CYGN-B

[Greg]

Is the Betamax multiplex compatible with the Image Engineering decoder i have in storage?

I looked up the terms in Steve's enigmatic quip, but didn't fall on any clear leads. Ron mentions the ADAT came after the Betamax shows. The selection of ADAT tapes I received do have a 352 track, so maybe one is in the Betamax somewhere, but it seems we have no suggestions of a way in. That's ok, some mysteries stand.

Ron, to mention something kind of trivial, yet interesting: Your legendary lumia resource, I wonder if it includes the fresnel thing that made the drum stick in Tank. May I suggest that would be a good candidate for a 3D scan and reprinting if one ever turns up. I wonder if in all your slides there are photos of the workshops / company premises stuff, or is it mostly gigs. Actually, the slides that went with Crystal Odyssey would be neat to find. There was one I've looked for because I think it may have been a known work of art. It had a grid like 3d illusion of balls over pyramids that foreshadowed the mandlebulb kind of realms available for enjoyment these days.

The four channel show enabler project consists of two relatively simple pieces of custom hardware. One is the bela to ilda interface, of which four are needed for a four channel show, and each of which uses 3 quad op amps. The second is what I'm calling the multabela harness, which interfaces signals across the system and includes the joysticks and system control buttons. I have the question up on the bela forum whether the scheme shown in the illustration is advisable. If it is, construction of the multabela harness will be reasonably simple, due to the elimination of a great number of non-inverting unity gain amplifiers.

The photo shows the usefulness of using HSV inputs to get colormod and intensitymod effects. I have on order what's left of what is needed to get the show enabler fully demonstrable, including three more RGB ILDA projectors. If I'm not mistaken, the beam torquer and colormod effects can be achieved per channel simply by offsetting the H parameter from a fixed offset per channel. Note, the color mod shown in the photo is just a mapping of values. A few lines of code will get the effect looking more like the real colormod.

TheHermit: I like your sense of humour and appreciation of Floyd. It came to mind Fat Old Floyd would be a name candidate for the kind of show you describe. *over-enthusiasm active* Yeah, sounds like a cool gig! I'm in. Let's do it!

[ronhip]

Greg,

I looked through my box-o-optics left over from my days as a laserist, but did not find the tank-glass. It was basically a fresnel, but instead of circles, it was like a polygon with maybe 8 or 10 sides like the illustration below. Note it DID have a clear center (unlike most fresnel lenses). It was a photo filter of some sort. The easiest substitute is the fresnel lens.


As far as the betamax tape format, Brian is correct but I don't remember how we fit 4 tracks (music-left, music-right, 352-data, and digital-scan tracks) onto the tape. It may be that we used the "normal" stereo tracks for the music, the "high-fidelity" track (video PCM out) for 352 data and the video track for the scan data. Too long ago to remember these things. I'll attach the documentation I have about various ADAT formats which varied by location depending on the hardware at that location. Note that the "A" and "C" tapes were pretty well standardized. We only used "A" and "C" tapes in San Francisco.



Ron

I looked up the terms in Steve's enigmatic quip, but didn't fall on any clear leads. Ron mentions the ADAT came after the Betamax shows. The selection of ADAT tapes I received do have a 352 track, so maybe one is in the Betamax somewhere, but it seems we have no suggestions of a way in. That's ok, some mysteries stand.

Ron, to mention something kind of trivial, yet interesting: Your legendary lumia resource, I wonder if it includes the fresnel thing that made the drum stick in Tank. May I suggest that would be a good candidate for a 3D scan and reprinting if one ever turns up. I wonder if in all your slides there are photos of the workshops / company premises stuff, or is it mostly gigs. Actually, the slides that went with Crystal Odyssey would be neat to find. There was one I've looked for because I think it may have been a known work of art. It had a grid like 3d illusion of balls over pyramids that foreshadowed the mandlebulb kind of realms available for enjoyment these days.

The four channel show enabler project consists of two relatively simple pieces of custom hardware. One is the bela to ilda interface, of which four are needed for a four channel show, and each of which uses 3 quad op amps. The second is what I'm calling the multabela harness, which interfaces signals across the system and includes the joysticks and system control buttons. I have the question up on the bela forum whether the scheme shown in the illustration is advisable. If it is, construction of the multabela harness will be reasonably simple, due to the elimination of a great number of non-inverting unity gain amplifiers.

The photo shows the usefulness of using HSV inputs to get colormod and intensitymod effects. I have on order what's left of what is needed to get the show enabler fully demonstrable, including three more RGB ILDA projectors. If I'm not mistaken, the beam torquer and colormod effects can be achieved per channel simply by offsetting the H parameter from a fixed offset per channel. Note, the color mod shown in the photo is just a mapping of values. A few lines of code will get the effect looking more like the real colormod.

TheHermit: I like your sense of humour and appreciation of Floyd. It came to mind Fat Old Floyd would be a name candidate for the kind of show you describe. *over-enthusiasm active* Yeah, sounds like a cool gig! I'm in. Let's do it!

[laserist]

That's not the original tank scan glass. That's some sort of camera special effect filter. The tank scan glass looked like a first attempt at replicating using a molding taken from a piece of specialty flat art glass. I know that I saw that kind of glass somewhere back in the 60's or 70's. The other interesting thing about the tank glass is it was intentionally off center so the "drum stick" changed length as if looking down from above the drummer...

[ronhip]

Well, when I started as a laserist in 1978, this is what the Tank glass looked like (and I DID perform Tank - as a matter of fact it may have been my unrehearsed Tank performance that got me the job!) Note that I started with the Mark 6 projector, not the single-scan-glass all-or-nothing Mark 4 projector. I was ushering from 1974 to 1978 and Mark Garetz was the laserist.

Good memories.

Ron

That's not the original tank scan glass. That's some sort of camera special effect filter. The tank scan glass looked like a first attempt at replicating using a molding taken from a piece of specialty flat art glass. I know that I saw that kind of glass somewhere back in the 60's or 70's. The other interesting thing about the tank glass is it was intentionally off center so the "drum stick" changed length as if looking down from above the drummer...

[cfavreau]

There is a fellow selling a CSL projector. There are some really high res photos of it.

https://photonlexicon.com/forums/showthread.php/28834-Laserium-CSL-projector-and-control-rack

Maybe the tank glass is one of those?

[laserist]

I did use a nice photographic SFX filter with a clear center and fresnel looking outer field in 2013, but I never saw it back in the day - Only post millennium. And just for the record, I didn't use it for tank. The tank glass I used in 2013 and remember from the '70s was a really crude molding of what might have been a piece of glass that had a radial pattern pressed into it.

Perhaps somebody at the Morrison was just more clever than the home office.

[cfavreau]

The tank glass I used in 2013 and remember from the '70s was a really crude molding of what might have been a piece of glass that had a radial pattern pressed into it.

That sure sounds like the crude fresnel lens in the picture. What does the "Tank" effect look like?

[ronhip]

Hermit,

Very good description of the visual "Tank" number as performed. Were you a Laserist? I can't believe anyone would remember it in that detail without performing it a few hundred times!

Amazing that we got away with just joysticking 4 dots around the dome for 1/2 the number. But, that was the first piece where the audience gets to see raw beams in the show since the preceding, and first, number in the show (Neptune - Holst) was completely lumia. I guess that's what made Laserium so compelling - proper pacing.

I checked the Laserium archive and there are no recordings of "Tank" as seen in Laserium 1.

Ron

;

I'm pretty sure that the crude fresnel in the picture was what we used in 1978 for Tank. During in the '70s, it was sold in sheets. I remember it being used as decorative privacy screens between seating booths in restaurants. The laser effect is difficult to describe. I searched for a YT video of Laserium's Tank, but to no avail. But, this is the original soundtrack. I still love the transition when the SFX rack was removed, leaving the quad beams with a sleek krypton cloud background. Then, that high pitched scream of the synth kicks the show to another level, which is simulated by racing symmetrical patterns of RYGB dots, strobeing with the beam chopper!
The closest example of the effect that I could find is in this video @ 1:37.
It was supposed to simulate a drumstick, which interacted with 2 fuzzy effects during the Tank drum solo, all 3 controlled via joystick. The circular ridges caused the beam to flare perpendicularly. So, the spinning of the flare was achieved by moving the beam around the circular ridges of SFX glass, instead of phase rotation as seen in the video. The ripples in the SFX glass also made the drumstick's image ragged looking.
BR

[ronhip]

Roger,

The only laserist I met from London was Howard Sachs in 1980 on my way to Kenya for the solar eclipse that year. Of course, I had to catch the light show on my way through (we actually stayed in London for a wonderful week. Loved every moment there. Loved walking and getting lost because of the bizarre address numbering on the streets and the fact that there are multiple crossing conflicting street names (Channing Way, Channing Street, Channing Court and a dozen others and they all seem to be together! Took the Underground to get everywhere, of course. I'm not crazy enough to drive in London, but did get a chance to do some left-side driving in Kenya.

I spent VERY little time in Van Nuys since I was trained by Mark Garetz in San Francisco. Ivan and Carol used to come up often to see my shows. I always enjoyed training sessions with Ivan to learn what HIS vision for the shows were. I miss him and Carol dearly, but have many fond memories. Also loved working with all the other folks down there, Mitch H, Dan S, Bill W, Gene P, Phil (wasn't it Guskin?), John T, Richard G, Craig S, Scott A, Steve S, Cathy, Nina P, and all the others. I put a couple archive photos below.

Too bad we never had laserist get-togethers. There's probably lots of great stories to trade.

Ron

You Betcha, Ron!
Reckon it's about time I introduced myself, Roger Helm, London Planetarium '78-'80, before losing my mind by going freelance, full of dreams of greater fame & fortune. Best 2 years of my life and I was too young & cocky to realize the other grass wasn't any greener, but a much harder row to hoe. Perhaps you knew my co-laserist/mentor, David Cooper, previously from Salt Lake City. Excellent laserist. Always wondered what happened to him.
Yes, Laserium I was my favorite, because of Ivan's use of dynamics. From the opening burn, to dreamy Neptune's lumia, with the audience's gasp at the last wisp of 676 nm krypton red, against the pitch black dome. Then slapped awake with Tank's nasty, aggressive drum imagery, to pure beams, then a classical Danube ballet... Well I'm only singing to the choir, because you understand that show's dynamic flow as well as I.
But TBH, I fought with LaserRock's data track (no offense to whomever recorded it). Too wham-bam, thank you, Ma'am, without the variety of emotional stimuli, IMHO. High peaks are only relative to the previous lows. Highs can't be maintained, because they have a diminishing return, before becoming boingly intense. What's left for the finale', right Ron?
Only spent a month at Van Nuys, while in training, before Dave & I departed for the opening. I remember Ivan, Rand, Jon Tilp, Ron Dahl, Phillip Gusten, and met Randy Resnick in Paris + Ed Bruzycki, Howard Sachs, and Dexter (?), who replaced Dave & I.
Spent the next 10 years working in Europe, until Laser Media's Ghost Busters animation, purchased by a competitor stole the AV market.
"Something touched me deep inside,
the day visual music died."
So I'm afraid no one here knows of me,
I've only discovered this great community since getting back into the art, just over a year ago, thanks to the inspiration of Swamidog's videos.
Very pleased to meet like-minded enthusiasts, willing to share their knowledge.
Makes an ole Hermit feel less isolated. Reckon I should get my act together, hopefully by next year's SELEM, to meet y'all in person.

[laserist]

Yes, that's Glenn Thomas in the shadows, and that's me sitting with legs crossed bottom left. Phil Valdivia on one knee to my right and Cruz Fino behind him.