🎬 Video

Video loads short loops or footage into a VJam deck so it can be layered with presets and images. Use it for background loops, dance footage, motion graphics, or clips from your own performances.

Cockpit showing a loaded video-playback layer with playback, loop, speed, and CLIP controls — A loaded dance clip adds a `video-playback` layer with position, pause, loop, speed, and CLIP controls.

Processed Examples

Video is not just a file player. It is a deck layer, so you can stack it with p5 presets, filters, text, and images.

Dance video layered with a p5 preset — A p5 preset layered over video. Add lines, shapes, and texture to live-action motion.

Dance video with the invert filter applied — `FILTER` → `invert` flips the whole video layer into a high-contrast look.

p5 preset + video: layer lines, particles, and patterns over live-action motion.
FILTER: use invert, hue, saturate, contrast, and more.
difference / exclusion: useful when you want footage and presets to visibly interact.
Deck A/B: put video on one deck, presets on the other, then crossfade.

Features

Feature	Details
Files	MP4 and other browser-playable video files
Layering	Stack video with presets and images
Playback	Play / pause and seek
Speed	Change playback speed
Loop	Automatic single-video looping plus live loop ranges
Scratch	Use SCRATCH / MIDI jog controls to scrub the video
CLIP / VIDEOS	Save points or IN / OUT regions and recall them

On desktop, dropping a single video file onto VJam loads it to the current deck. Dropping multiple videos registers them for the VIDEOS tab.

Quick Map

The video controls look similar at first. This is the short version:

Control	What it does	Saved?
`loop`	Repeats a short range from the current playhead	No. It is a live improvisation loop
`speed`	Speeds up or slows down current playback	No. It affects current playback
`+CLIP`	Creates a card that jumps back to the current time	Saves the time only. It does not loop
`IN` → `OUT`	Saves a loopable range as a card	Saves IN time, OUT time, and beat count
Beat chip	Fits region clip speed to the music	Saved. You can adjust it later

Use loop and speed for live moments. Use +CLIP / IN / OUT when you want a hit you can recall later.

Loop

A single loaded video loops back to the beginning when it reaches the end. For background clips, this is often enough.

The loop chip creates an improvised live loop from the current playhead position. Drag the chip vertically to change the loop length. If you want to keep a range for later, save it as a region clip with IN / OUT.

Tap loop to turn the improvised loop on / off.
Drag loop 4.00s vertically to change the live loop length.
Move the seek bar to find the moment you want.
Trigger an IN / OUT clip to switch the loop chip into region mode and loop the saved range.

Speed

The speed chip changes playback rate. Drag to slow the clip down or push it faster; tap the chip to reset to 1.00x.

Manual speed changes affect the current playback. They are not saved into an IN / OUT clip as a fixed value like speed 0.50x. When a region clip is recalled, VJam uses the saved range and beat count to calculate the playback speed for the current BPM.

Close-up of the video speed chip set to 2.00x — `speed 2.00x` makes motion denser and faster. Tap the chip to return to `1.00x`.

Drag speed vertically to change playback rate.
Tap speed to return to 1.00x.
Manual speed is for the current performance.
Region clip speed is derived from the saved beat count and current BPM.
Changing loop length or toggling loop while a region is active switches back to a normal live loop.

Scratch

With SCRATCH enabled, jog / MIDI controls scrub the video back and forth. Turn it off when you want jog movement to browse instead of scratch.

CLIP / VIDEOS

Use clips when you want to come back to the good parts of a video quickly. A long video is hard to perform with; saved points and regions make it playable.

Close-up of the video progress bar with +CLIP, IN, and OUT controls — After loading a video, the row shows `+CLIP`, `IN`, and `OUT`. This is where clip creation starts.

Save a point: +CLIP

+CLIP saves the current playhead position as a jump target. It does not loop; it just lets you return to that exact moment.

Point clip saved by +CLIP showing as a card in the VIDEOS tab — `+CLIP` creates a card in `VIDEOS`. If a PAD slot is free, VJam assigns one automatically.

Save a region: IN → OUT

Press IN at the start of the useful motion, let the video move, then press OUT at the end. While IN is pending, the range preview appears on the progress bar.

Saving a region stores three main things:

the IN time: where the region starts
the OUT time: where the region ends
the beat count: how many beats the region should occupy

Manual loop 1.25s and speed 0.50x values are not stored as-is. Think of the loop chip as a live improvisation tool, and IN / OUT as the way to save a loopable region.

IN pending state with the range preview and OUT button visible — While `IN` is active, VJam shows the pending range and duration. Press Esc to cancel.

Region clip saved by IN and OUT showing as a ranged card in the VIDEOS tab — After `OUT`, the region appears as a card with a range such as `0:02→0:04`.

Recall it live

Point clips jump to the saved time. Region clips jump to the start and loop the saved IN → OUT range. The beat chip, such as 4拍, adjusts how the region fits the music.

Region clip recalled, with the loop chip showing region mode and the progress bar showing the loop range — Triggering a region clip switches the loop chip into `region` mode and loops only that saved range.

+CLIP: save one point and jump back to it.
IN → OUT: save a loopable region.
Beat chip: drag it to change how many beats the region should fill.
VIDEOS cards: recall saved points and regions.
PAD / MIDI: free PAD slots are assigned automatically, so video hits can be performed.

What does “beats” mean?

Here, beats are the timing unit used to fit a video region to music. VJam treats 1 beat = 60 / BPM seconds.

At BPM 120, one beat is 0.5 seconds. If a 2-second region is set to 4拍, it plays around 1.00x. If the same 2-second region is set to 8拍, it needs to stretch across 4 seconds, so it plays around 0.50x.

Use the beat count when you want a cutout to land over 4 beats, stretch over 8 beats, or otherwise sit in the rhythm.

Full-Stacked Loop Example

Here is a short loop showing how far video can be pushed. It starts from the dance clip, then adds scratch-like back-and-forth motion, speed changes, filter-style inversion / hue / saturation / contrast, RGB offset, scan lines, grid texture, and a MilkDrop-style fractal glow layer.

Processed video loop sample with filters, RGB offset, and scan lines — A stacked look: combine `loop`, `speed`, `SCRATCH`, `FILTER`, MilkDrop, and p5-style layers to turn live-action footage into moving VJ material.

With this much processing, the source footage still reads, but it starts behaving like a visual texture. Try short regions for breaks and drops, then add inversion, color shifts, MilkDrop, and Deck A/B blending.

Material Tips

Short loops are easiest. Long videos are heavier to load, seek, and record. Clips with clear motion read well; clips with bright areas layer nicely with lighten, while live-action footage can get more contrast with difference or exclusion.

Next: 🛠️ Text →