I downloaded the trial of CoGe VJ a couple weeks ago and have been majorly impressed. It’s a smart software purchase when it comes to creating and manipulating visuals. The trial is really accessible, I believe the only limitation is saving your own presets, but you’re going to want to save your own presets once you start playing with the software.
The great thing about CoGe VJ is it’s only as much UI as you need when you need it, and you can create visuals from nothing through use of their different players and generators, which is what we’re going to do in this article so we can create our cool video synthesis example.
In CoGe VJ any UI that you are going to interact with is an interface that you will create from the interfaces menu. For the sake of this tutorial we’re going to need a clipsynth and an effectchain, so go ahead and create those from the interface menu.
Is CoGe compatible with Sierra? Yes, it is from version 1.7.0.3, but if you are running into any issues with CoGe on macOS 10.12, don't hesitate to get in touch with us. The v002 Glitch plugins are not working due some security changes in macOS 10.12 Sierra. OSX 10.11 El Capitan compatibility. Is CoGe compatible with El Capitan? A quick demonstration of how to using a Sequencer in CoGe VJ software.More info on the topic: www.lovqc.hu/?p=163CoGe home: www.cogevj.hu. In CoGe VJ any UI that you are going to interact with is an interface that you will create from the interfaces menu. For the sake of this tutorial we’re going to need a clipsynth and an effectchain, so go ahead and create those from the interface menu. CoGe VJ – VJ Tool. A semi-modular VJ Software, that allows you to build environments that suits you best. You won’t be stuck with a pre-defined interface. The only limit is the computing power of your machine/graphics card. CoGe is powerful and flexible, with audio-analysis, connecting with other software like Quartz, IFS generator, VUO.
At the top of your clipsynth there is a button that says “fxchain on”, click it to enable our fxchain on this clipsynth. Inside your clipsynth you will see a diagonally striped area that says “right-click on the striped area to add PLAYER”. Do that and add a checkerboard. Click the name of the checkerboard to turn it on and you should see something come up on your main and preview output.
Now in your effectchain you are going to see a similar striped area that says “right-click on the striped area to add FX”. Do that and add a sine warp tile from the tile effect menu. Click the name of the sine warp tile and you should see it take effect in your main and preview outputs.
This is great and all but it’s not moving so to remedy this we’re going to right click on the rotation slider of the sine warp tile and from the LFO menu we’ll select sin32. Then do the same thing for the angle slider. After you’ve done that click the button to the right of each slider. You should now see movement in your main and preview output.
CoGe VJ is a semi-modular VJ application for OS X, designed for real-time media mixing and compositing, built over the most powerful graphics technologies like Quartz Composer, OpenGL, Syphon and Core Image. The full rendering is done through the GPU of your graphics card for the maximum performance.
Here’s where you can start experimenting. The clipsynth has many different generators, star shine and sunbeams to name a couple, create some new generators inside your clipsynth like we did earlier, toggle your different generators on/off by clicking on their name. Look for something you like and play with the parameters to taste.
Do the same with the effectchain, add in some new effects, toggle them on/off by clicking their names. Even control their order in the chain by clicking the left/right arrows to the left of their name. Once you’re happy with what you’ve created you’re ready to do something with your video.
What to do though? Well one thing we can do is record it with Syphon Recorder, which I detail how to do in an earlier tutorial, but another thing you can do if you are a Lumen user is have your CoGe VJ video act as an oscillator source.
With your CoGe VJ running in the background, open your Lumen software to a new patch. Go to the patch panel and under external connections select “CoGe – Master Mixer” from the dropdown menu next to “Aux in A”. Click and drag the “Aux in A” to the “Camera In” of oscillator A. Now go to the knobs panel and click the left most button under the frequency knob of oscillator A until it says Cam and there you go.
In future tutorials I plan on covering other interfaces available within CoGe VJ, but now you should be able to create your own video synthesis clips in CoGe VJ and integrate them into your Lumen projects.
License Management
Coge Vj 1
To de-activate a computer associated with your license and free-up an activation slot, you need to log in to the license manager using your Order ID and e-mail address: https://imimot.com/cogevj/myorder
Your can find your Order ID in the subject line of the fulfilment e-mail. If you lost your fulfilment e-mail, please let us know, so we can resend it to you.
After login, you will see the computers currently associated with your license. The de-activate any of them, move your mouse over the 'Active' field, and click on de-activate.
Activation problems
In case you cannot activate your copy because there are no more seats available, but the License Manager says you have free activation slots, please try empty the cache of CoGe on your computer. To do this:
- Open Finder and select Go... > Go to Folder
- Type in ~/Library/Caches and hit Enter
- Move the com.lov.coge directory to the Trash, then empty the Trash
How could I record the output to video?
On the software side, with Syphon Recorder: http://syphon.v002.info/recorder/
You can even use capture cards or multimedia recorders on the hardware side.
I lost my license. What should I do?
Drop us a message with your order details (e-mail or Order ID).
Download legacy versions
CoGe does not support OS X 10.8 anymore starting from version 1.8.5, however you can still download CoGe 1.8.4 which runs on OSX 10.8: https://dl.imimot.com/CoGe1.8.4.dmg
CoGe does not support OS X 10.7 anymore starting from version 1.7, however you can still download CoGe 1.6.6 which runs on OS X 10.7.5: https://imimot.com/cogevj/download_legacy2.php
CoGe does not support OS X 10.6 anymore starting from version 1.6.1, however you can still download CoGe 1.6.0.2 which runs on OS X 10.6.8: https://imimot.com/cogevj/download_legacy.php
OSX / macOS Compatibility
What should you do before upgrading to Mavericks?
- Make sure all your gears are - MIDI devices, capture cards, etc. - compatible with 10.9.
- Make sure all your softwares are compatible with 10.9.
- Do a backup of your current system.
macOS 10.13 Sierra Compatibility
Is CoGe compatible with High Sierra?
Yes, version 1.8.1 is compatible with macOS 10.13 High Sierra, but in case you are running into any issues, please get in touch with us.
Known Issues
- Some ISF shaders that performing float to int casting on nVidia hardware acts weirdly (macOS 10.13.0).
macOS 10.12 Sierra Compatibility
Is CoGe compatible with Sierra?
Yes, it is from version 1.7.0.3, but if you are running into any issues with CoGe on macOS 10.12, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
Known Issues
- The v002 Glitch plugins are not working due some security changes in macOS 10.12 Sierra.
OSX 10.11 El Capitan compatibility
Is CoGe compatible with El Capitan?
Yes, basically it is from version 1.6.3, but if you are running into any issues with CoGe on OS X 10.11, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
For the best performance on fullscreen, make sure the 'Displays have separate Spaces' option in the 'Mission Control' section of System Preferences is disabled when using external displays.
General Issues
Coge Vj Search
Quartz Composer effects and Core Image filters are leaking memory in most of the circumstances, this is a system-wide general issue on OS X 10.11. We suggest to use ISF filters instead of Core Image and Quartz Composer, whenever it is possible.
Known issues
- The Cube Transition is no longer exists on OSX 10.11Some QC based Dry/Wet modules are no longer working on OSX 10.11
- MIDI Clock BPM may not be calculated right due some CoreAudio issues on OSX 10.11
Some QC modules seems to not working anymore on OSX 10.11 because of some OSX Core Image bugs:
- Blazed Trails
- Echo
The following Quartz Composer effects leaking memory which sooner or later results in a crash:
- Kaleidoscope - use the Core Image Kaleidoscope effect instead
Some 3rd party QC FX not working, because of some new Core Image/Quartz Composer bugs:
- v002 Optical Flow with Feedback
OSX 10.10 Yosemite compatibility
Is CoGe compatible with Yosemite?
Yes, basically it is from version 1.5.2.2, but if you are running into any issues with CoGe on 10.10, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
If you are using Hap codec, make sure you have the latest and greatest version installed: https://github.com/Vidvox/hap-qt-codec/releases
For the best performance on fullscreen, make sure the 'Displays have separate Spaces' option in the 'Mission Control' section of System Preferences is disabled when using external displays.
It seems 10.10 finally fixing the OpenCL Core Image memory leak which has been introduced on 10.9.
OSX 10.9 Mavericks compatibility
Is CoGe compatible with Mavericks?
Coge Vj Software
Yes, basically it is from version 1.4.3.2, but if you are running into any issues with CoGe on 10.9, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
If you are using Hap codec, you need to update it to make it work on Mavericks: http://vidvox.net/download/Hap_Codec_2.dmg
Coge Jewelry
For the best performance on fullscreen, make sure the 'Displays have separate Spaces' option in the 'Mission Control' section of System Preferences is disabled when using external displays.
There is a system bug in OSX 10.9.0-10.9.5 where some Core Image filters results in a crash sooner or later because of a memory leak. All the Core Image blurs are affected, as well as the Chroma Key mixer. Maybe some of the blend modes too, but since Core Image can fallback to use OpenCL - which is the root of this issue - on 10.9 without any notice, anything which is Core Image related is probably dangerous on 10.9.