Glitch Art Dot Com

Getting started with glitch art video production may seem a little daunting at first but there are really only a couple of key things you need to know. First, we should clarify what we mean when speaking of glitch video production. I am speaking of any video project that incorporates modified or circuit bent video mixers, fx processors, titlers or cameras into the mix.  Speaking of which, this website is infested with them.  If you’re new to glitch video production in general have a look around. While glitch video production does draw some parallels to the world of eurorack video synthesis and video art in general there are some things unique to glitch video production worth mentioning.

Display.

Displays ultimately decide the manner in which your destabilized signals are interpreted. They decide whether you get all those crazy squiggles or the ol’ blue screen of i-can’t-handle-this-shit. CRT TVs are the quintessential display when it comes to broken standard definition video. I design my machines strictly on CRTs and then later test them on other displays as an afterthought. Unless your CRT has digital noise reduction on (dig through the menu and make sure that shit is OFF as a mutherfucker) a CRT will display any signal you throw at it. This is not the case with LCD screens, projectors & capture devices as they all utilize analog to digital conversion and drop your signal rather than try and interpret a corrupted signal. An LCD screen will do it’s best to display corrupted signals but certain FX will create signal dropout for sure. What FX sneak through and at what amount varies from LCD to LCD but this is the same story with all those projectors you want to plug directly into. Projectors are even more touchy and are quick to interpret some corrupted signals as a lack of signal. But don’t worry, all is not lost. This can be worked around with a TBC unit or a cheap video mixer with a TBC in it, but we’ll get to that shortly. Before moving on I’d like to point out that each display type has it’s own flavor and subsequent time/place.  It’s also good to note that results can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and even between sizes when it comes to CRTs.

Time Base Correction.

For stable results when working with LCD screens, projectors and capture devices Time base correction is imperative.  To quote wikipedia, “TBC counteracts errors by buffering the video signal and releasing it at a steady rate.”  In instances where analog signal drop-out would occur a TBC unit, either a standalone box or a video mixer with one in it, would cleanly convert it up in to the digital realms.  A TBC also changes the aesthetic of some FX.  Often times this is the trade off.  The Panasonic WJ-AVE5 for instance has a really weird flavor.  It’s buffer has a very digital glitch feel; pulling out greens, often freezing or strobing the bottom half of your screen.  The Sima SFX-9/10 does a really accurate job of displaying corrupted video.  I find that it is most true to the original effect.  The Videonics MX1 seems to vary over the course of it’s production run.  There are also many stand alone units but the newer ones tend to either drop out to color bars or black (I’m looking at you AVT-8710).  I highly recommend checking out ebay for cheap old rackmount ones often under a hundred bucks.

Video Capture.

You’ve got a couple of ways to record your glitch video.  You can find a display you love and point a DSLR or a camcorder it.  With a little time and care this looks lovely.  It is usually the way I go.  There is a bit of an art to it; getting the right focus, dialing in your moire patterns or eliminating screen banding.  It’s a nice easy way of bumping your video up to HD as well.  If you’d like something a little more practical (or travel handy) you can always go the capture card route.  There are many options to choose from and price varies based on software integration, input varieties, data transfer type, resolution availability and codec support.  I say there is no shame in going the cheaper route for starters, just don’t expect a lot of support or integration into your preferred video editors of choice.

Laptops.

It is inevitable that you will one-day want to process youtube cat footage through your glitch art rig.  It is not that challenging to setup, you just have to dumb that digital signal back down to analog.  How to do it depends on what kind of computation device you are runnin’ over there.  This Macbook Pro I am typing to you on for instance has both a mini-display port or and HDMI port I can utilize.  The mini-display port for instance would require that I use an Apple mini-display to VGA adaptor and then a VGA to composite video adapter.  The HDMI port is a little more straight forward and would only require an HDMI to composite video adapter.  In my case I use the VGA method more often because I have found it to be more reliable.  I have run into a couple of instances where I lose color going from the HDMI converter to certain pieces of glitch gear.  This could be due to the converter I was using.  Haven’t tried them all yet.  You can even create a laptop loop by running out of your display port into your glitch gear and back into your laptop via a capture card.  This can pose some challenges and be a little tricky to setup but I have seen it done.  Despite the latency created utilizing this method it can still be pretty useful.

So these are the basics I want to make sure you know before you dive in but I hope this has been helpful and if you have any BPMC related glitch art video questions do not hesitate to hit me up. Cheers and be well.

Note:  BPMC takes no responsibility for yadda yadda yadda.  Follow the BPMC FB page for future DIY posts.

Welcome to the second installment of the BPMC Do-It-Yourself Series.  Think of these posts as starting points rather than definitive mod guides.  I only took these projects as far as I saw fit for my own purposes.  It is up to you to pick up where I left off and make these machines your own.  Some of what I’d like to explore with this series is the more off the beaten path stuff.  In the first post we highlighted the damned-near-extinct JVC JX titler and while I think it is helpful to see how people approach modifying machines I would like to actually see people getting their hands dirty on this shit.

Which brings us to today’s machine, the not-altogether-impossible-to-find NEC Turbografx 16.  I’m not sure I would say it is my favorite 16 bit piece of hardware considering what developers got up to with the Genesis in it’s final years but it is a really unique machine.  It has an awesome lineup of games, a number of cool peripherals/accessories (cd-rom ooo la-la) & a spicy sleek physique.  While a little price-y compared to it’s peers deals can still be found especially if you don’t mind a little cosmetic damage.  This was a mod of mine from the early twenty-tens and I did up a small batch of three.  Kept one for myself and am dusting it off for the occasion.

If you’ve prodded around a Genesis or a SNES you know what to expect here.  The TGFX16 shreds like any other 16-bit system and serves up a colorful glitch salad of block-y crunch-y color chunkies.  The video starts off with some mangled clock timings in Legendary Axe, followed by a broken-beyond-repair round of Space Harrier.  Sticking with Space Harrier I run through a number of the audio driven effects utilizing the music from the title screen.  From there I’ve included a bunch of corrupted gameplay worth highlighting.

Inside the TGFX16 lies an 8-bit CPU and a dual 16-bit GPU.  There are many points of entry to launch your righteous crocodile clip bite on this thing however I chose to focus on the Hudson Soft HuC6270 VDC as it houses a satisfying number of bends.  Feeding the upper GPU points into one another creates a rich library of stack-able corruptions.  They also respond well to being hit individually with an incoming audio signal.  If you are looking to play it safe this should provide you with all the corrupt graphical entertainment you need.  If you are interested in probing further cautiously take a look around the 270’s side pins for more graphical corruptions, clock-speed control (one of my favorite features) & minor audio corruption (although peep the 280A Hud chip for sound generation).  Bending with a 70 ohm resistor or something in that neighborhood is a good look on the buffer tip.  Before you dig in on your 270, MAP OUT THE GROUND!  The ground lurks.  It lurks!  Follow the traces and make sure none of them connect up to any questionable large green spaces.

Modifying the T16 requires a steady hand and fine wire as you’ll be wiring directly to the chippy to create your corruptions.  If you are comfortable working on wiring up a Genesis then you should be in good shape.  Make sure to use a fine soldering tip and forgo using regular ol’ hookup wire.  If at a loss for tracking down some high-gauge wire just tear apart some SCSI or serial cables as that is what I usually do.  Make sure you give yourself enough length to reach the booster.  If you are afraid of hitting the 270 with too much heat you can trace back the points to the other chips or to the tiny thru-hole terminals and wire them up from there.  If this is the case however you will need to track down some really fine wire, in the 30-36 AWG range, to fit them’ holes.  Make sure to hit those little jammies with some Flux paste.  It can be a challenge to get them to stick.

I did a couple of goofy things for my mod.  I permanently affixed the Turbo Booster to the TGFX16 that way I could wire out my GPU points to the empty spaces in the Booster.  Otherwise if you were to try to house your mods directly in the TGFX16’s housing you’ve only got a sliver of space to utilize.  On the TGFX16 itself there is enough room on the side for some switches however pots might be a stretch.  Having to utilize the Turbobooster is a blessing in disguise.  While they are expensive they really clean up your output audio & video.  The RF out is puppy puke in comparison.  Edge feedback or sync corruption anyone??  With the booster’s guts exposed implementing video amp mods of any sorts are right there waiting for ya.  I’ve wired my points out to a little patchbay and then added a set of patchable knobs of varying resistance values on the other side.  You’ll notice there is a 1/4 jack for audio visualizations.  The white jacks are a little breakout section for the audio signal so that you can either patch the audio directly into the glitch jacks or into the knobs to vary audio feed amounts.

Brief, I know, but there it is.. enough to get started.  I hope you enjoyed the second edition of the BPMC DIY series.  What’s next?  Interested in turning a DVD player into an audio/video synthesizer? Or how about my Atari Video Music mod?  Have a piece of gear in mind?  Let me know via the contact link below.  I hope you enjoyed.  Until then….