A small television that plays your own videos and lights up with your OP-XY.
Point it at a folder of videos, plug in the OP-XY and play. Each note lands on the picture as a soft spot that warps, blurs and tints the film underneath, with a glow on top, and the whole thing runs through a VHS tape look. X and Z change channel; the knobs on the set tune the picture.
Not just the OP-XY
OPTV was made with the OP-XY in mind, but it listens to plain MIDI notes, so anything that sends them over USB should light it up: a Digitakt, a keyboard, a sequencer, a DAW. Each MIDI channel has its own kind of spot, and if your gear sends MIDI clock, loops lock to its tempo. Please try it with whatever you have and tell me how you get on, or what it needs (see Feedback).
Three steps
- Plug your OP-XY (or other MIDI gear) in by USB and press Input. Your browser asks whether this page may use MIDI devices: say yes.
- Press Load and choose a folder of videos.
- Play some notes, then press X for the next channel (hold it to cross over by hand, tap it twice to let it run).
No OP-XY? Press Input again, or Try the demo, for invented notes. Keys on the set (or ?) shows every key.
Browsers
| Browser | What you get |
|---|---|
| Chrome, Edge, Opera (on a computer) | Everything. The folder is remembered: next time, Load opens the chooser right at it, so it is one press of Open. |
| Arc, Brave | Everything, as far as we know. Arc can hide the MIDI prompt: see the tips. |
| Firefox | Everything, after one extra permission step for MIDI. You choose the folder each visit. |
| Safari | The TV and the demo. Safari has no Web MIDI, so no OP-XY. |
| Phones and tablets | Not really: try it on a computer. |
Your videos and your privacy
Your videos never leave your computer. The page reads the folder you choose, in your browser, and plays the files from your own disk. Nothing is uploaded, and there are no accounts, no cookies of ours, no analytics and no requests to anyone else's servers. The knob positions and the last folder are remembered in your browser only.
MIDI is receive-only: OPTV listens to your OP-XY and never sends it anything, and it never asks for system-exclusive access.
Tips
- Which files: .mp4, .m4v, .webm and .mov. An H.264 .mp4 is the safest; a file your browser cannot play shows NO SIGNAL and the next channel comes on.
- P folds the screen into a prism of 2 to 4 slices about a centre that moves each time, each press a new pattern; P again clears it. (Shift+P lets go of every note if one ever sticks.)
- T makes the whole screen pulse on the beat (with your OP-XY's clock, or the demo's): it swells, draws in, squashes or stretches, changing as the rhythm comes round, and a little different each time; T again stops it.
- Y gives the throb a new rhythm each press: mostly the usual beats, now and then something spicier (every third beat, clave, a gallop...), but always on the beat.
- Auto pilot: press the big Auto pilot button and OPTV runs the show by itself, listening to your OP-XY: it hears the phrases, the fills and the breakdowns, and keeps things moving every 4 bars, one thing at a time: a throb, a new rhythm, a loop, a slow dive, a spell of the Prism or a new look, and a new channel every 12 to 24 bars. Press it again to take over.
- Return flicks channel at once: the picture smears into the next film in a quick, heavy rush of datamosh, a little different every time, with a new look.
- Each change of channel lands somewhere new: a film starts at a random point between just after its opening credits and half way through. Films end before their closing credits (two minutes in from each end, if the film is long enough).
- An older laptop: Menu › Quality › Safe. OPTV also drops to Safe by itself if the picture struggles.
-
No MIDI prompt in Arc: open
arc://settings/content/siteDetails?site=https%3A%2F%2Ffromemoogcoop.com, set MIDI to Allow, reload and press Input again. - Finding a channel: type its number, as on a remote (4 then 7 for channel 47), or click the channel number for a short list around the one on.
- Loops: press Loop (or L) to start one, and again to close it: it snaps to a beat, a bar or bars at the OP-XY's tempo and stays locked to its clock. Press again to let go; K halves it, a short L doubles it. Changing channel lets go too. Not in Safe quality.
- Changed your mind mid-change? Press C while one film is crossing into another and a different film takes the place of the one coming in, fading in to wherever the blend had got to. Press it again for another.
- Datamosh: hold M and the picture moshes in: it stops refreshing and smears along its own movement. Let go and it stays there; hold N to bring it back clean. Tap either twice and it goes that way slowly by itself. During a channel change they work on the film going out until half way, then the one coming in. Not in Safe quality.
- The dive: hold S and the picture swells and turns slowly clockwise, as if you were diving into it; let go and it stays; hold A to come back out. Tap either twice and it goes that way slowly by itself. (Shuffle is Shift+S.)
- Stopping your OP-XY between projects? When its clock stops for a few seconds and then starts again, OPTV changes channel by itself, slowly.
- Shuffle (Shift+S) is on to start with: channel up picks a random film, and every film plays once before any comes round again.
- Full screen: F. Hide the knobs: H.
Feedback
Found something that does not work, or have an idea? Email me. The link opens your own mail app; nothing is sent unless you send it.
Credits
Made at fromemoogcoop.com. Drawn with WebGL2 in a single pass, listening with Web MIDI. OPTV .
The house film, the late-night drive that plays until you load your own, was filmed by me and is in the public domain: use it however you like.
A fan project. Not made, endorsed or supported by Teenage Engineering.