Long before trippy visualizers and computer animation, before liquid light shows or laser parties, Thomas Wilfred was building organs for visuals. He called the
art they produced Lumia, and the instrument Clavilux – a keyboard for light.
That first instrument was built all the way back in 1919. But unlike a lot of the spectacles of the era, this one is still hypnotic today, even after all the advances of cinema and computing.
Drawing on a tradition that included displays of fire and fireworks, and the ability to place sound “at the command of a skilled player at a piano,” Wilfred found a way to produce a visual instrument, apparently after first toying as a child with prisms.
The actual mechanism is strikingly sophisticated. The Clavilux beams light through lenses and tinted screens to reshape abstract patterns of colored light.
Depending on the variant, the organ included three manuals. Each key can then be set to one of 100 positions – a digital system not unlike MIDI, in fact (with 128). In place of just a note head, the keys would have chords with numbers, with lines on a staff as on a piano.
The inventor’s predictions were more than a little off, as he imagined this abstract art form would take its place next to music concerts and moviegoing in “a few years.” But now, in 2015, it seems its time is right. The culture is ready. And no, not just through the ingestion of drugs – I heard a talk once by the Joshua Light Show where the creators were quick to say that they stayed sober; they had to in order to perform. These techniques produce optical stimulation without any substance. You just need an audience ready to embrace abstract dances of light.
And a new generation of artists are rediscovering these techniques. I can imagine two motivations. Firstly, if performances are meant to be transporting experiences, away from our everyday world, there’s a clear desire to escape the screens that now dominate that world – computer, tablet, TV, phone, and public displays.
Secondly, visual artists are now so comfortable with computer techniques that augmenting their skills with optical techniques is possible. And with a full understanding of what digital media can and can’t do, one finds a new appreciation of the unique possibilities of the optical. (Just don’t say analog, which in music and visual synthesis means specific manipulation of voltage: optical is its own, separate field providing all the potential of lens and lighting.)
But even more than those motivations to go optical, this stuff is singularly beautiful by any standard. Now, audiences are ready for abstract visual art in motion. Just as sounds that would once have started riots are welcome, that music that breaks entirely from previous tradition is festival fare, we live in a world where we’re ready to process visual stimulation without narrative or figurative function.
See: Birth of Music Visualization (Apr, 1924) [Modern Mechanix, an excellent blog, from way back in 2007]
The black-and-white images here come from an April 1924 article on the technique. The videos are from his Lumia series. You can buy DVDs (and even institutional licenses for public performance) from clavilux.org.
The videos are modern restorations.
Wilfred even envisioned a “home” tabletop edition called the Luminar. Yes, please. I want this a lot more than I want a TV.
Imagine watching this whilst being doped up on a “legal cough medicine” from around that time 😉
Ahh – the Romalar CF days of the late 60’s for me. Wild times. I ran a light show company then too. They often didn’t mix well (at least operating the show part).
Imagine watching this whilst being doped up on a “legal cough medicine” from around that time 😉
Ahh – the Romalar CF days of the late 60’s for me. Wild times. I ran a light show company then too. They often didn’t mix well (at least operating the show part).
Imagine watching this whilst being doped up on a “legal cough medicine” from around that time 😉
Ahh – the Romalar CF days of the late 60’s for me. Wild times. I ran a light show company then too. They often didn’t mix well (at least operating the show part).
Really beautiful. I dabbled with liquid light shows a little and really enjoyed the living flowing nature of the results. Are you aware of Fred Judd’s Chromasonics? You can get a glimpse of it here – https://vimeo.com/32199187 and find out more here http://videocircuits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fc-judd.html
Really beautiful. I dabbled with liquid light shows a little and really enjoyed the living flowing nature of the results. Are you aware of Fred Judd’s Chromasonics? You can get a glimpse of it here – https://vimeo.com/32199187 and find out more here http://videocircuits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fc-judd.html
Really beautiful. I dabbled with liquid light shows a little and really enjoyed the living flowing nature of the results. Are you aware of Fred Judd’s Chromasonics? You can get a glimpse of it here – https://vimeo.com/32199187 and find out more here http://videocircuits.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/fc-judd.html
Why isn’t this post in CDMotion?
Because the whole point is to have one CDM.
Stay tuned…
Thanks Peter. Sorry for the prodding. We’re getting anxious 😉
It’s a really slow butterfly moth thingy really 🙂
Why isn’t this post in CDMotion?
Because the whole point is to have one CDM.
Stay tuned…
Thanks Peter. Sorry for the prodding. We’re getting anxious 😉
It’s a really slow butterfly moth thingy really 🙂
Why isn’t this post in CDMotion?
Because the whole point is to have one CDM.
Stay tuned…
Thanks Peter. Sorry for the prodding. We’re getting anxious 😉
It’s a really slow butterfly moth thingy really 🙂
These were used in Star Trek often for the displays of sentient computers. I have made a few of the cycling abstract ones back in the psychedelic era. The simple ones were projector bulbs (or other very bright bulbs) directed through slowly rotating color gels and bounced off multiple slowly rotating warped mirror surfaces (usually reflective mylar glued to rotating disc) and then ending up projecting onto a frosted piece of plexiglas from behind. The rotating systems all had their own motors and all ran at different rates so it was an incredibly long time before they ever became in sync and repeated. They would make these wonderful amorphous multi-colored clouds on the screen. Lovely stuff that went well with lava lamps etc. I bet you could make a great one today with different colored LED lasers or other lamps and cycle the colors to match music etc.
These were used in Star Trek often for the displays of sentient computers. I have made a few of the cycling abstract ones back in the psychedelic era. The simple ones were projector bulbs (or other very bright bulbs) directed through slowly rotating color gels and bounced off multiple slowly rotating warped mirror surfaces (usually reflective mylar glued to rotating disc) and then ending up projecting onto a frosted piece of plexiglas from behind. The rotating systems all had their own motors and all ran at different rates so it was an incredibly long time before they ever became in sync and repeated. They would make these wonderful amorphous multi-colored clouds on the screen. Lovely stuff that went well with lava lamps etc. I bet you could make a great one today with different colored LED lasers or other lamps and cycle the colors to match music etc.
These were used in Star Trek often for the displays of sentient computers. I have made a few of the cycling abstract ones back in the psychedelic era. The simple ones were projector bulbs (or other very bright bulbs) directed through slowly rotating color gels and bounced off multiple slowly rotating warped mirror surfaces (usually reflective mylar glued to rotating disc) and then ending up projecting onto a frosted piece of plexiglas from behind. The rotating systems all had their own motors and all ran at different rates so it was an incredibly long time before they ever became in sync and repeated. They would make these wonderful amorphous multi-colored clouds on the screen. Lovely stuff that went well with lava lamps etc. I bet you could make a great one today with different colored LED lasers or other lamps and cycle the colors to match music etc.
very helpful information..thank you for nice sharing!
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very helpful information..thank you for nice sharing!
Wavepad Sound Editor keygen
very helpful information..thank you for nice sharing!
Wavepad Sound Editor keygen
Ooh. And look at a few of the Clavilux color wheels: http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2804M/lots/262.
Ooh. And look at a few of the Clavilux color wheels: http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2804M/lots/262.
Ooh. And look at a few of the Clavilux color wheels: http://www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2804M/lots/262.
Gorgeous !
But now we’re in 2015. Who makes easy-to-use ( no PD/MSP programming kind of stuff please ) software capable of generating similar evolving asbtract images with such fluidity, preferably with optional hardware control ? And i really mean “generates” , not just mix pre-made images and films like the present VJ software.
Names please ! Come on, there must be someone making something similar somewhere.
Actually, U&I software has for some time – Mac platform only. Metasynth and ArtMatic can work together for all these effects.
http://www.uisoftware.com/PAGES/uimain.html
Ah yes, I played with Metasynth years ago ( maybe a decade ago ). But AFAIK these two are not real-time , you need to render the output first.
Gorgeous !
But now we’re in 2015. Who makes easy-to-use ( no PD/MSP programming kind of stuff please ) software capable of generating similar evolving asbtract images with such fluidity, preferably with optional hardware control ? And i really mean “generates” , not just mix pre-made images and films like the present VJ software.
Names please ! Come on, there must be someone making something similar somewhere.
Actually, U&I software has for some time – Mac platform only. Metasynth and ArtMatic can work together for all these effects.
http://www.uisoftware.com/PAGES/uimain.html
Ah yes, I played with Metasynth years ago ( maybe a decade ago ). But AFAIK these two are not real-time , you need to render the output first.
Gorgeous !
But now we’re in 2015. Who makes easy-to-use ( no PD/MSP programming kind of stuff please ) software capable of generating similar evolving asbtract images with such fluidity, preferably with optional hardware control ? And i really mean “generates” , not just mix pre-made images and films like the present VJ software.
Names please ! Come on, there must be someone making something similar somewhere.
Actually, U&I software has for some time – Mac platform only. Metasynth and ArtMatic can work together for all these effects.
http://www.uisoftware.com/PAGES/uimain.html
Ah yes, I played with Metasynth years ago ( maybe a decade ago ). But AFAIK these two are not real-time , you need to render the output first.
This is gorgeous. Thank you for this article.
This is gorgeous. Thank you for this article.
This is gorgeous. Thank you for this article.
Wilfred was a genius. First saw his work in around 2002, oddly enough at a MOCA exhibition which I happened to go to with Bebe Barron and two other people. We were all floored – the Clavilux just slayed us. It looked as if Wilfred had somehow managed to capture cosmic/star matter in his device, endlessly changing and moving. Timeless beauty.
Wilfred was a genius. First saw his work in around 2002, oddly enough at a MOCA exhibition which I happened to go to with Bebe Barron and two other people. We were all floored – the Clavilux just slayed us. It looked as if Wilfred had somehow managed to capture cosmic/star matter in his device, endlessly changing and moving. Timeless beauty.
Wilfred was a genius. First saw his work in around 2002, oddly enough at a MOCA exhibition which I happened to go to with Bebe Barron and two other people. We were all floored – the Clavilux just slayed us. It looked as if Wilfred had somehow managed to capture cosmic/star matter in his device, endlessly changing and moving. Timeless beauty.
Good stuff…. …I “invented” a “light piano” (really just a series of microswitches) to use in my own ’60s light show, so my hat’s way off to this guy who was much more visionary….
….tho’ my notion was and still is for light and music to work together to produce something more, uhh, synthesthetic than either….
Good stuff…. …I “invented” a “light piano” (really just a series of microswitches) to use in my own ’60s light show, so my hat’s way off to this guy who was much more visionary….
….tho’ my notion was and still is for light and music to work together to produce something more, uhh, synthesthetic than either….
Good stuff…. …I “invented” a “light piano” (really just a series of microswitches) to use in my own ’60s light show, so my hat’s way off to this guy who was much more visionary….
….tho’ my notion was and still is for light and music to work together to produce something more, uhh, synthesthetic than either….
In the early 1980s, before Laserium (remember that?), I had several lasers, HeNe (red) and also a HeCd (made a beautiful violet colored beam). The beams were maneuvered with a pair of analog driven x/y (x/y & y/z) front surface mirrors, and some unusual “homemade” curved reflectors . . . which could respond to various audio signals. And yes, I was using tube amps . . . those were the days
In the early 1980s, before Laserium (remember that?), I had several lasers, HeNe (red) and also a HeCd (made a beautiful violet colored beam). The beams were maneuvered with a pair of analog driven x/y (x/y & y/z) front surface mirrors, and some unusual “homemade” curved reflectors . . . which could respond to various audio signals. And yes, I was using tube amps . . . those were the days
In the early 1980s, before Laserium (remember that?), I had several lasers, HeNe (red) and also a HeCd (made a beautiful violet colored beam). The beams were maneuvered with a pair of analog driven x/y (x/y & y/z) front surface mirrors, and some unusual “homemade” curved reflectors . . . which could respond to various audio signals. And yes, I was using tube amps . . . those were the days