Virtual Light Machine

The Virtual Light Machine (VLM) is a light synthesizer developed by Jeff Minter in 1990. It was installed into a number of electronics, including the Atari Jaguar CD and Nuon DVD players.

The Virtual Light Machine is similar to what would later be seen in music visualizations included with Winamp and other Media players. When an audio CD is put into a VLM compatible device, the VLM loads, manifesting visualizations which appear on the screen that change with the music. The VLM is set apart from simple music visualizers by an interactive mode that allows users to manipulate graphics generation on the fly.

To use VLM in the BigPEmu emulator to accompany music being played by your PC, first ensure your computer is playing audio.

Next, load the VLM rom in BigPEmu, and press Esc to enter the settings menu.

Then select SystemMount ImagesVirtual DiscsSystem Audio Disc and select the computer's audio output device.

VLM can then be started and stopped using the joypad buttons you have mapped to the Jaguar's A, B, and C buttons, and the visual effects can be changed using the numerical keys on your keyboard.

The Select key on the joypad will 'lock' and 'unlock' the current effect being played.