NightRide Visuals has always been about not only great visuals, but also a solid live performance. We make sure that whether it's on tour with GrooveBoston or at our residencies in Boston, Curacao, and Lebanon; the performance is the number one priority.
With the explosion of the EDM market, VJs are becoming known less as technical facilitators and more as artistic performers. We often are on stage with the artist in crowds view and there's an unspoken demand to match the energy of the artist. We began training with Numark NuVJ years ago and when it was time to upgrade to a professional setup, there was no question that ArKaos GrandVJ and the Akai APC40 was the way to go. Show after show we felt fulfilled in our rig never knowing there was something missing, until Numark emailed us to talk about their new product; the Orbit.
We were beyond excited when we got our hands on the Numark Orbit wireless controller. Not only did we finally have a wireless option to add to our APC40, we had a completely customizable powerhouse of a controller. The user interface pleases both the advanced as well as those just entering the visuals scene. The controller itself has a beautiful 16-button layout allowing for easy mapping to ArKaos GrandVJ. The included software allows you to customize the MIDI notes, which combined with the ArKaos MIDI mapping leaves you with endless options. We used our custom APC40 mapping in GrandVJ to be the guideline for mapping our Numark Orbit midi notes. We opened the software and within fifteen minutes not only did we have a second controller we could use simultaneously with our Akai APC40, but we also had an attractive color-coded design that would shine on stage in front of a crowd of thousands.
The Numark Orbit has changed the way we run visuals by allowing us to have the freedom to leave our station and interact with the crowd and artists in a unique way without losing control of our performance. It's surprising how easy it is to integrate with GrandVJ and how useful it becomes. The ability to move around is key, but being able to do so without losing control of your performance is a game changer. When we're on stage next to the likes of Tiesto, Avicii, and Alesso among countless other energetic DJs, it's vital to have a controller that can harness our energy and transfer it to the visuals directly. The MIDI-assignable accelerometer blew our mind as we could jump, run, and move around on stage and with a twist of our wrist the visual effect parameters would move with us.
(Video by Pixel Perfection)
After integrating the Orbit into our custom Akai APC40 mapping, we made a single map for the Orbit alone. For smaller gigs, where hundreds of visuals aren't necessary the Orbit makes it easy to scale down your GrandVJ rig to a 16 square matrix. We can throw the Orbit in our backpack with our laptop and adapters and we're ready to go! With an 8-hour charge, we feel safe using the Orbit as a single controller, although we aren't quite ready to abandon our APC40 in place of it. They compliment each other really well and with a low price point, we're thinking of using 3 Orbit controllers all mapped separately to have quick access to clips and effects on the fly. This would mean two of our teams VJs could perform together at a gig on different sides of the room with one Orbit mapped to trigger clips and another to trigger effects.
We have some secret things in the works for the next GrooveBoston college tour that's going to bring the uses we've found from the Orbit to the next level!
~J. NightRide
Founder/CEO of NightRide Visuals
http://www.nightridevisuals.com
http://www.facebook.com/nightridevisuals
