio responsiveness has been greatly improved too.

There has also been a bunch of bug fixes and numerous minor improvements, my favourite of which being that Resolume now recognizes multiple physical and virtual drives without any problems…and my least favourite being that tab names have been replaced with icons (bring the words back). But overall 2.4 is a serious improvement…and better value for money than ever.

So now all we need is better MIDI implementation, rewirability…and 16 layers of real time HD…Bring it on!

MC Rebbe the Rapping Rabbi awards Resolume 2.4, 4.5 bagels in The Technofile

More info: www.resolume.com

 

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