UFO, Black Hawk War from CandyStations on Vimeo.

Jaymis Loveday sits down with Deborah Johnson for Create Digital Motion in a conversation about live visuals for music. Deborah (right), aka CandyStation, is touring with Sufjan Stevens, another of our favorite musicians. (If I could come up with more excuses to bring him into a "digital music" blog, I would.)

It really is a conversation, as Jaymis has plenty of thoughts himself, having toured with Australian Idol Bobby Flynn (and I think the two are kindred in aesthetic).

See Deborah’s visuals above, and check out the full interview on CDMotion:

Interview: Deborah Johnson on Sufjan, Singer Songwriters, and Content

Many artists tour with visuals, but use canned material. Seen any particularly terrific shows with live visuals lately? (Maybe someday we’ll be able to get together a matchmaking service for Create Digital Musicians and Create Digital Motionists — speaking as someone who does do both, it’s not always easy to split energies, and collaboration is more fun!)

Texas, here we come. Before the armies of bands hit Austin for South by Southwest, we’ve got some events going during SxSW Interactive — the “spring break for Web geeks” festival of online tech.

Laptopists battle it out Saturday night 3/8: The Digital Showcase at the Austin Museum of Art is holding a Laptop Battle for Texan laptop artists. I’ll be judging, along with CDM reader favorite (and reader) proem, and two other judges. The night also  features performances from New Berlin and Richard Gear, plus live visuals from CDMotion contributor Dan Winckler. Details at AMODA, upcoming.org. (A paltry $4-$7, and even 18 year-olds can get in.)

Explore creative interfaces for data Sunday 3/9: My panel with interaction design pioneer S. Joy Mountford (Apple, Yahoo) will look at how Web information can become a fluid, artistic medium for visualization and sonification. Details at Create Digital Motion. (Requires SxSW Interactive badge.)

Live CDM music and motion party Monday 3/10: Bring your musical, visual toys, custom code, and DIY projects and hang out with other CDMers at 8pm, then stick around for live performances from musicians and visualists. Details below; let us know you’re coming at upcoming.org, Facebook, SXSWHERE party guide. Free, no badge required.

More on the CDM party — good chance to chill before SxSW Music unloads on you!

The convergence of visuals and sound on virtual vinyl has been a long time coming, but it’s awaited the perfect tool for controlling both. Serato’s VIDEO-SL promised to be that tool. We’ve gotten the crossfader in the capable hands of dj rndm and Robotkid to find out for Create Digital Motion. Here’s what the results look like, mixing:

… and scratching:

The review isn’t without the odd caveat: for one, you’ll need to pluck down a couple grand to get the complete setup because the Rane mixer employed is required, though rndm ultimately says that’s worth it for the integration payoff. And available transitions and effects are limited in range and prefer to run on dedicated GPUs (think MacBook Pro, or a PC laptop with a dedicated NVIDIA or ATI card). But as you can see, the results are incredibly slick, and there’s no question video on vinyl now has a tool to beat. Check out the complete review and technical details on our visualist sister site:

Hands-on Review: Serato’s VIDEO-SL for Visual Vinyl Turntablism