About Mabuse FAQ

What's Mabuse for?
It's a realtime audiovisual synthesis composition software, and allows you to make & perform live experimental film and music. Obviously its not limited to experimental film, and you could just as easily make dirty techno or crazy dance sh*t all with hypnotically synchronized visuals.

Who uses Mabuse?
We do! But essentially anyone wanting to jam with sounds and visuals live, whether on or off stage, individually or within a group. We want you to get out there with your laptops, do live gigs, create films, make noise, post them all over the internet, and don't forget to tell us about it here.

Can I just use it just as a vj tool?
Too right, just don't have your volume up! You'll still need to run some audio to 'drive' the visuals, but you can make whatever visuals you want.

How many different movies can I play at the same time?
At the moment you can only play one, which you might think is a limitation, but one of the great features of Mabuse is that it allows you to create a whole multitude of different textures & images from one source, check out the demo and you'll see what Mabuse can do.

How many different sounds can I play at the same time?
On this version you can run 4 loops plus the movie soundtrack, as well as routing these through the delay unit. By limiting the number of loops to 4 it creates a much clearer relationship between the visuals and sound, which results in a much more intense experience. It also has the advantage of being able to fit all the controls on one screen, which is crucial for live use.

Why's it so cheap in comparison to other software?
Because we're not a big company, and we want people to use it and start making exciting music and video. If you think its too cheap then feel free to donate us some money! We've also initially dropped the price as we recognise Mabuse is still in its infancy and even though we've thoroughly beta tested it, there's always going to be a few gremlins that slip through. If you notice any bugs please post them on the forum.

What makes Mabuse better than or different to other similar software?
As with all software it depends on how well suited it is to what you're trying to achieve. Mabuse was originally designed as there was no software available which allowed us to create and perform live experimental cinema, where we could just mash films and sounds up instantly to create something new, rude and exciting. Is it better than any other software? well thats for you to decide, certainly judging by all the emails we've received during betatesting, which generally go something like "this is f--king awesome" suggests people like it!
Is it different? Its probably the first software which allows you to turn up to a gig with one laptop, one application and do a real live performance creating and generating all the visuals and music live. Some of the video processing you will definitely not find on any other software, as was based on 6 years of research, and has the capability of blowing peoples heads off.
As a performance tool, we haven't found any other software which allows us to do what Mabuse can. We think it rocks.

What computer do I need to run Mabuse well?
Anything fast with lots of RAM. We use a Macbook Pro or Macbook 2 Core Duo 2GHz, and 2GB RAM. If you're running on a PC anything faster than a Pentium 4 3GHz with 1GB RAM is just fine and its best to have a decent graphics card.

Can I control Mabuse using an external MIDI controller?
Too right, check out the MIDI Setup from the Options window where you can map any MIDI controller to nearly all parameters within Mabuse.

Can I sync Mabuse up to some other software?
Not at the moment, but we're working on that right now. In a future update you'll be able to use MIDICLOCK to sync to other apps, and theres also some other exciting developments in this area which we will announce soon.

Will I need any other software to run alongside Mabuse like Ableton or something?
No, it handles it all. When it comes to content however, you can obviously download movie clips and audio sounds, but you might want to use programs like Sony Vegas or Final Cut or even iMovie to capture, create and edit your movies for use in Mabuse. In terms of audio samples you could buy or blag sample cd's, or use programs such as Reason, Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic etc to create whatever sounds you're after.

Can I record the output of Mabuse?
Yep. The "Export Video" feature records a Quicktime movie to disk complete with stereo audio track. You could then sell it, get gigs with it, or just post it online, as well as loading it back into Mabuse and screwing with it some more! Read Getting the Best from Mabuse for more info on Exporting Video.

Is there a sequencer in Mabuse?
There is no sequencer in this version as its primarily a live performance tool, but you can store and recall loads of different presets.