Analog-Inclined Engineer Logan Owlbeemoth and his TACHYONS+ Brand Customizes Vintage Video Processors to Create Incredible Glitch Art Visuals via the VHS Format and Beyond!
As any Tapehead is likely to tell you, an acute appreciation for the aesthetics of VHS is one the most inherent aspects of our love for this magnetic medium. The innate idiosyncrasies and inevitable decay of the analog picture and sound in their natural state are usually enough to appease the average analog aesthetic thirst, but there are others who want to take those natural clips and blips a bit further and manipulate them into their own personal mutation of magnetic magic. Enter Logan Owlbeemoth and his wife Omebi AKA the analog engineering outfit TACHYONS+. Over the years, they’ve modified and customized consumer level video processors to assist visual artists in shaping their creations into stunning arrays of glitch-soaked color schemes and decaying psychedelic patterns, often culminating in a sort of hypnotically fantastic flow of visual manipulation. All of this re-imagined wonder comes from a relatively small line of TACHYONS+ machines, but the result is absolutely mind-melting. Read on, my fellow Videovores, and prepare to see waves of amazing analog aesthetics through a whole new set of eyes…
An example of the insanely radical visual manipulation created with a TACHYONS+ machine. Too groovy, mang.
Tell us about your creative history, and how TACHYONS+ came to be. Tachyons+ came out of a personal want for analog VHS synthesis manipulation tools to create video art. After discovering how to modify old 80's and 90's video processors, we discovered that there were other people seeking the same type of creative devices to use in their own visual experimentation. My wife Omebi combined brain and physical work forces with me to make this all possible. Our goal is simple: to make tools for video artists ranging from amateur to professional all over the world and to be able to acquire our gear at a low budget as possible.
A look at one of the TACHYONS+ machines in all its glory. Killer custom paint job, too. Dig it.
Can you describe what the TACHYONS+ machines are used for? What are the possibilities with a TACHYONS+ machine and how does it work essentially? For such simple devices, they have a wide range of use. They can be used in anything from music videos, film productions, TV commercials, canvas based art, photography, anything that has a visual source or destination. My personal favorite use is possibly the simplest: An old dusty CRT TV, thrift store VCR and some unwanted VHS tapes. Capture the outcome with a digital camera or capture into computer for video editing using an analog to digital convertor. There are many other ways to use them, though.
More glitch glory made possible by a TACHYONS+ machine. The colors, Duke, the colors!
What is the process like for creating these machines? They’re completely custom, made from re-purposed 80s / 90s technology, I believe? How many models are you currently offering, and what are the differences with each machine? What about price range for these machines? Do you have a master list people can scope out, or maybe just give us a ballpark figure / run down for the machines? The main machines we currently offer are based off 80's Radio Shack video enhancers. They were made to clean up VHS duplication. Inside there is a lovely world of analog circuitry that when modified, create the distorted psychedelic FX within. These are the Vortex Decoder 222$, Opti-Glitch 288$, Psychenizer 388$, FUN 21 444$, and Rainbowonic $444. We put a lot of work into them to make sure they are long lasting video devices and even offer our customers a lifetime guarantee on them outside their own abuse! There is a lot of pre-tuning the circuits and post-testing to make sure all is a go. We are a two person team and work on a near daily basis; we’ve been doing this for years. We have lost track of time within this magic.
I just can't get enough of this stuff, mang. Groovy analog excellence all the way.
What is it that you love about analog manipulation / visual glitch art? What attracts you to it? Personally, I have always been attracted to experimental broken abstract art via music and creations. It’s great that it’s now focused in a healthy underground community of people sharing (check out the Glitch Artists Collective FB group) and the entertainment realm using this in everything from films to TV. It’s possible for anyone to do and everyone has their own take on it. I get to see it on a daily basis doing Tachyons+ work. Even though our customers are using the same gear, they are all doing something different. It’s highly inspiring and thankfully does not get tiresome if you’re a fan of the outsider, freakster realm of art. Some people can be snotty about it, saying its art made by chicken scratch, etc or that the machines rule the humans (remember the drum machines of the 80's?) Manipulation of digital and / or analog circuits utilizing visual sources has been around since the control of electrical currents use. It’s not going anywhere. It’s only going to grow and be applied from a maximal to minimal in visual crafts. Philosophy wise, you could say it matches the chaotic life we all exist on a daily social race of quick this, quick that, go, go, go. Maybe its the machines talking a new language through us. Who knows? It’s definitely rooted in cyberpunk / science fiction.
Another custom made machine from TACHYONS+ with another killer paint job. Bring on that magnificent manipulation, man.
You’ve worked with / created machines for some killer artists, man. Can you share some of your favorite collaborations? Notable videos your machines helped create? Working with Gary Numan for a music video was highlights of course ‘cause its Gary FCKN Numan, overlord of all that is bad-ass synth pop. Plus him allowing us to work with him really shows how analog video glitch manipulation has been streamed into a more accepted art form. It’s going beyond “That's weird” and seeping more into “That is interesting.'' https://youtu.be/FXjM7jqv5dY I have worked with a lot of people in the underground synth and experimental music realms. Lots of great obscure artists have approached me over the years for collaborations with their music. That I love and hope never to stop working with music artists for creative video promotions. Here is a recent video made for the Detroit Underground label using a modified Sega Genesis and a Beavis and Butthead cart. HOW DRAGONS DISAPPEAR - Pukyboog from TACHYONS+ on Vimeo. This is a video made for Italian musician The Delay in the Universal Loop using a 1990 VHS copy of Arthur Murray Presents Nightclub Disco. THE DELAY IN THE UNIVERSAL LOOP - Texan Daylight from TACHYONS+ on Vimeo. We did ''Sell Out'' recently and did analog glitch art for Oakley sunglasses in a commercial but really how could we pass up the opportunity to have Kevin Spacey talking over our work. https://youtu.be/ozwtG8Q0idc Any glitch artists that are doing outstanding stuff right now that we should know about? Since this is a Tachyons+ based interview, let me share a few artists that use our gear... Jon Gillie in the U.K. is doing lovely stuff by taking microtones of analog video noise and shaping them into superbly sublime video compositions which have no equal. After Hanging Fruit, After The Date Palms from Jonathan Gillie on Vimeo. Australia based collective called Zonk Vision use our gear for music video productions. They recently shared this piece with the world. An excellent example of live filming mixed with analog effects. https://youtu.be/vvw3hF_M7Qs Paris Group International in Brooklyn showcase the growing fascination with vintage VHS gear in promoting underground electronic music. Pun Collins - Rove from Paris Group on Vimeo. Gris Gris in New Orleans represents the live VJ side of this realm. I recently saw him use VHS gear to do live visuals for Mardi Gras parties ranging from a a audience of 20 to a audience of 200. He has a more VHS PUNK attitude which is really refreshing in a drowning world of HD this, HD that. FCK HD! Gary Wrong "Dream Smasher" from Gris Gris on Vimeo. Chris Le Blanc in Minneapolis uses VHS gear live with CRT TV's and controls it all somehow with a Power Glove.
Man, is this stuff insano groovy or what, Tapeheads!? There’s just such an amazing array of kaleidoscopic and spectacular mutations of magnetic waves abounding on the TACHYONS+ Tumblr site (and what’s featured here is really just a smattering) so be sure to groove on over and explore the entirety of their most bodacious glitch creations and collaborations. And as Logan mentioned above, the machines are totally up for purchase, so if you’re interested in trying your hand at some most excellent video manipulation, there’s just no other place to go, man. Logan and Omebi, we VHSalute you for all of your radical work to help expand the visual aesthetics of the analog landscape and beyond!
Groove and Groove and RIDE THE WAVE.
Josh Schafer