VJ's tend to use multiple different apps and connect them using syphon (Mac) or spout (windows) to share textures. I've seen resolume (clip heavy content) and touchdesigner (node based "visual IDE" ) mentioned. Those are all big in the space and offer something unique.

I wanted to add https://www.synesthesia.live to that list. It has a ton of audio reactive content and the best audio reactivity in the space.

But the key really is in using other apps + syphon/spout to combine all the textures into unique content. Then manipulating that in something like touch designer.

Full disclosure: I'm one of the creators of synesthesia.live but use multiple apps, Touch Designer everyday.

Not sure about “state of the art” but if you’re on Mac, VDMX (https://vidvox.net/) is a good place to start looking. Its sort of like a DJ mixer for video sources but lets you do other things like control parameters of your video sources with a MIDI contoller for example.

Back in the day there was MilkyMist (https://m-labs.hk/gateware/m1/)

I am extremely heart broken I never bought one before it was discontinued (the software and hardware is open source tho)

+1 for VDMX. When you understand the fundamentals of how to build stuff with it you can almost create your own version of most of the other software available on the market. Plus the vidvox dudes are legends.

Worked with a friend to create NestDrop. It's a VJ interface wrapper for the Milkdrop engine with support for Spout output. http://nestimmersion.ca/nestdrop.html

Also curated and organized about 9800 Milkdrop presets from the community. https://thefulldomeblog.com/2020/02/21/nestdrop-presets-coll...

How would you feel about using this or a subset of them as the default preset bundle for milkdrop? It needs a better curated default.

Thank you for the presets curation! Amazing!

if you want to get into hacking on a real ntsc/pal signal there is a whole universe of very expensive eurorack gear. on the low end you could check out ch/av for a VGA synth. you probably want something a bit higher level.

for a simple raspi-based device that lets you play with video feedback and has midi-tuneable features check out video_waaaves and other software by andrei jay. combined with a basic edirol video mixer and a couple sources this could get you pretty far.

for coding visuals, learn glsl on shadertoy, p5.js and threejs from streamers like yuri artyukh, and check out what people are doing with commercial software like touchdesigner or max/msp

There is also vvvv[1]. They have a bundle of free workshops available here: https://thenodeinstitute.org/courses/node20-vvvv-workshop-bu...

Especially the one called "Beyond Sound and Visual" by Natan Sinigaglia[2] might interest you.

[1] https://visualprogramming.net

[2] https://natansinigaglia.com/works

there is also Resolume: https://resolume.com/

and TouchDesigner: https://derivative.ca