DIY Micro Video Transmitter Workshop

on the 17th of this fine month I attended a DIY micro video transmitter workshop hosted by Ryan Jordan and run by Kyle Evans of Cracked Ray Tube, The design was based on one produced by Tetsuo Kogawa and continually developed as part of his practice. Kyle also uses this circuit in his work to great effect to derive perfectly imperfect images and abstract raw colour video signal in to new jagged forms. Everyone at the workshop got to make and try a transmitter and we even used two at once. The design is really simple and purposefully unstable to allow artistic exploitation of it's properties.

anyone with limited soldering skills could produce one of these devices easily and it was great fun tuning it in and watching the results. The construction is also beautifully simple using the copper coated PCB material a ground plane and attaching 'tags' to the surface using more PCB material make construction fast simple and relatively interference free. If you can't get to a workshop run by Kyle (which I would recommend due to the fun and social aspect and great documentation alone) then don't fret as the low parts count  make this easy to source and build on your own. 

I was sad not to be able to stay for the live performance by Kyle,  Ryan and a host of others but alas I was halfway though moving house :<

what follow are some bad phone pics 

Modified Atari Video Music

Heres a completely modified Atari Video Music by the fantastic Switched On Austin synth shop. If only I lived in an NTSC zone!

from flickr description

"This Video Music is the first to receive our custom set of modifications, including composite video output, 1/4" audio inputs and direct outputs, color control inputs, rectified audio outputs, and an 8 channel waveform mixer to control image output shape. Videos coming soon!"

Video Oscilloscopes !

Some very expensive digital oscilloscopes have composite outputs, if like me you can't find one cheap there are a few other products on the market to fit the bill.

The very cool Critter and Guitari Video Scope produces colourful NTSC video for $99

For us Europeans the MFB VD-01 Videoscope synth module gives a more traditional black and white PAL scope image for €159.

Both units give a slightly blocky output unlike a real oscilloscope image but they could both find a home in a hardwarevideo set up. They also eliminate the need for rescanning a normal oscilloscope screen (which has its own charm but demands space and equipment). 

Here is an excellent video from DamagedMeat on youtube illustrating the MFB VD-01's potential

The Arduino Eye Shield

The Arduino Eye Shield by David Chatting is a circuit board that can be plugged on top of the Arduino allowing it to interpret analogue video (PAL or NTSC) from a camera or other source. It gives the Arduino the power of sight. I can see allot of potential for interesting live video manipulation here!

LZX VISIONARY VIDEO SYNTHESIZER

very exiting stuff happening in the modular video synth market with two product ranges set to grace more experimental racks everywhere with modules to create and manipulate video signals 


the LZX Industries project seems to be going full steam and is very exiting check http://vimeo.com/7970725 and http://vimeo.com/lzxindustries for more info. I think its really good to build up customer support by posting these kind of dev/demo videos interesting stuff!


Lars Larsen one of the guys behind the project corrected my earlier conjecture about the The Jones Video Synth being the same project as the Visionary


"Hi Chris! Thanks for mentioning the Visionary. This isn't the same project, but ours will similarly be a EuroRack format modular video synthesizer/processing system. There is a splash page up at http://www.lzxindustries.com and we'll be releasing module details very soon. Please stay in touch with us!"

I hope the two projects make a new video synth renaissance a viable prospect 

Electrocraft Colouriser

I just got this colouriser (or more commonly known colourizer or even colorizer ) for 99p. It gives some pretty dramatic effects but the image is giving me and un-synced scrolling effect. It also puts out some cool patterns on its own. I need to work out all the ins and outs because it requires a reference signal (possibly pure sync as I tried outputs from my mixer) the insides are very neatly wired and all the pots are on a separate board perfect for bending! It is however mains powered so Im going to have to be careful. Cool piece but because of the difficulty of use I wouldn't pay over £10 if you see one.

THE BIG BENT NES POST

so there are quite a few NES/famicoms out there that have been bent for audio reactivity here in decending order are Pixel Form, Kaseo, Casper Electronics and Collapsicon
more to come

Sansui AV-77

The Sansui AV-77 is a fairly common AV unit that has a few video effects and some useful video features. picked up a unit in perfect condition the other day and had to look to see what I could find on the net www.audioinfo.net has some useful info and some screen shots of the device in action

while this unit has some cool retro colorizing effects I would not advise it as your first or only effects unit purchase. I also would not advise buying one with a view to circuit bending due to the fact it runs off an internal transformer so there are mains voltages running inside YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Where this unit comes in to its own is as a source switch (that also contains a few effects). I plan to use mine with a few of my other old bits of video gear (before going to one channel of my mixer).

Atari Video Music

One of the most readily available (if still relatively rare) video synthesizers is the simple but effective Atari Video Music. It has appeared in many music videos and on many blogs. It is poplar with VJs, synthesists and hifi buffs.

It is however as far as I know only available in NTSC not PAL and only rarely do they turn up in Europe. Even if one did you would need a converter. Of course the UK has its own vintage music visualizer the Chromasope.

However both of these are expensive and hard to find. Help is at hand if your in the mood for some DIY with The Pixelmusic 3000 designed and built by Tarikh Korula based on the Parallax Propeller and detailed in Make issue 14! The code is for NTSC but I think it can be altered for PAL. Also see gadgetgangster for a kit based of the Pixelmusic project.

I may give it a go!