Scallion Shimmer System SG

Scallion Shimmer System SG is an original visual/music experience realised by purely electronic means. The entire video production is realised by video synthesis techniques. The music was composed using a Eurorack modular synthesizer system. The concept of the work was built up from the visuals up rather than by creating a composition using the music track as a reference. The entire work is an experiment in videographic dimensionality. It is the realm of the electronic video image that is the directive force behind the work. The background visuals were entirely composed using an LZX Vidiot stand-alone video synthesizer. The output was recorded in real-time as the various controls were manipulated on the fly. The luminance output was patched back into the LZX unit to create internally-produced feedback effects that manifested themselves as comb or spine-like lines proportional to the shape being generated. The LZX Vidiot is particularly effective for producing electronic "textile weave" repeating patterns that can either be static or scroll in the vertical plane. Many different background textures were created in the process - some like coloured blanket patterns, some monochrome - like dots, squares, lines and oscilloscopic modulations. The rich colours from the LZX unit are very strong and vibrant. The geometric patterns derive from fundamental forms which can then be further modulated. This composition used the LZX Vidiot with no external inputs. All the video imagery was produced using the video oscillators to create the necessary geometries. In the editing process, some of these images were superimposed using non-additive mixing, effectively creating twin images on the screen. Contrasting video modulations were chosen when combining two pattern effects. Some images were combined using an external key function within the Edius video software by Grass Valley. Additional video graphics were superimposed onto the LZX Vidiot backgrounds - such as swirling Spirographic motifs, snowflake and kaleidoscopic motifs, and other forms that resemble spiral or fluidic motions. Graphics were created that attempted to emulate those that could have been computer-generated, particularly computer graphics from the 1970s or 1980s to give a slightly retro feel. The visuals were combined in such a way as to create a sense of unity throughout the work. In this work, the visuals preceded the music track. The music was created by many sound textures created on a customised Eurorack modular synthesizer system. Each texture sequence was recorded with at least eight tracks mixed into a stereo master. The sounds were created by various oscillator sound sources, then processed by a Din Sync Sara VCF with an LFO (triangle wave) controlling the frequency CV of one of the input channels. Some sounds were processed by the low-pass mode, others by the high-pass mode. The LFO had the effect of creating a pseudo VCA as each sound faded out by either the low-pass ot high-pass filtering. Some sounds were created by sine or triangle wave oscillators ring-modulated together, sometimes mixed together (four oscillator sources). More dynamic sounds were created by the MakeNoise DPO using the wavefolder output, and the wave folds or shape being modulated by separate LFOs. The result of this is that each mixed texture contained at least eight sound sources fading up and down using the single filter as a VCA. The oscillators were tuned to create interesting sonic combinations. Sometimes the oscillators were given some subtle FM to give the raw triangle waves more dynamism or brilliance. Some sound textures were ambient in nature, others were quite different - resembling the science fiction Radiophonics from decades past. It was intended to make the sound textures unearthly, strange or otherworldly - almost like a Quatermass science fiction event. The composition as a whole is one of aural and visual dimensionality. The colour pattern space was provided by the LZX Vidiot unit, with added graphic elements superimposed. The music attempted to complement the visuals, evoking the strange or the metaphysical. Towards the end of the work, thoughts about the composition are displayed as animated text, appearing as it is read. The text suggests that the ultimate form of exploration may come about when humans can not only conquer travelling through interstellar space, but when the time arrives to conquer traversing different dimensions. The visuals seem to illustrate a matrix of dimensional structures that manifest, then vanish - the transitory states of the very large and the very small - where geometry is the prime mover, and concepts dictate reality.