System Layout diagram

heres the current big picture as to what goes where in the system.as time goes on ill draw up the schematics for each module on a computer (theyre all scrawled in a notebook atm) and post them up here.

A post about the chassis design.

the chassis for all the modules is very simple: its a piece of plywood with these aluminium boxes from Maplin's screwed to them. the PCBs and controls are mounted in the removable lid, thus making it fully modular. power cabling runs along the back of the plywood which also gives extra mounting space for power supplies, sync distro, etc. i put it together of a couple of hours, so its really very easy to build too. i guess i should draw up some proper plans and post them somewhen soon.

its a very strong but lightweight system, and as all the modules are sheilded from each other with at least 2 thicknesses of well grounded aluminium between them im hoping it should also provide excellent RF shielding. my 12 module unit cost me less than £100 to put together, including a load of 40mm aluminium angle (3mm thick) that ill make rack ears out of. it doesnt fit in a standard 19 inch rack, but i can make whatever wooden case to go around the main unit as and when i feel like it and use standard rack mounting strips to hold it in place.

i have many audio analog synth pcb's that have been waiting to be cased. ill use this method with them as well.

1st post. analogue modular video synth stuff.

the above picture is a still from the video synthesizer ive been designing and building over the last year or so. its a fully modular system, mostly inspired by the Sandin Image Processor from the early seventies and the Supernova 12 system built for Australian band Severed Heads. its been prototyped and is currently in the construction phase. i plan on sharing the progress i make on this build (and whatever else i happen to be working on thats fun or interesting) in this blog.

hopefully other people will be inspired to make an analogue video synth too- i reckon that analogue image manipulation techniques never really got the chance they needed back in the seventies to really mature creatively by becoming accessible to a wide spectrum of visual artists (in the way analogue synthesizers did for musicians) before digital processing came in and replaced them completely. boo.

musicians in 2010 have their pick of both analogue and digital tools, and can choose the right one for the right job. video is now pretty much exclusively trapped inside a laptop. damn. i hate laptops...

to this end, ill be sharing various circuits and pcb layouts and construction tips as and when they are tested, working and im happy with them. i like the idea behind the original Sandin IP's 'Distribution Religion' and many of the modules in my system are inspired by Sandin modules, so i reckon its only fair to share the fun. Hopefully other people will get involved and share new circuits too. stay tuned.