Synkie



The Synkie is a modular open source analog video processor, developed by Michael Egger, Flo Kaufmann and Max Egger.

Synkie has now it’s own website: synkie.net.

Source code and schematics are on Github

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…

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…

More information

Synkie Modules

Here’s a list of already (mostly) working modules. We’re a bit slow documenting them, but you can browse the schematics and board layouts in the svn repository: http://code.google.com/p/synkie/source/browse/#svn%2Ftrunk%2Feagle



Basics

sk00-Power Supply

sk01-Sync Splitter - input Module: Separates sync and conditions the video signal for further use

sk02-Resyncer - output module: Merges sync and modified video, conditions for monitors etc…

sk04-Aux In - conditions an additional synchronized video source for use in the Synkie system

sk05-Mux - voltage controlled Multiplexer

sk07-Comparator - generates Black and white image with threshold

sk08-Inverter - inverts the image

sk09-Scalebias - shift and spread brightness

Mixing

sk10-VCA - voltage controlled amplifier

sk11-Adder - adds up to four signals together

sk12-Difference - calculates difference between two signals

sk14-Twoway Mixer - mixes two signals

sk15-Fourway Mixer - mixes four signals

sk16-Sixway Mixer - mixes six signals

Filters

sk20-Bandpass - bandpass filter

sk30-Gamma - contrast

Oscillators, Control Voltage

sk50-LFO - triple low frequency oscillator

sk51-Envelope Follower - audio to CV

sk52-PLL - phase locked loop

sk53-Pulsedelay

Misc

sk60-Delay - line and frame delay

Videos

Some videos from the Synkie channel:

