Synkie is on Github

The Synkie is a modular open source analog video processor, developed byMichael Egger, Max Egger and Flo Kaufmann. Like the venerable modular Moog synthesizer it lets you toy around with the signal using patch cables – but this time not producing sound but images. It is an instrument for video, a playground, a platform to explore new ways to transform a video signal. Synkie is still in development, we constantly develop new modules – and even the base specifications may still change over time. But right now there’s already enough stuff to have fun playing around and the instrument has already a complexity that gets hard to control…

 

Synkie’s main goal is playability not image quality, even though we try to design each module as best as we can. But patching is done with 2mm laboratory cables – not shielded 75Ohm BNC cables as one would normally use for video. No, you can even use any blank wire and tinker around with the signal in real time on the sk90-breadboard module… We know this is definitely not a good idea from a EMI and signal integrity standpoint, but the laboratory plugs can be stacked, so you can easily divide the signal into multiple paths, feeding multiple modules at once and change the configuration on the fly. The resulting image can get quite messy down the road, but that’s part of the fun, or maybe even the main goal…

Introducing: The Anymix21

Our latest addition to the SYNKIE ecosystem: Over the last year Michael Egger (with a lot of help from Max !) has developed a 12 input, 4 output analog video mixer based on the paradigm of classic audio mixing desks.

Each channel is a complete SYNKIE by itself, sort of. It can handle anything from DC to around 10Mhz, this means you can mix CV signals with audio with PAL composite video signals.

Each channel has a built-in equaliser, switchable edges (bandpass), comparator and inverter effects, and a scale-bias module for adjusting brightness and contrast. The signal can then be routed to 3 main output mix busses and an auxiliary output.

Documentation will soon be available on Github: https://github.com/mirdej/vmix

Video of Anymix21 in action on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8252873

Pictures and notes of the build: https://www.anyma.ch/blogs/research/2021/04/07/building-the-anymix21/

More information

• Synkie channel on Vimeo
• GIT Repository
• What’s the idea behind Synkie
• Blog posts tagged with Synkie