This is a cool idea! But to make it a EuroRack module in 4HP with skiff friendly mounting depths would be impossible. It’s more likely we’ll see something like this as a function of a larger system module with a digital core like TBC2 or Memory Palace with quad output encoders (at least 16HP-26HP.) Hardware wise, something like TBC2 but with a 1x decoder + 4x encoder configuration rather than a 2x decoder + 2x encoder configuration, that could do many scaling tricks like this, would be interesting.
4 Likes
this would be very interesting indeed! i’ve wanted to setup a 3 output system that would be able to process RGB channels individually so that you could combine them via projector placement for a little while now. Although since I finally put the order in for a chromagnon I bet that something like this could be achieved between structure, memory palace, chromagnon, visual cortex expander, and visual cortex. plenty of outputs in the system right now for that I think I’ll have to start considering how it would be done. That being said I would still love a simple solution for dual/quad setups without the extra boxes
2 Likes
AJA HA-4K can do this sort of thing for $500, but you’d need to upscale to 4K HDMI first.
2 Likes
and also have sdi convertors/screens
3 Likes
Really cool idea @sean 
I’ve just seen this thread now so hopefully it can be somewhat reawakened.
#Syntonie has a module that will help with the first option, 4 cloned outs of the composite input.
Again not really thinking about the size of the board(s) behind it, but a slim triple filter like this would likely find a place in my system.
1 Like
What kind of a filter?
1 Like
Was just thinking something that smudges, basically. So I guess that is a low pass…? But with a high cutoff range, so it could go from almost no blurring to a lot (whereas an audio filter would already start with a lot of blurring at its highest frequencies).
I mean, something that could blur and sharpen x3 would be cool, but sort of assuming that is more than one could hope for in 6hp.
1 Like
Can anyone here link to a useful filter circuit that will work at video rate. I’ve looked before but couldn’t find something useful.
there is a lot that can be done with a capacitor and a 10k pot…
you don’t really need fancy circuitry if you just want smearing
I realize that isn’t everything
if you want more edge extraction play with diodes in different directions
passive stuff is cheap and easy
3 Likes
Honestly, for whatever reason, learning about the electronics behind the scenes is like learning a new language for me (i.e. difficult and mind-numbing/not at all enjoyable). So I am left with passively suggesting things (throwing together a panel sketch is, conversely, super easy for me) — hoping someone might take the bait — as annoyingly non-DIY-spirit as that perhaps is. I dunno. We all have our limits.
And I actually do already have more than 3 ways to smear in my system but not 3 identical ways that can be precisely controlled to match, or not, by either pots or CV. In an ideal world I guess I would have the rack space and money to go for three Curtains (or whatever its successor is), but also often I just need a simple blur for which Curtain is overkill. So really the ideal for me would be to have one Curtain and then one module like this. Kind of like having a Staircase and Syntonie’s Quad Frequency Doubler.
But I have no doubt that someone with an understanding of how things actually work could likely make a much more interesting module than what I’ve proposed.
…I should add that I know you were responding to Robbertunist — but was just feeling a bit called out too! (Not because I think you were, but because of my own issues.) Frankly more than a little sad that I just can’t seem to wrap my poor brain around the electronics of all of this stuff.
2 Likes
Honestly I don’t think anyone should feel one iota of guilt about not wanting to DIY or figure out the electronics that drive this stuff.
It’s way more exciting to me that it’s a mish-mash of folks in the community here who are video artists, instrument makers, casual dabblers in either or anything in between.
Often some of the more interesting ideas come from system users rather than system designers so keep the suggestions coming–someone might just run with your idea and make it real!
5 Likes
It’s a very good idea and your faceplate looks great! Very easy to grasp the immediate function.
I might try simulating something. I think recalculating the R and C values for video rate would be pretty simple. Getting it to fully pass everything when you want the filter to “turn off” might be tough, but not impossible. I think the idea of independent RGB smudging could look pretty neat.
2 Likes
I’m not much of a DIYer
anything that involves a circuit board is a bit out of my comfort zone for sure
I’ll try to get a little quick “what I know about passive stuff” after a couple projects
but I totally agree that it isn’t for everyone
the pace at which the community has grown over the past 3 years even is very impressive
we need dreamers and creators alike!
2 Likes
If the PCBs were at a right angle to the panel as seen in the Cadet & Castle ranges as well as Fox’s new designs, then there would be plenty of room on the circuit boards.
I’d suggest that the pots would be doubled like on the Vidiot or on some studio sound mixing desks: hi part of the pot for frequency & the lower for width/resonance/gain for example.
Well, I am at it again.
Maybe someday I will learn some electronics, but for now I am satisfied sheepishly throwing loose ideas into the wind… With the usual caveat that I have little idea how practical this is in terms of panel-size in relation to electronics necessary underneath. And the added caveat this time that I am well aware that there are currently ways to patch this up (I can do it now with my system) but — if possible to do this in such small space — this would save [me] a lot of patching, and free up those other modules, doing something that I especially anticipate wanting to do a lot once TBC2 ships. [End preamble]
So, anyway, when I edit videos in Premiere (and also working with images in my design work), I pretty much exclusively use either the Multiply or Screen blend modes. These by far look best to me, produce the nicest results (esp. in relation to simple crossfading).
Multiply always only darkens. Screening always only lightens. Multiply basically looks like adding the darks. Screening looks like subtracting the lights. From what I understand, “Screen” is basically just multiplying inverses of the inputs and then inverting the result.
I’ve sketched out a few ways a simple multiply/screen module could work, either a couple possibilities for a 4hp single-channel (presumably DIY-able) module:
.
or an 8hp three-channel version:
…eh? 
1 Like
How do you patch it up in your system now with what you have?
Simple multiplying can be done with Visual Cortex alone. Also have Esnho’s Triple Multiplier.
To get the screen, you basically just have to invert the signals first (like with Syntonie or Fox’s quad inverters), then run it through a multiplier, then invert the result of that. That’s where the patching can get complicated.
Honestly, since I don’t have a way to get two full color image signals into my system at present, I haven’t found the need/desire to do this too much yet. But have played around with patching this up a bit to see the possibilities. And, like I said, anticipate more need once TBC2 arrives.
I don’t know if it is at all practical (or indeed even all that useful, beyond inasmuch as more outputs always seems somewhat useful) to have access to both Multiply and Screen outputs simultaneously on the 8hp version above. Maybe it is just a switch to have one or the other? I dunno. Spitballin’ here!
Also I think Marble Index should, in theory, be able to do a screen on its own (you can invert the inputs, multiply, and then invert the output).
But I am not sure the multiply circuits on mine are working correctly, since I get different (and odd) results when using its multiply function vs. using Visual Cortex’s.
…Which was a bit of a bummer to finally notice once I started testing all this. Never have really used Marble Index much since I bought it around the same time I preordered TBC2, anticipating greater mixing needs, yet…