Find a workflow for your visuals
Use Ultimate VJ to perform a layered clip mix, build audio-reactive looks, add live text, or pass video between Mac applications. The examples below show ways to combine its controls; choose the workflow that matches what you want to create.
Ultimate VJ is free. You need Apple Silicon (arm64) and macOS 26 Tahoe or later. Check your Mac.
Perform a clip mix
Arrange short video loops in banks, then use layers for background, texture and foreground. Audition a clip with its eye before triggering it live. Set transitions between clips on a layer, or assign two layer groups to the A/B crossfader for larger changes.
Start with two visual layers and a few columns. Prepare one column as a complete look, then use its header to trigger eligible clips together. Exclude a clip from column triggers when it needs to keep its own timing. Add keyboard or MIDI assignments after the basic mix works.
Useful for: VJs preparing a clip-based set, DJs adding visuals, and artists learning live video mixing.
Follow the live mixing workflow · Prepare your first set · Set up MIDI
Make audio-reactive visuals
Apply a built-in RenderWave shader, choose a live audio input and enable capture. Open a shader control's Animate editor, choose Audio, and select Bass, Mids or Highs. Set Amount and Smooth so the motion suits the music. Save the result as a shader look.
Give one parameter a gentle beat-based cycle and another a smaller audio response. This lets you combine regular motion with changes driven by the sound. Microphone permission and correct input routing are required. File-audio playback is a separate choice; keep it off when another app supplies the soundtrack.
Useful for: generated visual backgrounds, music-led experimentation and variations on a small set of shader sources.
Build an audio-reactive look · Explore shader controls
Add titles and artist names
Create a Text source in an empty slot, then choose an installed font, color and alignment. Put it on a layer above a clip or shader background. Choose Scale up, Scale down or Bounce when the text needs motion, or keep it static for a readable title.
Prepare several names in one bank so you can select the right title during the set. Use a Piano trigger for a held accent or a looping text animation for a repeating treatment. Text uses normal effects and transforms, so you can share a look across multiple titles.
Useful for: artist names, event titles and short typographic accents in a live mix. Text clips are not a subtitle timeline or an automatic list of imported captions.
Fit visuals to a surface
Use Output settings to crop and position your composition on rectangular or four-corner projection surfaces. Move, resize or rotate a surface; choose Corner pin for perspective correction. Use the calibration card to check alignment before returning to your live mix.
Save an output preset when you want to reuse that geometry. The available tools are rectangular cropping and four-corner mapping, with up to 16 surfaces. Mesh warping, masks and soft-edge blending are outside these tools. The output comparison explains a different product's mapping workflow if your installation requires more.
Useful for: learning projection alignment and arranging a composition across the supported surface tools.
Read the mapping guide · Configure display output
Combine Mac video apps
Receive a live Syphon sender as a clip, then layer it with your own media and effects. In the other direction, publish the Ultimate VJ composition or selected layer feeds so another compatible app can receive them.
Choose the feed for the image you need: the composition follows Master before screen mapping and has an opaque background; selected layer feeds retain transparency before Group and Master processing. Syphon output supports SDR compositions up to 1920 × 1080. Live input supports one sender and remains available with larger compositions. Use one selected live input sender and up to three selected layer outputs.
Useful for: mixing an image from another Mac application or passing a layer to another stage in your video setup.
Follow the Syphon routing guide
Capture and reuse a look
Record a short visual take as a silent H.264 QuickTime .mov, or save a PNG output snapshot. Recording follows the selected Record target; snapshots follow Monitor. Choose Composition before screen mapping or a named output with its canvas and slice layout. Use even dimensions for the Record target, choose a new recording filename, and wait for Finalizing to finish before using the file.
Save the editable .uvj set as well. A video captures the rendered image; the set keeps the sources, controls and show configuration. Use Media manager to collect a portable copy before moving the set to another Mac.
Useful for: reviewing a rehearsal, making a visual take and returning to an editable setup later. Recording does not capture your soundtrack.
Recording controls · Save and collect a set
Start with a small set
Install Ultimate VJ, follow the Quickstart, and add the routing your workflow needs. Use the complete feature guide when you want to check a control's scope before building around it.