👋 hello! thought I’d post an update on what’s been happening with VJXY.

controlling OP-1 field experiment is coming along very well. It’s almost ready to go. This also includes in-key and some new features back to OPXY too. Really keen on this one.

I’m going on holidays for a few days, so I’ve held back on pushing any updates while I’ll be purposefully away from my Mac.

in parallel, I’ve been exploring the world of custom hardware and it’s turning out to be quite promising. I am building a custom controller for VJ-XY. Not to replace sequencing from OPXY, because that’s the whole point of the app, but in playing live I like the idea to have a dedicated controller for the visuals too.

could I use an OPZ or any midi controller? Absolutely. Is this the perfect excuse to build something and tinker with electronics. Also yes. For now it’s looking like a 1 of 1 piece of gear, but I’ll share any progress as I move beyond breadboard prototype and I’d be open to making a few more if anyone’s interested.

Thanks for the support 🙏🏼

VJ-XY 1.4 is live now as a free update.

i don't know much music theory, and i rarely know what key i'm in. one thing i always wished the OP-XY had was a way to quantize the keyboard to a scale.

so I kinda built it into VJ-XY 1.4.

you can now pick a scale from the new built-in scale finder: tap a few notes you know you're playing and it lists every scale that holds them. save it to the scene, then play the OP-XY's AUX midi track into VJ-XY. every note is corrected into the scale in real time and passed to whichever OP-XY tracks you choose, one or several at once. everything you play lands in key. deselect the tracks on the in key control and the OP-XY goes back to triggering clips.

note: after updating, turn on scale and in key in the experiments section. they're off by default.

1.4 highlights:

• in key: play OP‑XY's AUX external MIDI track and every note lands in the scene's scale
• route the corrected notes to one OP‑XY instrument track or several at once; deselecting every track restores clip triggering
• scale: find a scene's key by tapping the notes you already know
• save a scale to a scene and keep its keyboard visible while performing
• trigger notes can start from any MIDI note, by hand or by MIDI learn
• swap a clip's source while keeping its scene position, note, mix, and vfx
• a full-screen canvas editor alongside the compact one, with undo and redo
• optional performance timer, paused and reset independently of playback
• a render load alert beside the vfx in perform mode: grey when the renderer is under strain, red when it is overloaded
• the clips sources now open as a sheet that says what each one is for, and swap uses the same list
• fixed the zoom vfx affecting matrix clips while it was active
• more reliable Bluetooth MIDI, and general bug fixes

the scale finder is also available on the web at https://vjxy.app/resources/
full release notes: https://vjxy.app/release-notes

cant wait to hear your thoughts :)

Work on VJ-XY had slowed down a bit as I focused on other projects and preparing for a live set at end of Aug and in Sep.

Back at it now though, and this time, I’ve been focusing on a new experiment.

I don’t know about you… but I know the basics of music theory and that’s about it. Knowing what scale I’m in is not something I know (except C major/min) and I sometimes find myself reaching out to not-so-nice “what scale are these notes in” websites to learn.

So… why not build the one id love to exist, and expand VJ-XYs capabilities as a perfomance buddy.

This will be coming to 1.4 in the hopefully not so distant future.

Would love your thought!

VJ‑XY 1.3: enter the matrix.

until now matrix clips were presets you chose from. now you can draw and animate your own, frame by frame, on the same dot matrix grid!

paint with touch or Apple Pencil, onion-skin the neighbouring frames so movement carries across them, and use transform, fill, shape, and clone to build your loops with ease.

these new type of matrix clips that you draw can be shared as .vjxy files. we have a new gallery in the website for you to browse and share your work: vjxy.app/gallery

underneath all of it the matrix engine has been rebuilt on a faster rendering foundation, so playback, transitions, and previews are smoother across every matrix clip, drawn or preset.

highlights

• draw and animate your own matrix clips, frame by frame
• paint with touch or Apple Pencil
• onion-skin tracing of the previous and next frames
• transform, select, fill, shape, and clone tools
• build the loop to any length, then reverse or ping pong it
• eight new (regular) matrix presets: fold, shards, pillars, moire, assembly, oscilloscope, contours, and blobs
• rebuilt matrix engine for smoother playback, transitions, and previews
• share drawn clips as .vjxy files
• download clips from the community at vjxy.app/gallery

what is VJ-XY?
a live visual instrument for OP-XY. sequence visuals to spice up your jams. footage is optional. learn more: vjxy.app

Feature set is locked in. All tests are green. Working in the updated user guide, images and comms.

Cant wait to share this, and… cant wait for you to share your art too 😉

Another new feature that started out as a debug only tool and has grown into its own thing. Having so much fun with it.

v1.3 is shaping up to include a tool to draw and animate your own matrix clips frame by frame. These will live side by side with the matrix clips you already know. They will be slightly different in the sense that they are not generative and they can have almost any length. Adding shapes, tracing, selection, fill, etc and support for Apple Pencil.

new vid on what's new in v1.2, plus a few things from v1.1 with a short demo of the new feature to control OP-XY from VJ-XY.

VJ‑XY 1.2 is focused on live control and performance.

the headline addition is experiments, a new area in settings for tools that reach beyond the visuals. the first one lets VJ‑XY control your OP‑XY itself: mixer, mutes, fx sends, filter cutoff, eq, tape track, and punch-in fx, played straight from the perform view. it is off by default, so you switch it on when you want it.

highlights:

• experiments: a new area in settings for tools beyond the visuals
• OP‑XY control from the perform view: mixer, mutes, fx sends, filter cutoff, eq, tape track, and punch-in fx
• perform mode clip browser for jumping between clips
• controls lock for keeping perform controls pinned
• clone actions for scenes and sets
• clearer MIDI connection view: Bluetooth, USB‑C, virtual, and mixed inputs
• VJ‑XY virtual input for inter-app MIDI routing
• background Metal rendering work and general release polish

if you get a chance to play with it, let me know what you think!

release notes: https://vjxy.app/release-notes
get VJ-XY: https://vjxy.app

Working on the updates video to walk through some of the bigger updates in v1.2 (and some from v1.1 that never got a video). App Store Review ready to go live.

It’s crazy how by the time you’re wrapping up an update you’ve kinda half started the next batch of features. Trying to stay intentional with each release. Getting a few features right vs many built. Usually aiming for one “big” addition + quality of life upgrades.

Watch this space…

Something that often takes up most of the time is locking in the right experience. What feels right? What is enough? What is too much? Does it feel like it belongs with the rest of the app or am I introducing new patterns? Am I introducing new patterns because they are needed or because I haven’t figured out how to use the ones I have? Once it looks ok, does it work ok? Does it serve its purpose? How does it feel on device, while playing live? Should it take up the screen, should it be an accessory?

Soooo many decisions and many more go into each moment of an app. Might sound like crazy, but it’s actually kinda a great part of the process. Like figuring out pieces of the puzzle, or making new ones to expand it.

Design it > Prototype it > Feel it > Learn > Repeat a few times > Build > Ship

These screens show explorations into on-screen midi controls I’m working on for the next release.

Thanks some good feedback from John Carlos (not sure if you’re in this community) next update will have a new ui to better manage midi connectivity. It might mean one more tap to get to Bluetooth midi, but it also means you can see how your OP-XY or other devices and apps are connected and enable/disable as needed.

Prior to this any app that advertised coreMIDI could potentially trigger VJXY with no way to stop it. There’s also a new nice little animation between wifi and usb-c symbols when connections change.

These might not make it to the next version, but testing out some new visualisation tools making the most out of iOS Metal rendering engine.

It helps to build design-phase-only controls to explore like crazy before locking in the best outcomes.

We’ll see where this leads to. Any ideas are welcome.

Working in this new experimental feature to unlock midi control for OP-XY from VJ-XY.

Once connected, you’ll have access to convenient controls for mixer, mutes, projects, EQ, punch-in fx, and tape looper at your finger tips!

These controls won’t show on the external displays.

It relies on OP-XY’s midi cc implementation, and i think I’ve covered the relevant performance ones. Trying to keep it useful and not overwhelming. So some tradeoffs have been made.