ACMX is a real-time video synthesis and glitch-art workstation with two GPU engines. Choose the established ACMX2 OpenGL backend or the new ACMXVK Vulkan backend, then build shader chains, react to audio, map MIDI controls, and record the result.
ACMX builds a flexible real-time processing pipeline around shader code. Use it for performance visuals, experimental video, live coding, offline rendering, recording, and deliberate digital chaos.
Choose the ACMX2 OpenGL engine or ACMXVK powered by Vulkan and MXVK. Run fragment and compute effects, combine multiple passes, crossfade between chains, and use history textures for temporal effects.
Create source libraries, compile GLSL to SPIR-V for ACMXVK, edit and reload individual shaders during a session, arrange multipass nodes into playlists, and use automatic playback modes to keep visuals evolving.
Drive visuals from a microphone, audio file, or a video's own audio track. Audio pass-through, recording, and muxing are available, while MIDI mapping turns knobs, pads, and faders into live shader controls.
Process cameras, videos, and still images; render shader-textured OBJ/MXMOD scenes; take snapshots; or encode finished video with the FFmpeg library writer. ACMXVK also supports recorded headless processing.
Watch a demonstration of the ACMX interface, its dual rendering backends, and the real-time shader workflow on Linux.
Four steps. The application bundle contains both engines and their runtime resources. Clone the shader repository when you want a large editable library of effects.
Open a terminal in your Downloads folder and install the bundle for your user account. Your software center may also open the file when you double-click it.
flatpak install --user ./ACMX2.flatpak
Clone the maintained lostjared/shaders repository. This creates a folder named shaders in the current directory.
git clone https://github.com/lostjared/shaders.git
Start it from your desktop application menu, or launch the Qt interface from a terminal:
flatpak run io.github.lostjared.ACMX2
Open Settings, choose ACMX2 for OpenGL shaders or ACMXVK for Vulkan/SPIR-V, then browse to a compatible shader library. The interface can build ACMXVK source libraries and report their compile status.
git pull.This portable x86_64 build packages the complete ACMX workspace for modern Linux desktops, including the Stable Diffusion server used by ACMXVK. CUDA, OpenCV DNN, WebP, and TIFF are omitted from this portable build.
The shared Qt interface, ACMX2 and ACMXVK command-line engines, MIDI mapper, audio and MIDI support, packaged GLSL compiler, runtime data, models, playlists, shader resources, and the Vulkan-enabled stable-diffusion.cpp sd-server for optional ACMXVK image-to-image processing. Version 2.140.0 keeps the interface responsive during rapid ACMXVK shader changes and condenses visible Vulkan log traffic while preserving complete per-run file logs.
Download · 69 MiB