A voice is sound like any other sound. Photism does not care if it came from a synth, a drum bus, or a microphone, so none of this needs Ableton, a DAW, or a plugin host. Anyone with a mic and a laptop has everything required.
Any mic works
A USB mic (a Shure MV7, a Blue Yeti, or similar) plugs straight into a laptop with nothing else in between. Open photism.app/online, click SOURCE, and pick it from the list.
An XLR mic needs an interface, or a vocal processor with a USB output (TC-Helicon, Boss VE-series, and others), between the mic and the laptop. Pick that device as the source instead, and any onboard reverb or harmony the processor adds shows up in the visuals too, since Photism only hears what reaches it.
Where this fits
Open mic and coffeehouse sets. A laptop and a mic is the whole rig. Nothing to load in beyond what the room already has.
Worship and spoken word. This is a different tool than cue-based show software like ProPresenter, which runs a script built in advance. Photism reacts live with no cue list, which matters for anything a script cannot predict, a cappella moments, prayer, or unscripted speaking.
Streaming. Run the Photism output window as a capture source in OBS or your streaming software of choice. No separate render needed for the stream.
Busking. Same setup as any street performer: laptop facing the crowd, mic running into it.
Getting it on a screen
shift+o opens a separate output window you can drag to a second
display, projector, or TV and fullscreen. For a solo set, the laptop
screen alone works fine.
Try it before you install
The whole setup runs free in a browser at photism.app/online. Pick your mic as the source and sing a few bars to see the response.