[sdiy] Video synthesis

[rburnett at richieburnett.co.uk]

A good place to start with generating your own video signals is to dig 
out the relevant video timing standard document.  This might be PAL, 
NTSC, SECAM, 720p, 1080i, one of the VGA modes, etc.. depending on what 
you are going to use to display the output.

It is not hard to generate a basic video signal with a microcontroller 
like the PIC or propeller.  A quick search on youtube or google should 
return some DIY video using low cost micros. But these days it's 
probably a lot less grief just to buy yourself a Raspberry Pi and learn 
how to program that.  To the best of my knowledge composite video and 
HDMI outputs are already implemented in hardware for you, so you can 
concentrate on learning to program it to make some cool imagery.  You 
also have a powerful embedded board that you can use for other things if 
your interests change.

-Richie,


On 2013-11-03 16:58, Jean Bender wrote:
> Hi !!
> Thanks a lot for your answer ! We are actually using an oscilloscope
> for playing around geometric shapes ! And that's work pretty well, i
> must say !
> But after a lot of searches, except some sub forums on electro music &
> muffwigglers, there's not so much informations about video synthesis..
> There are some great synths made in the 70s, the EMS Spectre & the
> Sandin Ip, nowadays we can find the LzX products, but not so much
> stuff in a diy manner..
> I know, for exemple, that i could hack a vga cable in order to get a
> sync, but.. i don't want to use a computer, and i'm more interested in
> composites signals..
> 
> And my main goal actually, is to understand, how, electronically, a
> sync works, and how it should be melt to a video signal..
> 
> Cheers !
> jb
> 
> 2013/11/3 cheater00 . <cheater00 at gmail.com>:
>> Hi Jean,
>> 
>> On Sun, Nov 3, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Jean Bender <lofideadbeat at gmail.com> 
>> wrote:
>>> Hi !!
>>> 
>>> I'm looking to this list now for a while, but i've just discoverd how
>>> to send you mails.. So i begin !
>>> I'm not so experimented as most of people here, but i enjoy a lot
>>> electronic, and practice it as often as possible in order to build my
>>> own instruments ( most serge synth & handmade cmos based noise
>>> makers).
>> 
>> Welcome to the forum. Don't be daunted by the amount of jargon flying
>> around the list - soon enough you'll be able to talk about most
>> topics. No one here knows and understands everything - or even most -
>> about synthesizer design. Since you DIY, you're right at place here!
>> 
>>> Actually, i'm working with a friend on a new project based on video &
>>> sound relationship. In order to go further into it, i'd like to build
>>> some video synths. Actually, i've found some documents about the
>>> Sandin synth, and its schematics.. I've had a look to links given by
>>> LzX industries, but i'm not sure about how works syncing in video
>>> synthesis...
>>> 
>>> I think i'm a bit off topic, but.. maybe somebody here would have 
>>> some
>>> knowledge to share, or books to advise...
>>> 
>>> I'm really begining into video, so any advice will be appreciated !!
>>> 
>>> Jb //
>> 
>> You might find an oscilloscope with variable persistence to be very
>> useful for video synthesis. Get something like a Tektronix 7633. You
>> can get really fun geometric shapes with this method.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> D.