VKO1: A pad-based visual performance instrument for Apple products

VKO1 is a pad-based visual performance app for iPhone, iPad and Apple Silicon Mac. AutoMix, 53 real-time effects, 25 GPU visualizers, MIDI, Ableton Link.

I needed a great VJ companion that played while I was concentrating on my DJ set. Then I realized this is the app I always dreamt of building, and now I'm obsessed. Working on VKO1 for Android.

Hi again! I'm developing VKO1 for Android devices, if this sounds amazing you can join my closed beta here: https://forms.gle/tY7nQASU7xU7mJTm9

Android version is built from scratch using a 2D/3D Vulkan rendering engine instead of Apples Metal engine, but in spirit its very much the same as iOS/Mac version. Also, you write shaders as OpenGLSL.

Read more here: https://temperamento.net/vko1/VKO1-Android.html

Here's a great overview vid for Android beta testers: https://youtu.be/0cvf-lxL8-M?si=02p97NKcYEpaGZAY

Hi! Here's a neat short tutorial giving you a couple of tips and tricks on how-to create your own metal shaders:
https://youtu.be/UBaVSENxAvg?si=U0LmfD1kR__Cndx5

Working on 1.25 update that is adding really nice things, here's a couple:

MEDIAMESH3D — YOUR MEDIA ON A 3D MESH

New generator node that wraps any image, GIF, or video onto a real-time 3D mesh rendered in Metal. Six mesh types selectable in the inspector: Sphere, Cube, Plane, Torus Knot, Icosphere, and custom imported OBJ

Audio-reactive scale — connect Beat Strength or Bass to the Scale pin and the mesh pulses with every hit

Cross-device sessions — custom OBJ files are embedded in the session bundle; open the same session on iPad or Mac and the geometry travels with it

QUICK SHORTCUT MENU

Long-tap + drag down on pad — A floating overlay appears with Edit Graph, Background Color, Speed, and Effects. Quick access without navigating menus

Mac Catalyst mouse button support — Map the shortcut menu to Middle, Button 4, or Button 5 in Settings

NODE GRAPH — NEW INPUT NODES

Microphone — New input node that outputs live microphone amplitude as a 0–1 float. Sensitivity adjustable via inline drag slider directly on the node. Wire it to any numeric pin for microphone-reactive visuals without audio routing setup

Spectrum — New input node that outputs the mean of all 32 frequency bins as a single float. Smooth broadband energy signal — great for driving global intensity when bass or beat alone isn't enough

Rotate — Spin any texture by a fixed angle (0–360°). Patch an LFO or Beat Strength input to the angle pin for continuous audio-reactive rotation. Useful for correcting upside-down textures or adding motion to any generator

NODE LIBRARY FAVORITES

Star any node type to pin it to a Favorites section at the top of the library. Favorites persist across launches so your most-used generators and modifiers are always one tap away

INTERACTIVE NODE CONTROLS

Inline drag sliders on nodes — drag directly on an LFO node to set amplitude, on a Microphone node to set sensitivity, on a MIDI CC node to set the channel. No inspector required

SHADER THUMBNAILS

128×128 first-frame preview — Each Metal shader renders a thumbnail at compile time and caches it to disk. A shimmer skeleton shows while compiling so the UI never shows a blank slot

ON-CANVAS PERFORMANCE HUD

Toggle in the STAT popover under "On-canvas perf HUD". Overlays live RAM, CPU, GPU frame-budget, FPS, and visualizer memory in the bottom-left of the preview, the on-device fullscreen view, and the Node Editor preview (both inline and fullscreen). External output stays clean. Useful when tuning custom shaders — see the cost of a tweak the instant you ship it

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

Reduced CPU and GPU load on slower devices — Smoother playback on older iPhones and iPads across all visualizer types

Bug fixes