New virtual DJ set by Visualprime | Made with Depence

New virtual DJ set by Visualprime | Made with Depence

Together with lighting operator Tobias Reinartz as well as laser operator Milan Spira, Uwe Schröder from German show design studio Visualprime created a new virtual show experience by relying on Syncronorm’s multimedia show design & control software system Depence. The main idea of the “ANGST & BANGER” virtual show set, was to create a case study, of what’s possible in the world of XR and virtual workflows. Aiming at highest quality and flexibility, the challenge was to realize a virtual DJ set within just 24 hours. The creatives wanted to test, if it would be possible to transport a canceled or rescheduled live show into the virtual world all spontaneously and all there is to say is, that it is totally possible!

For this reason, the DJ duo “Angst & Banger” from Cologne, Germany was signed for the project,  which turned to be quite the experiment since in VR everything is possible. As planning and having a functional and flawless workflow is key to a show production company such as Visualprime, the team also set out to test the creation process under special circumstances. They not only measured the time to set up a fully functioning “show”, but also tried to find points of friction within the setup of their equipment as well as overall design approach. In cooperation with DSLMedia, also based in Cologne, the DJs were placed before a mobile green screen setup. The recordings then went unfiltered into the Depence software.

As far as the show is concerned, the artist is always the center of attention. Visualprime attaches great importance to this approach when designing a show, as their main goal is to support the artist's vision with their lighting and video content design and to visually convey the message of the songs. Decisive "omission" of elements at the right moments creates a balance of light, video and laser, so that each trade can also stand on its own. To that, it was key for Visualprime to not deliver just a perfectly programmed timecode show, but furthermore to catch the live essence of a real DJ set for the show. For this reason, the show was controlled live and was recorded directly into Depence as a DMX stream. The visuals were controlled live too and streamed via NDI into the setup while recording. These were left unedited to keep the live character alive for this show element as well.

As production speed was also tested during the creation of the show, there was no classic type of workflow with CAD planning and export/import into the Depence software. Instead, the whole planning, drawing, the hanging of lamps as well as the mapping of the video screens was done solely in Depence.

“The creation process was quick and flawless […].” – Uwe Schröder, Visualprime

The final rendering was completed in approximately 13 hours and was done directly after the recording session with Depence at the Visualprime studio.