Five machines, four eras, one instrument.
Five legendary devices of electronic imaging, recreated as native macOS applications — Swift, SwiftUI, Metal. Not filters: instruments that are played live, faithful to the original machines, with files kept open in JSON.
Dan Sandin's psychedelic laboratory, Quantel's broadcast control room, the paint workshop that came before Photoshop, the Rutt-Etra's cathode-ray relief and the Scanimate's animation. Every output shown here is rendered by the engine itself, never an illustration.
Each carries its own color, drawn from its own documentation. Together, they form a single control room.
Based on the Sandin Image Processor (1973). A chain of "drawer" modules — Rutt/Etra, feedback, colorizer, shapes — and GRASS, a stage you code yourself in Metal. Also on Linux.
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Based on the Quantel DPE 5000 (late 70s). Five channels with frame stores, DIGIFLIP in perspective, priority stack, Stick Box and T-bar, AUTOSEQUENCE, offline export.
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Based on the Quantel Paintbox (1981). Pressure brushes, watercolor, chalk, mixing tray, lasso cut & paste — and painting over video: timeline, 8 layers, ProRes 4444 alpha export.
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Based on the Rutt-Etra Video Synthesizer (1973). Any source becomes a mesh of lines that light lifts into relief — LFOs, ramps, sequencer, audio and MIDI, export identical to the preview.
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Based on the Scanimate (late 60s). Hi-con camera, scan deflection, banded colourizer, phosphor persistence, three layers — animated chrome titles, .mov export identical to the preview.
DiscoverThree founding dates of electronic imaging, and the software instrument that replays them today.
Computer Image Corporation animates letters and logos by analog scan deflection. It is the motion design of seventies television. → SCAN7 recreates its chain, stage by stage.
Dan Sandin publishes the plans for a modular analog video synthesizer, free to copy. With GRASS (Tom DeFanti, 1974), the image becomes programmable. → Sandin FX revives its drawers, in real time.
Steve Rutt and Bill Etra hijack the tube's scan: light lifts the lines into relief, played by hand. → RE7 revives its mesh, in real time.
The first fully digital DVE: frame stores, perspective flips, priorities, Stick Box. It redefined TV graphics. → Q5K recreates its five channels and the T-bar.
The first broadcast paint system: pressure stylus, watercolor, lasso cut & paste. "To Paintbox" becomes a verb. → PB7 recreates it, then paints over video.
Alongside the retro machines, Mescalina builds applications for today's work, listening and speaking.
A video editor for creators cut down to the essentials: a clear timeline, animated titles, music that ducks under the voice, one-click colour looks and export presets for every network. One-time purchase, no subscription, no account — it all happens on your Mac.
The app for the Vox Connection web radio: the 24/7 live stream in the background, the current track and its cover art, the track history, likes and a form to submit your own tracks to the radio. Free, no account, no ads, on iPhone, iPad and Android.
A teleprompter for iPhone and iPad that listens: the text scrolls while you read and stops the moment you stop. No speed to set, no account, and your scripts never leave the device.
A management game: run the festival of summer 1969. Build the site, book the acts, manage the vibes, the budget and the weather, then live the festival in real time. Peace, love & business.
A narrative management game: take a rock band from the garage to the Hall of Rock. 277 events, 8 endings, and a Codex that teaches you the real workings of the music industry. Free, no ads, no in-app purchases.
Five native applications, one shared foundation. Settings files, gestures and projects readable and copyable from one machine to another.