The life of a VJ just doesn’t have the highs and lows of a DJ’s – a
VJ didn’t save anyone’s life last night, but nor are any morose British
pop stars calling for them to be hanged. But what happens when a company
known for designing a simple but respectable DJ application builds a
VJing app designed for DJs? That’s what Algoriddim’s done with Vjay –
read on for our complete review.
App Name: Algoriddim Vjay
Price: $9.99 for a limited time, then $19.99
System Requirements: Apple iPad 2 or iPad 3
Available: Now
Comes with: Small media collection of music videos and visual loops
Compatible Accessories: Griffin DJ Cable for headphone
cueing ($19.99), Numark iDj Live controller ($99.95), and Apple Digital
AV Adapter ($39, HDMI), VGA Adapter ($29), and Composite AV Cable ($39)
for fullscreen video output.
The Good:
Smooth performance with a surprising amount of creative versatility.
Clean, efficient interface makes good use of the space on hand without
cramping the screen. Live recording from the camera or the Vjay main
output can be captured and fed into a deck. Audio cueing and video
output available with optional accessories. Wireless Airplay output to
AppleTV is also an option.
The Bad:
Limited audio mixing features make a public performance including audio a
sketchy proposition. Some playback glitches on the iPad 2 when really
taxing the available real-time features. No option for precluding either
the audio or video from the effects. 1080HD footage is not supported.
The Bottom Line:
This a fun, powerful version 1 VJing app that offers as much or more to
the user as any DJing iPad app. Vjay could realistically be used (for
visuals only) in a real-life professional performance setting.
HOW IT WORKS
With Vjay, Algoriddim presents a clean and elegant interface worthy of
the overall iPad aesthetic. Two video decks on either side bookend the
master output screen in the middle, which is expandable to full screen.
The accompanying crossfader has six selectable mix settings: traditional
Blend, and some somewhat cheesy visual crossfades: Cube, Swap, Grid,
Mosaic, and Push.
With the Settings button in the middle of the screen, you can separate
the audio and video onto two crossfaders, or use a single one for both
audio and video. You can drag the crossfaders with a finger, or tap on a
spot within the crossfader throw to jump to the middle crossfader
setting; the crossfader then will snap back to where it was when you
release your finger—a nice touch. Touching the arrows on either side of
the crossfader starts a gradual auto transition.
The red Record button in the center is also a useful touch. With it
you can record the output of your video mixes and save them to the
iPad’s Camera Roll, where you can then load them back into a video deck
if you like, all on the fly while the A/V clips are rolling.
Another way to add content on the fly is to record live video from
the iPad’s camera. On each video deck, a film icon opens up the video
library, where you can choose the videos packaged with Vjay, videos in
the iPad media library, or videos in the Camera Roll. Choose the Camera
Roll, and then touch the camera icon to open the camera window. You can
then record a video, and add it to the Camera Roll or add it immediately
to the video deck.
If a video has audio on it, you’ll see the audio waveform above the
video screen, and Vjay analyzes the audio’s BPM. The BPM detection was
accurate for tracks with really obvious tempos, but not always spot on
for complex poly-rhythmic material. There is a High-Precision Analysis
BPM detection mode you can turn on in the settings, but it does require
more processing power.
You can add any audio from the iPad’s iTunes library to a video, and
associate that song with a certain video for quick loading later. You
can also set a single cue point within the audio waveform, and then the
cue button will return to that point or to the very beginning if no cue
point is set.
A/V MANIPULATION
In Vjay, any effect, EQ, loop, or other type of manipulation applies
to both the audio and the video. Starting with the upper corners of the
screen, you have four effects available, a slider for effect tweaking,
and a loop setting with 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, and 4 Beat settings.
Then on each video deck screen, a hand icon button opens additional
settings: an X/Y pad for effect and filter manipulation, playback
effects, a mixer with EQ and track gain, and a BPM screen for tempo
manipulation.
Under the BPM screen, you have a ±25% tempo bar, ±Bend buttons, and a
Sync button. For tracks with well-defined tempo, the Sync button was
accurate in syncing up the beats of the audio tracks, however, it
doesn’t automatically detect and sync to a down beat, so you have to try
to finesse that. You can also tap within the waveform to move around,
and the playback will remain synced.

Playback
controls include Reverse, Slowmo, and two speeds of Slice, which are
tempo-synced stutters. All these effects turn on while you press the
buttons, and turn off when you release them. What’s nice is that you can
use all the playback effects simultaneously.
The X/Y FX screen lets you manipulate one of the four main effects
Kaoss Pad-style. Horizontal motion controls the effect parameter, and
vertical motion controls the amount of highpass or lowpass filter.
Here’s how the four main effects and EQ affect both the audio and video:
Strobe
• Applies a tempo-synced white flash to the video.
• Applies a tempo-synced volume up/down pulse to the audio.
• The effect variable controls the speed of the Strobe.
Crush
• Adds pixelation to the video
• Adds a bit-crusher/downsampling effect to the audio.
• The effect variable controls the amount of Crush.
Fisheye
• Adds a bouncing fisheye lens layer over the video.
• Adds a tempo synced LFO phaser (or flanger) to the audio.
• The effect variable controls the size of the fisheye on the video and the speed of the LFO on the audio.
Twirl
• Adds a twisting visual vortex to the video.
• Adds a tempo synced LFO flanger (or phaser) to the audio.
• The effect variable controls the size of the Twirl on the video and the speed of the LFO on the audio.
EQ
• The three-band EQ faders control the levels of blue, green, and red in the video.
• The three-band EQ controls the levels of low, mid, and high frequencies in the audio, as normal.
PERFORMANCE
Vjay requires an iPad 2 or 3; I tested it on a 16GB iPad 2, freshly rebooted and not running other apps.
Overall, the user experience felt
ridiculously smooth and
quite intuitive. An instruction manual was hardly necessary, but there
are links to Tips & Tricks and Algoriddim’s support site within the
settings menu. All the promised features performed as advertised, and
the app seems to only be limited by the necessary restraints imposed by
what’s possible with the iPad’s computing resources.
The only times I experienced glitches in playback was when I was
taxing the iPad’s power considerably. While running two video clips, two
songs, one effect, and with the Recording window open, playback paused
for a split second when I took a screenshot. Also, when running in the
same scenario, there were two slight glitches when beginning and then
ending a live video recording to slot into one of the decks.
If you’re using Vjay to run only visuals, you’ll be able to take
advantage of the videos, effects, and live recording features without
any playback errors. We expect Algoriddim will continue to optimize the
app to make full-load audio and video mixing rock solid as well.
WHAT’S IT GOOD FOR?
Let’s be clear about what we’re talking about when we say VJ. For
many years, a VJ mixed visuals only, often in service to the sometimes
chemically-enhanced ravers and clubbers zoning out to the DJ’s music.
Eventually, technology caught up to allow turtablist-style DJing of
music videos, clearing the way for the Jay E‘s
of the world. Vjay lets you experiment with the latter, modern form of
video DJing, but it’s just not sophisticated enough to take that type of
performance live. For such a performance you need to have not only
video features, but a full-fledged audio DJing feature set, and that’s
understandably not possible now. Vjay is an entertaining and economical
way to experiment with this type of video DJing if you already have an
iPad 2 or 3.
A VJ to accompany a DJ is often a luxury, an afterthought, or
non-existent, and as with DJing, the quality and/or originality of the
source material means just as much or more than what you do with it.
While there really isn’t an iPad DJ app that strikes me as appropriate
for putting on a complete performance in a main stage setting, Vjay
connected to a projector seems perfectly suitable for sprucing up a
visually dull bar night or giving a house party some panache. It’s not
nearly as powerful as the big VJ software programs like Modul8 and
Arkaos, but it’s certainly less expensive and more portable than a VJ
setup consisting of a laptop, software, and one or more controllers.
CONCLUSIONS
As a first release, Vjay offers smooth performance, and a hearty
selection of features. It feels simple at first, but the feature set
blossoms into a lot of creative possibility once you dig into it. I
expect the bell & whistles to ring even louder as Algoriddim adds
more effects and features, but you can’t fault them for holding back a
bit to keep the app running smoothly on the limited iPad hardware. When
it comes to apps that try to boil down a complicated task such as DJing
into a single iPad screen, Vjay deserves your expendable App Store cash
as much as any of them.
For more information on Vjay and to see it in use, visit Algoriddim’s site.
To purchase a copy and read user reviews, check out the App Store page.