Which parts of VJ work automate well
VJ work splits roughly into preparation, on-the-night switching, and improvisation. Preparation is choosing material and building presets. Switching is changing visuals per song or section. Improvisation is the live judgment that responds to the room.
Most switching can be expressed as rules, so it lends itself to automation. Improvisation centers on human judgment and is out of scope for automation. Preparation is partially templatable.
autovjclub specializes in automating switching, and treats improvisation as the territory of dedicated VJ environments.
What autovjclub automates
- Mic input → song recognition (ACRCloud)
- The microphone feed is sent to ACRCloud for song identification. Manual triggering is the default; Auto Identify can run it on a 60-second interval.
- Genre detection → preset switch
- Detected genre selects a corresponding preset (visuals, color tone, lyric toggle, and so on) automatically.
- Lyric fetch from LRCLIB
- For identified songs, lyrics are fetched from LRCLIB and rendered through one of nine display modes. Display itself remains a toggle.
- LFO-driven temporal modulation
- Blur, hue, brightness, and contrast can be modulated by an LFO at a configured rate, which keeps the picture moving even without manual touches.
- Mic-loudness reactivity
- Filter values track the room's audio level, giving drops and breakdowns a visual response on their own.
- Now Playing on song change
- A short Now Playing appears for a few seconds at each detected song change. The intermittent appearance avoids overwhelming the output with text.
Outside the automation surface
- Reading the actual room
- Recognition gets you to genre. The crowd's response in this exact moment is not measured. Peak design and the next move when energy dips remain a live VJ's work.
- On-the-fly clip mixing
- Building visuals you have not pre-arranged, in real time, is the territory of Resolume, TouchDesigner, and similar tools.
- Frame-accurate MIDI/OSC sync
- Synchronizing with lighting boards or DJ mixers at frame precision is out of scope. The runtime input here is audio only.
- Custom expressive direction inside presets
- Preset contents are arranged in advance. Building a unique expressive line — exact clip choice, exact treatment — is dedicated-software work.
FAQ
What happens when recognition misses?
On a miss or when ACRCloud has no entry, the current preset simply continues. You can input a song name manually or trigger another identification.
How much manual control is possible?
You can pause automation and directly adjust genre, preset, and filter values. Switching back to automatic is one tap.
Can it run unattended for hours?
In principle, leaving the browser tab open keeps it running. For permanent installation considerations, see the Docs "Rights and operations notes" page.