GIF Jockey is a free GIF jockeying application where users can create exciting visuals by controlling GIFs with the keyboard. Different GIFs can be assigned on 16 different keys which you can press in a pattern to play GIF like musical notes on a piano or midi controller. GIF Jockeys can play a mix of these GIFs matching them with Dubstep bass drops and rising tempo. The tempo of GIFs can be synced to the tempo of the music. The direction of the playback can also be changed to create a variation in the mix. The ping pong effect can be armed to add more variation too. GIF Jockey is a downloadable application for Windows, Mac and Linux. However, you can also use its web application.
You might have seen a lot of video jockeys in music festivals that control the psychedelic videos on the screen. Now you can be one too, for your house party and bashes in your neighborhood. There is no question that people love browsing GIFs. Using them with a controller to create a montage is wonderful and a really original idea. Users can add GIFs from Giphy where there are tons of GIFs available. Apart from that, GIFs from different URL and the host computer can be also be added.
IF you love messing around with GIFs, make sure you try out Giphy’s GIF editor.
So let’s create something awesome with GIF Jockey!
How to Use Gif Jockey to Create a GIF Mix
You can start using GIF Jockey from its web application or download the desktop application. I found the web application to be a bit better because the web application allows overlapping of GIFs in the mix. This is a really good feature to make psychedelic potpourris.
Click on Create at top left of the interface. You’ll see 16 keys of your keyboards layout and a search bar above it. This is the GIF ‘synthesizer’. Search for GIFs using the Giphy search bar and assign them to the keyboard’s keys by selecting them. The assignment can be removed by clicking the cross on the key. Click on the ‘chain’ beside the search bar to insert a GIF from another site. Click on the upload button to load a GIF from your computer.
If you click the little pencil icon on a key, you can force change the bpm, direction, and zoom of the GIF. The ping pong feature makes the GIF play backwards when it reaches the end. Remember, here you’re changing the playback locally. On the main playback page, you can set global playback settings for all the GIFs.
Click on Play to go to the controller/playback page. Here is where the magic happens. Now you have to just turn up the music and connect your computer to the big screen and go Live! Use the keyboard’s keys to create something nice. BPM, snap to beat, ping-pong, direction and zoom toggles can be changed from the keyboard too. You can check them out by clicking the ‘i’ on the top right.
Here are my rusty GIF Jockey skills in action (Please don’t judge):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WrIF1sxRGk
Final Words
There might be some GIF montage makers out there but none can be compared to the control GIF Jockey gives you. The best part is that you have complete control over the GIF playback. The only drawback I experienced with GIF jockey is the unavailability of the option to record the mix. But since it’s more of a live tool, I didn’t heed much attention to this fact. I award 5 stars to GIF jockey.
Check out GIF Jockey here.
