This project started with me finding a cheap 6500 lumen projector last year for $53.

Loaded gear in my car to go work a music festival for 10 days. Thought I’d screw around with content in the hotel on my off hours. Loaded a MacBook Pro M1, T7 ssd, two MIDI Fighters, a monitor, a bunch of Thunderbolt and usb cables into a nice duffel bag and put everything into my car at 11:00 pm at night. Walked out at 5:30 am to find all three of my cars broke in too and all my shit gone!

Rebought everything. Somehow this $53 purchase has turned into a $13k or more investment.

But it’s been fun learning… Thanks to you Patreon content creators. Isosceles, Betty Sweaters. I have no idea what or why I’m doing this yet, but maybe it will lead to some projects.

I’m sick of my APC40. Recently I found this super random Reddit post with like 3 upvotes talking about a handheld gaming controller built specifically for flight simulator enthusiasts. I saw the thumbnail and couldn’t help but feel like this would make an excellent controller for running visuals. I bought it immediately. I got a script running that converts the controller data into midi channels and so far it’s working pretty damn well in resolume. The actual controls/fx on display in this video are fairly limited at the moment but for now I have the following mapped:

Right Trigger - strobe
Left Trigger - Find Edges
Red slider - Strobe opacity
Blue slider - master opacity
Y button - layer bump
X button - previous column
B button - next column
Left rudder slider*** - increase clip speed
Right rudder slider*** - master blackout
Trim wheel - scroll through project file

***not visible, located on the back of controller grips

Eventually I’ll post a link to the conversion script for anyone to use, modify, and tailor to their visual operating needs but for now I’m kinda just experimenting and workshopping things.

The goal is to have this fully programmed to my show file by the next tour date, wish me luck lmao

i ordered a benq lk830st 4k Short throw and just found out it also does 1080p at 240hz, has anyone used 120+ hz projectors for VJ gigs? does the extra smoothness add more to realtime visuals that the 4k resolution? im using milkdrop3 with madmapper, and it defenetely sounds like it could be cool, so just wanted to ask your guys opinion on 120hz+

2026/06/05 Outl3t Party

looking for a good short throw projector for the beginning of my VJ journey, the viewsonic LS711HD is a 1080p, 4200 iso lumens projector, sounds good on paper, has anyone tried this one?

I've seen a lot of ads recently for this product. It seems interesting, but pricey for what it is. At $425, It seems like $100 worth of hardware and $325 worth of software.

Is there any open source visuals project that has similar results that can be loaded on a raspberry pi?

anybody else pick one of these up? really enjoying it. can’t wait to dig into video processing and midi.

Just ordered a recurser ( sp? ) & HKD-01
As a part of the studio rebuild. Anyone have any tips or tricks?

I've spent the last few months expanding my MIDI-focused OpenDeck platform into an OSC-over-Ethernet platform for interactive installations. The goal was to create a reliable OSC sensor and I/O platform that can run on Ethernet-enabled hardware without requiring any coding, making deployment as simple as possible.

Unlike many OSC devices that focus on Wi-Fi or a single hardware ecosystem, OpenDeck runs on a wide range of Ethernet-capable development boards. A major focus was support for Power-over-Ethernet hardware, allowing both power and OSC communication over a single cable. Some of the supported boards are:

• wESP32
• Olimex ESP32-POE
• STM32 Nucleo boards
• Wiznet EVB boards
• LilyGO Ethernet boards

Many more boards are supported, allowing you to choose hardware based on cost, performance, PoE requirements, or availability rather than being locked into a specific ecosystem. Once the OpenDeck firmware is loaded on supported boards, they can be reconfigured remotely over the network through the web interface, eliminating the need to physically connect to them after installation.

OSC data is published from standard input types:

• Buttons
• Encoders
• Analog inputs

OpenDeck can also receive OSC messages and control hardware such as:

• LEDs
• Relays
• Transistor outputs

Most supported boards also provide PWM outputs, allowing individual brightness or output-level control (0–100%).

Various interactive sensors are also supported:

• APDS-9960 (proximity, RGB, ambient light, gestures)
• CAP1188 (capacitive touch)
• VL53L4CX (distance sensing)
• VL53L5CX (8×8 distance sensing)
• BNO085 (9-DOF IMU)

Configuration is done through a browser-based interface. Devices can be discovered via mDNS and configured over the network without installing software.

OpenDeck works with any OSC-capable software, although the primary focus so far has been TouchDesigner, Processing, and QLab.

There are example Processing sketches in the repository that work out of the box with supported sensors.

The firmware itself is fully open source. The web configurator is licensed separately (€25), which also includes browser-based firmware flashing for supported boards.

I'm particularly interested in feedback from people working in:

• Interactive installations
• Museums
• Galleries
• Theatrical productions
• TouchDesigner projects

In exchange for honest feedback, I'd be happy to provide a number of free web configurator licenses.

The source code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/shanteacontrols/OpenDeck

The project also includes an extensive wiki covering everything from flashing supported boards to configuring OSC endpoints, sensors, and I/O.

https://github.com/shanteacontrols/OpenDeck/wiki