r/videosynthesis • u/boomstickboomah • 9d ago
Help choosing mixer
Hi y'all.
I am interested in making cool glitchy art videos and want to buy a mixer to play around with. I have some CRT TV's and VCR, but other than that I am a complete newbie to this stuff.
I was thinking about buying this Roland VR-3
Is there something else in this price range that you would suggest instead?
Thanks in advance!
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u/Fluffy-Gift5837 9d ago
For $175? That unit has very limited video ability. I'd look for a V4 if you can swing it. It will cost a bit more but does a LOT more. Maybe something like the panasonic wj-ave5?
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u/S2Krlit_Fever 6d ago
Thats a really useful mixer for that price. I just checked the manual, and it has chroma key and luma key. Thats what you want, especially. That is gonna be your bread and butter with a video mixer. Looks like chroma key has adjustable edge too which is nice. This one has some really nice and useful PnP settings too. The fade knob is also really useful for feedback effects. Most importantly though:
This one has a digital scaler. You can take one of your AV outs, put it through an RGB converter, and then insert it through the "PC in" connection for RGB, and then use the menu to go to the system section then the "PC in" section, where you can adjust the input's horizontal and vertical stretch/position. This is what makes roland mixers extremely useful. It has a really nice built-in scaler.
Also, the converter and the scaler add latency to the feedback signal flow that will delay it just enough to where it has a sort of "fluidity" to it and won't necessarily strobe or stutter as much, especially if you add some sort of color corrector or something in the signal flow later on.
ALSO if you really wanna get into some neat DIY stuff, you can split your RGB cable while doing this, and then run the color-specific wires through some sort of diy adjustable electronic signal boost gain circuit where you can individually adjust red green and blue signals yourself which essentially gives you the same capability as having a videonics VE-1 color equalizer.
Only big downsides to this is that you dont have a T bar for the wipes and theres not a lot of wipes or effects built in. Also no mirroring, which is what makes the more video-dedicated old edirols and rolands so fun. The editor v4 is really good for this but doesnt have that handy scaler in it. The roland v4ex is the best of both worlds here.
HOWEVER
I would say this one is a really good value and would make an excellent beginners tool
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u/boomstickboomah 6d ago
Thanks for such a thought out reply! This all sounds like so much fun.
I think I will probably pull the trigger on this one soon. This subreddit seems cool 😎
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u/S2Krlit_Fever 6d ago
If you do, this would also make a good complement if you ever wanted to throw another mixer in with it, too. Specifically, that built in scaler allows you to adjust the shape and position of your video feedback channel, which allows you to controll how the feedback drifts instead of being limited to one direction only. Without this, typically you'd need an external scaler like the extron ones, but this one has it completely built in.
Side note: if you ever get anything with color settings on it, big plus if it has "chroma phase" or "hue" or "hue rotation". Tint and rgb are useful in their own right, but hue is even more useful because instead of adjusting color balance or tinting the image, it rotates the colors i.e. red becomes green, green becomes blue, blue becomes red.
Why is this useful?
When you use hue rotation in a feedback loop, what happens is that the further you drift away from 0, you will see more and more reactive rainbow shifting because each frame becomes a different color compared to the previous. The further you drift away, the faster this cycle gets. Best part? You can drift in the opposite direction to slow it back down, and then when you drift towards the opposite polarity of that knob, the waves actually REVERSE direction
Typically I like to use a V4EX with a hotronic ap-41 that I scored for dirt cheap. It has color phase on it. With my V4EX, I use the internal scaler to perfectly center the feedback, and I will set up a patch where the foreground is HV flip (gets flipped across a diagonal axis) and the background is V flip. Both channels have feedback and one of theme is set to negative. The result is I can carefully propagate a whirlpool that cycles continuously on its own. Cool part is I can use the color phase knob to not only control how fast it spins but to also control which direction it spins on the fly
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u/thezimkai 9d ago
Get an edirol v4 or panasonic wjave5 but be aware that those things are starting to break down at an increasing rate. You might by a load of duds before finding one that works.
If you have $$$$ you can save up for a lzx/syntonie system. It being made this decade means you will get more life out of it and its reliable.
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u/Slim_Glitchin 9d ago
I repair video units guys. Hit me up at egressfx@gmail.com
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u/thezimkai 9d ago
wrong country but thanks
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u/Slim_Glitchin 9d ago
I bought one of those for $60 with shipping off eBay. Gave it to my buddy. If you’re ever going to use hdmi I recommend the V4EX or the v400hd. You can do a lot with keying and a video “switcher” with feedback. Don’t let these guys steer you wrong. If you can find any video mixer under $200 buy it.
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u/StrayMedicine 3d ago
I used to have a few cheap mixers, but would highly recommend getting at least a Roland V4/V8, or Panasonic WJ MX-30/MX-50 if you want something that will actually give you more depth to grow into
It sucks, but most mixers under $300-400 in the US are pretty shallow
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u/AspergillusTicor 9d ago
The VR-3 is a switcher, not a mixer (well, it has an audio mixer). It can do cool transitions between sources, some FX, and some keying (layering one source over another based on color or luma), but there’s not as much flexibility as a true mixer because it can’t be set to an arbitrary mix (or pause/scrub a transition). That said, it can still be used for glitch art! Typically you’d want to add a camera for feedback and a cheap glitch box to put in the feedback loop or on the main out.