The Video Percussion Synthesizer

With this device, you can play the video while you make a beat. Inspired by a mixture of sound and video synthesis techniques, I wanted to create a performable instrument based on a MIDI drum pad and a pair of sticks. Striking each drum pad synthesizes a drum sound in real-time. Each strike on the six main pads also triggers a video synthesizer to play a video clip. The video layers can be played over each other just like drum sounds. They will interact with each other and can also be manipulated globally via three additional synthesis algorithms dedicated across the top three pads.

Created by Zizza (Nicholas Zampiello) of New Alliance East

How it works

Sound

Put on the headphones. Each of the nine pads triggers a percussion sound. There’s Kick drum, Snare drum, Tom, and Cymbal sounds.
You can play a beat!
Video

Each of the six main square pads has a set of ten different videos associated with it. There’s nature footage, lofi GIFs, vintage rendered CGI, animation, early video games, and historic cultural iconography. You can see how each video progresses if you repeatedly strike one pad. You can also observe how each video evolves in real time. If you hit any pad long enough you will see a different video as the synthesizer randomly selects them over time.
Compose your own video!
Experiment

The top three pads globally change the video processing applied to all six video pads. You may see moving patterns, delayed and repeated squares, or a color-inverted image becoming un-inverted.
Try them to see how they change!