Rutt Etra Video Synthesizer now in VDMX
I am a big fan of the whole array of 1970s video synthesizer and while not my favorite one the Rutt Etra definately ranks among the better synths from this time (my favorite is still Bill Hearns Vidium). Now that computing power finally catches up with analog video power the Rutt Etra has been ported to the digital age with the help of Bill Etra - one of the original developers. The cool thing is that it has been ported to VDMX my vj program of choice (and the most extensible vj program on the planet). Bill Etra is sitting in a wheelchair knowadays and Vade - the programmer - asks nicely for a donation which go towards Bill Etra and his dream of the perfect video synthesizer.
Here is Bill Etra himself:
The dream was to create a compositional tool that would allow you to prepare visuals like a composer composes music. I called it then and I call it now “the visual piano”, because with the piano the composer can compose an entire symphony and be sure of what it will sound like. It was my belief then and it is my belief now after 40 years of working towards this, that this will bring about a great change and great upwelling of creative work once it is accomplished. This software is one step closer to that since, once we’re on the computer, things can be developed and repeated reliably.
I now live on disability and we no longer have corporate budgets working on this development. I would like to spend the rest of my existence working on the project that I thought I would finish in 1972. if you find this software useful, please make a donation in whatever amount you feel is appropriate.
The original entry has the link to the Paypal donate page.
Here is a demo video of the original synth in action: