Introducing Modulaser: the semi-modular laser synth

I’m a designer/developer and for the past 2 months I’ve been working on something exciting. With 2 friends I made an app for generating laser abstracts, with new ideas for visual synthesis.

Some background: I've been discovering laser abstracts for quite some time. Always liked the idea of visual laser synthesis, but the way software did this felt too limiting. At the time I was also discovering sound with modular synthesizers in eurorack. I found out it was possible to use this modular synth for ILDA projectors as well (using LZX Cyclops). I got really excited by the endless possibilities of modular laser synthesis using hardware. HOWEVER. This was unusable for performances. I couldn’t save patches, let alone transitioning between them. Also, it was crazy expensive hahaha...

Modulaser
That’s when the idea of Modulaser was born: a modular approach to digital laser synthesis. We used inspiration from various great apps to shape our own ideas into something useful. Some of the features we love are:

• Modularity: modulators like LFO's and audio can modulate pretty much anything
• Ableton Link (syncs bpm with other audio/visual software in the same network)
• Layering (and easily transitioning between them)
• MIDI support (for knobs, triggering clips or just syncing BPM)
• Audio input
• 6 Waveforms (sine, square, sawtooth, triangle, line and noise) with slope control
• ILDA file record
• DAC output (currently EtherDream, LaserDock and Helios, Pangolin Beyond coming soon)
• Perspective mapping
• Mac and Windows

Download
There's a free trial that you can download right away:
https://modulaser.app


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNP3lRiyhMU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MDK3Y1zZd4


P.S. because it's still a somewhat early stage, feedback is super important to us! If you have any requests or questions, don't hesitate to let me know ;)

Is there some reason Modulaser Demo wants to phone home? Windows Defender blocked it and my protective firewall blocks the demo...


Btw, "Modulaser" is an

already copyrighted and trademarked name in the USA for an active Ion laser product.

How will licensing work?

Steve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mixedgas

Is there some reason Modulaser Demo wants to phone home? Windows Defender blocked it and my protective firewall blocks the demo...

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We only use the network for two things; to setup a websocket server which only starts on localhost and only communicates with itself. And secondly it checks for updates on startup. It's on the roadmap to look for another way to start the websocket server without triggering Windows Defender. For now: are you able to maybe make a temporary exception in the firewall?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mixedgas

How will licensing work?

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More info on licensing can be found here: https://modulaser.app/support

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mixedgas

Btw, "Modulaser" is an

already copyrighted and trademarked name in the USA for an active Ion laser product.

Steve

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Don't ya just hate it when that happens...:rolleyes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mixedgas

Btw, "Modulaser" is an
already copyrighted and trademarked name in the USA for an active Ion laser product.

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As a Dutch company, how does that affect them?

This is really impressive. I like the price point. Eager to try this out.

Looks great!
I noticed on the product comparison table, it says the standard version can neither output to DACs or save to ILDA. Is that a typo? :confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grix

Looks great!
I noticed on the product comparison table, it says the standard version can neither output to DACs or save to ILDA. Is that a typo? :confused:

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Thank you!

That's right
Standard is meant to be used without lasers: for vj's that just want to create cool line visuals.
You'll need the Pro version for anything laser-related.

Sorry for the confusion, but thanks for letting me know! I will edit this on the website soon, so it hopefully becomes more clear which version you need for the desired purposes

Hi, I have only been looking into this last few days as I got a LaserDock Dongle and a Helios being delivered soon. I have just bought Maxwell too, and it was after then that I found this. It seems to look similar to Maxwell, so I was wondering if it is the same people behind it, as Maxwell hasn't been updated since 2017, and Modulaser is new this year.

I will Play with the demo once my LaserDock dongle arrives, but I'm also curios from the publisher side what they may see as main differences between Modulaser and Maxwell (since I can't find much information yet) so hoping this way I can justify paying nearly twice the price of Maxwell for this. :-)

I love how old-school cool is making a comeback! Analog laser effects were a dying art, but now, thanks to the efforts of many dedicated enthusiast's we are seeing a huge resurgence in abstract laser art.

Carry on! :o

Adam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Afrozack

Hi, I have only been looking into this last few days as I got a LaserDock Dongle and a Helios being delivered soon. I have just bought Maxwell too, and it was after then that I found this. It seems to look similar to Maxwell, so I was wondering if it is the same people behind it, as Maxwell hasn't been updated since 2017, and Modulaser is new this year.

I will Play with the demo once my LaserDock dongle arrives, but I'm also curios from the publisher side what they may see as main differences between Modulaser and Maxwell (since I can't find much information yet) so hoping this way I can justify paying nearly twice the price of Maxwell for this. :-)

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Thanks for you interest in Modulaser! We're not the same team as the developer of Maxwell. We're a software developer from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, venturing out in laser control software. It all started with a simple idea, but got quite out of hand in the last couple of months, resulting in a real software product.

We've just released our latest version (1.3 - changelog can be found here; https://modulaser.app/changelog ) and also updated the site, so hopefully you can find the information you're looking for. If not, please let us know.

Thanks again!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buffo

I love how old-school cool is making a comeback! Analog laser effects were a dying art, but now, thanks to the efforts of many dedicated enthusiast's we are seeing a huge resurgence in abstract laser art.

Carry on! :o

Adam

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Thanks! We'll do!

That's cool, thanks for replying! In that case great project to work on, and it looks good so far, so I can only imagine what you got in the development roadmap. Yeah I got the laser bug. I DJ but always wanted my own kit so 2019 has seen me go a tad nuts and now must stop buying lasers, 8 has to be enough. Only the most recent one is analog, girlfriend wasn't happy I bought that instead of a decent birthday present for her, but never mind... :) but I like to fiddle with kit so this is grown quickly into quite a cool hobby for me.

I look forward to having a proper play with Modulaser Pro very soon!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roger

Thanks for you interest in Modulaser! We're not the same team as the developer of Maxwell. We're a software developer from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, venturing out in laser control software. It all started with a simple idea, but got quite out of hand in the last couple of months, resulting in a real software product.

We've just released our latest version (1.3 - changelog can be found here; https://modulaser.app/changelog ) and also updated the site, so hopefully you can find the information you're looking for. If not, please let us know.

Thanks again!

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Afrozack

I was wondering if it is the same people behind it, as Maxwell hasn't been updated since 2017, and Modulaser is new this year.

I will Play with the demo once my LaserDock dongle arrives, but I'm also curios from the publisher side what they may see as main differences between Modulaser and Maxwell (since I can't find much information yet) so hoping this way I can justify paying nearly twice the price of Maxwell for this. :-)

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Maxwell got us hooked on abstract laser visuals haha, but kind of left us wanting more. It became a bit same old after a while. The app's stability was disappointing, and it was missing many features we considered essential (Audio input, bpm sync, layering, better waveform controls).
Apart from that, we took a bit of a different approach to abstract visuals. Inspired by modular synthesizers, overal flexibility was key. We wanted to hook up anything to anything so that the app stays fun (like an LFO modulated by an LFO). Might be biased, but I think that Modulaser stays interesting to explore for much longer ;) Check out our free trial to see for yourself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buffo

I love how old-school cool is making a comeback! Analog laser effects were a dying art, but now, thanks to the efforts of many dedicated enthusiast's we are seeing a huge resurgence in abstract laser art.

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It's super cool. Have you tried out doing this with analog synthesis? I have a tiny eurorack system and bought an ILDA output (LZX Cyclops): it's insane. Super expensive though.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rutger

Maxwell got us hooked on abstract laser visuals haha, but kind of left us wanting more. It became a bit same old after a while. The app's stability was disappointing, and it was missing many features we considered essential (Audio input, bpm sync, layering, better waveform controls).
Apart from that, we took a bit of a different approach to abstract visuals. Inspired by modular synthesizers, overal flexibility was key. We wanted to hook up anything to anything so that the app stays fun (like an LFO modulated by an LFO). Might be biased, but I think that Modulaser stays interesting to explore for much longer ;) Check out our free trial to see for yourself.

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Thanks for that, its good to know it was desinged with those features in mind! I get what you mean about wanting more from it, and these abstracts wolud take forever to design any other way, so thanks for your efforts and keep up the great work! I just purchased Modulaser now so just want my analog Laser to arrive now :-)

I've been demonstrating Modulaser at the recent UK Laser Enthusiasts Meeting (UKLEM). It's a great piece of software with ultra responsive programmers. I found a few little bugs that have now been fixed, as I said, ultra responsive programmers. However, there is one thing you should be aware of and that is that there is currently nothing to stop you making your scanners scream in pain. Just keep the image sizes down and you'll be fine, the programmers are working on a fix.

Hi Roger, quick question about the license. Am I allowed to have it on one desktop and one laptop, or just one machine?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Afrozack

Hi Roger, quick question about the license. Am I allowed to have it on one desktop and one laptop, or just one machine?

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You can have it on both your desktop and laptop, as long as you use it on only one of those at the same time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jem

I've been demonstrating Modulaser at the recent UK Laser Enthusiasts Meeting (UKLEM). It's a great piece of software with ultra responsive programmers. I found a few little bugs that have now been fixed, as I said, ultra responsive programmers. However, there is one thing you should be aware of and that is that there is currently nothing to stop you making your scanners scream in pain. Just keep the image sizes down and you'll be fine, the programmers are working on a fix.

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Ok that's useful to know thanks. I got to have a little play last night and made some cool images (still waiting for DAC's to arrive) but on the viewer and using some of my midi controllers (used Korg Nano's ) and with it was quite fun so can gonna be a great addition to when I dj to do live effects :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Roger

You can have it on both your desktop and laptop, as long as you use it on only one of those at the same time.

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Yeah the laptop is for outdoor performance and desktop for home fun. That's great, thanks for Uber quick reply!

This thread reminded me I enjoyed Maxwell and haven't looked at Modulaser yet.
So I just bought it, hopefully I'll have a chance to play with it some time, and not just another piece of shelfware... :rolleyes::rolleyes::D
I've just bought a load of music hardware again for noodling with, so liking the addition of a step sequencer.
I'm guessing that I could send the midi CC control from my Roland TB-3 to Modulaser so I can visualise my squelching? :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by norty303

This thread reminded me I enjoyed Maxwell and haven't looked at Modulaser yet.
So I just bought it, hopefully I'll have a chance to play with it some time, and not just another piece of shelfware... :rolleyes::rolleyes::D
I've just bought a load of music hardware again for noodling with, so liking the addition of a step sequencer.
I'm guessing that I could send the midi CC control from my Roland TB-3 to Modulaser so I can visualise my squelching? :D

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It worked with my midi keyboard and controller devices ok so would presume so. Great toy :)

OK then....just putzing with the Demo....YES....THIS IS A KEEPER !!

I thought I read they will be supporting FB3 / FB4....good....that is the final piece in the puzzle !!

SOoooo....this fills a gap....for.me......for...I am way TO lazy to do actual animation graphics....and well....Beam Shows are beautiful....
BUT....do get a little stale !!! SO....I am all in for Abstract !!!

Abstract is almost ....as " Organic".....as Lumia....but somehow....more visually linked to Audio !!!...IMNSHO !!

CDBEAM

Added Note: I forgot......FB3 has been...." Dropped" by Pango....like a ROCK !!! For now...One must order Laserdoc, Either Dream of Helios.......I ordered Helios.....also I now have the liscenced version of Modulaser...

Ok I Got my Helios DAC, and my 2W Analogue 40k, so now hooked up to Modulaser and it looks great! this is a cool toy now :-)

3 queries that I have are (might as well get them out in one go):

1) How do I enable Analogue instead of TTL in Modulaser?

2) I have played with adjusting theAttachment 55439Projection map, but it seems to use less available range than what other ILD files seem to be able to.Attachment 55440Attachment 55440 Is there any other way to change this or is this a limitation?

3) I can only successfully connect midi controls to LFO1. LFO2+ seem to take it during the learning, and displays the correct channel, but doesn't engage in Play. Is that a bug?

Many thanks in advance and kind regards

AZ

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Afrozack

Ok I Got my Helios DAC, and my 2W Analogue 40k, so now hooked up to Modulaser and it looks great! this is a cool toy now :-)

3 queries that I have are (might as well get them out in one go):

1) How do I enable Analogue instead of TTL in Modulaser?

2) I have played with adjusting theAttachment 55439Projection map, but it seems to use less available range than what other ILD files seem to be able to.Attachment 55440Attachment 55440 Is there any other way to change this or is this a limitation?

3) I can only successfully connect midi controls to LFO1. LFO2+ seem to take it during the learning, and displays the correct channel, but doesn't engage in Play. Is that a bug?

Many thanks in advance and kind regards

AZ

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Hey there,

1) Analogue modulation should already work (both analogue and TTL), so I'm not sure I understand your question. We're working on "projector profiles" though so you can switch between TTL / Analog with linear response /Analog with log response.


2) I cannot see the attachments you've linked here, could you re-upload/fix them?


3) This is a known issue and it will be fixed with the next release.


Thanks for your feedback!


---

We're already working on some guides to help new Modulaser users start using our app. You can find the first guides here. (still editing them :) )

All the best!
Roger

Hi Roger, grateful for the reply!

1) Analogue modulation should already work (both analogue and TTL), so I'm not sure I understand your question. We're working on "projector profiles" though so you can switch between TTL / Analogue with linear response /Analogue with log response.

***** Ok thanks for confirming, I wasn't sure if there was meant to be a switch to enable, I think I just need to get used to colour changing with it better to get smoother flows.

2) I cannot see the attachments you've linked here, could you re-upload/fix them?

******you can ignore the attachments, I tried to upload some cool designs I made with it just to add to the post but it didn't work.
But the question was based on the projection Area, the size its able to cover It seems to span only a small area (a square range before it cuts off the image), even though I stretched out the setting on the projection map, vs the area covered at same distance with a normal ilda file on the same laser.
I can taking some pics when I get back home to show what I mean if that helps......

3) This is a known issue and it will be fixed with the next release.

****** Ok cool to know you are on it! :-)

One other thing I noticed last night when I tried using my laptop is it also could use screen resolution options too. Mine is 1366x768 so it cuts off the bottom of the app. My desktop is fine as that full HD.

We're already working on some guides to help new Modulaser users start using our app. You can find the first guides here. (still editing them :) ) <<< thanks just what i needed :-)!


To anyone thinking about getting this.... Do it! its sooooo cool and is very flexible, very fun to play with :-)!

Hi there,

Just wanted to let everybody know that we've just released V1.4 with the following updates:

Features

• Output the Modulaser display to Syphon or NewTek's NDI®, awesome for your VJ'ing needs. Check out our guide!
• EasyLase, NetLase laser DACs are now supported (Windows-only). Pangolin Beyond is now supported (Windows-only).
• Connect multiple MIDI devices instead of previously only one.
• The external display draws much nicer lines.
• The external display now has a fullscreen mode, double click it to enter fullscreen.
• Snap clips to the beat! Enable this first in the preferences. When enabled, it will wait to activate a clip until the beat starts again (based on BPM).
• With the envelope generator, it is now possible to loop the hit button to another modulator.
• Draw up to 10,000 lines instead of previously 1000 lines by using the x10 button (not recommended for lasers).

Bugfixes

• The MIDI learn mode could be very slow and sometimes lead to a crash.
• Projection map settings would not be applied at startup.

Also, our early adopter sale will en June 3rd.

Hope you enjoy! And if you have any questions, suggestion or remarks, please let us know!

Roger

Well, based on the recent announcement that Modulaser will work with Pangolin's Beyond (and the fact that it's on sale for the next few days), I figured I'd give it a shot. While I'm certainly no expert when it comes to abstracts, I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do, especially when paired with Beyond. Hoping to have some free time this weekend to experiment with it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rutger

It's super cool. Have you tried out doing this with analog synthesis? I have a tiny eurorack system and bought an ILDA output (LZX Cyclops): it's insane. Super expensive though.

---

I haven't really done any work in the analog realm, although I have seen some of the amazing things that others here on the forum have been able to do with both home-made and commercial analog gear.

Last year at SELEM we had quite a few different abstract technologies present. David Zurcher had a few of his amazing Z-5 consoles, Jason Salt had his hybrid digital-analog console, and then I think it was Krztov who had the euro-rack with ILDA-out. (Pretty sure Sal has something like this at home too, but it wasn't on display this year.) And then of course we had Aron Bacs' home-brew software for abstracts (which is really amazing). All we were missing is Chuck Raugh with Digisynth, and Johny Turpin with Maxwell and we would have had a full house! ;)

My understanding is that this year Chris Short might have something cool and new to show us. And I know that David is putting the finishing touches on his color organ mod for the Z5 (which some of us have already seen in person), so that's going to be very cool. And Johny is trying to get the time off of work so he can make it too...

Shame you guys are on the other side of the Atlantic though. Would be great to have you at SELEM!

Adam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buffo

Well, based on the recent announcement that Modulaser will work with Pangolin's Beyond (and the fact that it's on sale for the next few days), I figured I'd give it a shot. While I'm certainly no expert when it comes to abstracts, I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do, especially when paired with Beyond. Hoping to have some free time this weekend to experiment with it.

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Thanks! Let us know what you think of our software.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by buffo

I haven't really done any work in the analog realm, although I have seen some of the amazing things that others here on the forum have been able to do with both home-made and commercial analog gear.

Last year at SELEM we had quite a few different abstract technologies present. David Zurcher had a few of his amazing Z-5 consoles, Jason Salt had his hybrid digital-analog console, and then I think it was Krztov who had the euro-rack with ILDA-out. (Pretty sure Sal has something like this at home too, but it wasn't on display this year.) And then of course we had Aron Bacs' home-brew software for abstracts (which is really amazing). All we were missing is Chuck Raugh with Digisynth, and Johny Turpin with Maxwell and we would have had a full house! ;)

My understanding is that this year Chris Short might have something cool and new to show us. And I know that David is putting the finishing touches on his color organ mod for the Z5 (which some of us have already seen in person), so that's going to be very cool. And Johny is trying to get the time off of work so he can make it too...

Shame you guys are on the other side of the Atlantic though. Would be great to have you at SELEM!

Adam

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Would be great to be there, who knows, maybe next edition :)

Roger

So I haven't had a chance to put this software through it's paces yet but I'm hoping to get a projector set up this weekend for some playtime.

However, I did launch the software and play with it for a few minutes just to verify that it works with Pangolin's Beyond software. And yeah, I can report that it *does* send output to Beyond! (Damned if I know how though!)

Default routing appears to be to the "Scanner 2 main" zone. (Maybe this weekend I can figure out how to change that...)

Adam

We've just launched Modulaser 1.5!
We've been trying to listen to your feedback for bugs and features, and added these things:

Features

• MIDI clock BPM sync! If you have a device that sends MIDI clock signals, we can now calculate the BPM from it! Enable it first in the preferences.
• Mixer modulator; this is an advanced modulator to mix multiple signals together, invert them and apply smoothing to your inputs.
• Blackout button; for when you want to really quickly toggle the laser output without disconnecting your DAC. Tip: use esc on your keyboard to toggle!
• Press spacebar multiple times to sync the BPM.
• Precise sequencer values; you can now enter an exact value for each sequence bar instead of only being able to drag the bars.
• Duration between clips when using auto-play is now configurable in the preferences.
• Double-click on a projection map name to change it.

Bugfixes

• For some DAC's you had to press the "start DAC" button twice before it would actually send laser output.
• The Laserdock DAC would only work for the first time, when you would start and stop it again there would be no laser output.
• Fixed a weird issue with disappearing clips after a second file is opened.
• Changing the BPM by typing a new BPM in the text field was nearly impossible.
• Many bugs with ILDA recording have been fixed.

Hello.
I have been having great success with Modular laser and helios DAC.
However...
After packing and moving my gear as a dry run.
Modulaser suddenly stop sending output thru helios to my Optilaser.
Modulaser can send to lasercube thru USB
Other software can send output thru helios to the Optilaser
MOdulaser recognizes helios in selector and says its sending output to Optilaser.
I have re-installed Helios drivers.
I have re-installed modulaser.
No luck .
Can anyone help?
Of course I have a paid gig coming up dependent on Modulaser to work.....
Murphys law.

Hey there, sorry for the late reply here. We've fixed the connection issue with our latest release. So please update your instance of Modulaser and it should work again!

Roger
The Modulaser team

Hello, we've released a new version of Modulaser; 1.9.0

Have a look at our changelog to see what's new and has been fixed!

https://modulaser.app/changelog

All the best,
Roger

Thank you Roger! Will download this weekend and check out the enhancements

hi guys, anyone not using their Modulaser license and wanna sell it? The dev has approved it. It seems abandoned now but it is kinda cool. PM offers.