2009quicktime video looper
a quick-and-dirty applescript which turns quicktime pro 7 into a live video looping tool. there are a few pieces of hardware that can do realtime video looping, but they are either very expensive (edirol P-10, korg kaptivator) or discontinued (kaoss pad entrancer).
the script functions like this:
1. press the spacebar to start recording the incoming video
2. press spacebar again to stop recording
3. the recording will play back at full screen, looped
4. hold option+spacebar to close recording and return to step 1
this isn’t anything that you couldn’t already do with quicktime pro, but the script means you can control loop-making and playback with a lot less key-presses and shortcut-keystrokes that you would normally need. audio is also recorded, and all the loops you make are saved to disk, so it’s also good for capturing entire mixes.
download quicktime video looper applescript
my set-up:
i run the script on an old G4 powerbook, and use it to create on-the-fly loops of my live video mix. i use these loops as an alternative video source while switching presets in my vj software on my main computer.
i take an s-video signal from a macbook pro running vdmx and feed into into bus A on a panasonic WJ-AVE video mixer. one of the s-video mix-outputs on the mixer goes to the projector. the other s-video output goes to a canopus dv-bridge, then by firewire into the powerbook G4 running the looper script. the s-video output from the powerbook goes into bus B on the video mixer.
format and settings:
in my case, the incoming video is dv format, via firewire from a canopus advc100 video bridge, although the input could be from any any device that is recognised by quicktime. you can select your input device in quicktime->preferences->recording. set quality to ‘device native’ for best results. i also turned on mirroring in the display preferences, so that i can use the laptop screen to monitor the video output while loops are playing.
depending on the format of your video output, you might also want to experiment with the resolution and options in the display preferences for your video output. for me, using the powerbook’s built-in s-video output, 640×480 worked best. i also checked ‘best for video’ and ‘overscan’ in the ‘options’ tab for the 2nd display.
note: as mentioned above, the script is very rough, and it does throw some kind of error which makes the system alert sound over and over while the loop is playing back. my ultra technical solution was to mute the sound. it doesn’t quit gracefully if no video source is attached, or if you close quicktime. i would welcome any input/code/suggestions on improving it.
i haven’t had a play with quicktime x yet, but i understand that it has lost a few of the current features, so i’m unclear as to whether it will be possible to modify this script to work with it. as i understand it, quicktime pro 7 can still be installed on macs running snow leopard.