Candle Tweaks: CCTV

Candle Tweaks CCTV is a work in progress project of a virtual band. The Band: A drummer, a bassist and a keyboard player. Animated in sync with beats and melodies coming from hardware synthesizers, in this case, an Electribe 2 and a Novation Circuit. Band Members: 

DRUMDROID

Synced with beats and melodies:

1. Eye light

2. Cymbal Ride

3. Hi Hat

4. Snare

5. Kick

6. Body movement

SYNTHDROID

Synced with beats and melodies:

1. Eye light

2. Both hands move up and down depending on the note played

3. Right Hand for any note

BASSDROID

Synced with beats and melodies:

1. Eye light

2. Left Hand for musical notes

3. Right Hand for any note

4. Head follows Left hand

The Music: could be defined as mix of funky/electronic chill hop. 

In this version, a Novation Circuit and en Electribe 2 provide the beats and melodies.However, additional instruments are also present, Microbrute, MB 33 like an electric guitar for example or even vocals.

Example of the current setup:

I’m aiming to have around 45 min of material for a live gig, extendable to 60 min with some jamming.

The Visuals: the aesthetics are inspired by vaporwave, early 2000’s video game 3D graphics and tech demos. 

The software is been developed with Unity, in full 3D. This allows multiple camera shots, real time lighting, particle effects and post processing.

There will be several stages, another example is having a virtual screen in the back projecting a real video feed from a camera showing the performance.

This video feed could also be used to playback video files, for example:

Interaction between Unity and MIDI devices was done with the help of a MIDI plugin: MidiJack, by Keijiro.

What’s next:

The things that I plan to implement in the future

In the visuals:

1. new post processing effects

2. support for audio processing (currently only MIDI is supported)

3. improve character animations

4. improve 3D modeling of characters and assets

5. different sets, stages and backgrounds that change dynamically 

6. evolving visual narrative

In the music:

1. improve sound quality, by EQ and polish

2. add an Ableton project as an extra instrument

3. more songs!

4. special guests

#candletweaks