There isn't much video out there that does the Milkymist justice, an unfortunate circumstance because it really is an impressive little machine. In an attempt to remedy this Barry and I recently shot some video with the hopes of mirroring the representation of the Milkymist with it's actual ability. We (actually, I, since I'm the one responsible for the editing) fell well short of this mark. But despite the poor editing (I haven't edited video since the VHS days!) and poor image quality (who knew high-quality video required so many damn GB's?), you'll get to see how non-intimidating the set-up is and how fast this little guy can get a party started.

The drum clips are meant to demonstrate the Milkymist's integration with electronic instruments and external sound, both of which stimulate the visuals when plugged directly into the Milkymist or intercepted via the onboard microphone. And the club shots, well, those are testament to the Milkymist's party credibility. We actually smuggled the Milkymist into that particular party at a warehouse-like venue in San Francisco's Mission District, then set it up guerrilla-style and proceeded to project on the walls and dance floor despite the fact that there was already a house VJ. I was actually surprised how well our slapdash performance compared. During the short 15 minutes we were there the crowd turned away from the DJ and VJ projection on the far wall and towards each other in the middle of the room where we were projecting. The dancing and interaction intensified, and at one point one of the VJ's assistants came over all starry-eyed and intrigued.

I have to say, I was a bit skeptical about the Milkymist until I saw it in action. It has some incredible psychedelic and dynamic capabilities that will only continue to expand. Keep your eyes peeled, kids.

Footage here: http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/bonewolf/ and more to come.

I recently spoke at TTI Vanguard's NEXTGEN conference in Miami. Totally great experience to talk to some very high level folks about the work we are doing as Fabricatorz on the Qi Hardware and Milkymist Video Synthesizer project. Here are my slides. The first set I did on my laptop, and the second set I *performed* using the Milkymist! In 2012, I will try to use the Milkymist for any performances (no more presentations!).

I should note that the presentation title reflects popular interest in some of my topics, and not the specific words I would choose to represent what we are working on. In particular, we are staying away from using the words FREE, OPEN, COPYLEFT now in favor of Sharing, hence Sharism. Also, the word Hardware is a bit problematic because of what it conjures up for computer nerds as this an already manufactured piece of hardware, like the 400K iphones foxconn is churning out a day. We take it to mean more like the glass or metal that is part of a final product. To consider the Milkymist or our projects FROM CHINA is not completely accurate. While I spend a lot of time in China, the Milkymist in particular is manufactured mostly in Taiwan.

Oh well, words are words are words! Check out the slides below and please share. They are ✳ (shared by) me, aka: ✳ Fabricatorz.

(Click here for the SVG presentation or the SVG with outlines)

(Click here for the SVG presentation or the SVG with outlines)

Ask me about the event the next time you see me; I have some great stories to tell since this event was supposed to be mostly private during the conference.

In a more public showing, Yi from Qi Hardware is presenting about the Milkymist tonite (中文 at Xinchejian, the Shanghai-based hackerspace we held the first Sharism Presents Shanghai.

Don't forget to Buy a Milkymist One for yourself or your friendz :)

Season's greetings friendz.

As you know the folks here at Fabricatorz have been collaborating with an international crew to develop and manufacture the Milkymist one. We've launching our new Milkymist website complete with a tutorial section. In addition to adding .jpeg support and more documentation, we've had users tell us how they used the Milkymist in a professional and educational atmosphere.

Recently architect Naihan Li has used the Milkymist to "perform" a presentation.

Free technology is beautiful. So get your own Milkymist today.

Montreal, May 13, 2011- More than 200 active developers, artists, and attendees of the 6th Libre Graphics Meeting 2011 in Montreal were able to see the Milkymist One video synthesizer (http://milkymist.org) live for the first time, to entertain and surprise them between talks and during breaks. Real-time video synthesis with audio and video input had been available before in proprietary packages combining multiple devices and costing several thousand USD. Milkymist One combines this into a small form factor, and uses only free software and free hardware acceleration.

"The Milkymist One is the future of live performance and is the real freedom box, available now. Without a truly open hardware architecture, developers working on free and open software are going to be locked out from the future of development," said Jon Phillips, Fabricatorz Founder and Qi Hardware Co-founder. "I am extremely proud to use the Milkymist One live at the event, and explain why its so important for the future of Libre Graphics."

Phillips is giving a final keynote presentation at LGM2011 where he is presenting the future of Libre Graphics, moving from developers on desktop systems they control, to network services outward towards embedded hardware for making graphics.

Later that night, Milkymist One will be featured during the Libre Graphics Meeting 2011 closing ceremony in Montreal at an event called Geepsters.

The Milkymist project is an informal organization of people and companies who develop, manufacture and sell a comprehensive open source solutions (http://qi-hardware.com) for the live synthesis of interactive visual effects for video performance artists, clubs and musicians. The project goes great lengths to apply the open source principles at every level possible, and is best known for the Milkymist system-on-chip (SoC) which is among the first commercialized system-on-chip designs with free HDL source code. Several Milkymist technologies have been reused in applications unrelated to video synthesis, such as NASA's Communication Navigation and Networking Reconfigurable Testbed (CoNNeCT).

Milkymist One is currently available in limited quantities to early adopters, and will be available later this summer for general use, at a target price of 499 USD.

Our own Jon Phillips is featured in a recent video sharing his thoughts on what the web means, in both a personal and historical context.

Head over to commonspace to read the full article detailing the video!