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: