Since the early years of video art, works have been made which do not actually produce a standard TV signal waveform and therefore cannot be directly recorded. Some are based primarily upon magnetic distortion of the normal TV scan pattern, others utilise a Cathode Ray Tube as if it were an oscilloscope screen.
Synchronator is a video and audio research project by Gert-Jan Prins and Bas van Koolwijk in an attempt to use a combination of current digital and analogue means in order to make more use of the characteristic visual qualities of such techniques.
This first video to come out of the project demonstrates the audio modulations of a video signal, which were produced by means of an audio mixer. It came into existence during a residency at Impakt (Utrecht, the Netherlands) in June 2006, and marked the starting point of their cooperation. Bas van Koolwijk concentrates mainly on digital experiments, while Gert-Jan Prins mostly works with analogue techniques. They both carry out research into the relationship between sound and image, as well as the limits of what is audible and visible.