once again i am closing the shop for the summer (southern hemisphere) while i am traveling / working some festivals in Aotearoa.
any orders placed after November 16th will be processed from the 20th of January 2025. i will also be restocking some popular circuits, releasing a new product and (finally) adding some panel / enclosure options for a number of existing circuits. join the email list to stay in the loop!
if you are in Aotearoa you can catch me:
performing experimental visuals on the historic Hollywood Theater Avondale cinema screen as part of OUTLIER FESTIVAL in Tāmaki Makaurau,
building and running the dojo stage tv wall installation and curating films at TWISTED FREQUENCY FESTIVAL in Takaka,
and potentially hosting a special TRASHPALACE film event in Te Whanganui-a-Tara
thanks for your continued support this year – i look forward to sharing some new projects with you in 2025 – stay safe out there!
this post is to announce the release of another new underscores product – the artnet_led_mapper – an open-source cross-platform application for creating addressable led installations
its the second software app we have released (after the similar tv_wall_mapper earlier this month) and the final in a series of open-source tools forvideo installation work based on my own art practice from the last year
project overview
artnet_led_mapper is software designed to help you to map arbitrary video onto an addressable led strip canvas – in this example (from the project demo video) i have arranged the leds into a low resolution led wall:
but you can map your video source on to any number of creative and abstract stage designs as shown here from the lateral movement club nights that inspired this project:
the software takes a video source (you can use webcams or external capture cards or video sent over NDI) and uses your user defined mapping to output art-net– a network dmx lighting protocol. this is combined with a hardware led controller to control the array of led pixels.
we recommend using our open-source hardware solution the lateral_led_controller although this software should work with any art-net compatible controllers
watch the full video where i demonstrate setting up the mapping for the led wall example:
background and motivation
as mentioned above this project was inspired by the installation work i did with lateral movement – a semi-irregular club night showcasing left-field & experimental dance music and light – you can find out more about the background to this in the artist talk i gave on it WORKS IN PROGRESS 04:
we ended up using touch designer to create the custom patches for this installation since my collaborators had a bit of experience in this. it worked well but was quite complex. also i needed to borrow their windows laptop to test the hardware on since i couldnt run it on my linux computer.
at this point i was already building a similar single purpose mapping application for tv wall installations and thought it could be worth forking that to do the same thing for led installations
resolume is also capable of outputting artnet for these kind of led installations. i will repeat the exact same points that i listed on the tv_wall_mapper blog post as to why i was motivated to create this alternative solution (since they all still apply to this app also)
we are happy to provide another light-weight, open source and cross-platform alternative to making video-art installations and exploring new ways to work with video and light!
same as the tv_wall_mapper this app is open source and available to compile yourself for free – you can also make a sliding scale donation (between 10-100euros) to support this work and gain access to pre-compiled versions that should run out of the box!
a new circuit has been added to the underscores catalog – the lateral_led_controller – a hardware network interface for addressable led installations
this is another release in the series of open-source tools forvideo installation work i have been developing and is a companion to the artnet_led_mapper software that is also being released today.
the lateral_led_controller converts art-net sent over wired ethernet into the protocol used for addressable leds. it can be combined with mapping software to send arbitrary video onto an led strip canvas:
this circuit is based on the custom hardware i designed for lateral movement – a semi-irregular club night showcasing left-field & experimental dance music and light
i made a demo video showing how to use this controller to set up an addressable led installation like these – you can check it out here:
addressable leds
its currently compatible with the two main families of addressable led strips (but more can easily be added via firmware updates):
the WS281X (neopixel) which is a cheap but slow single wire protocol, which the controller can support up to 8 parallel outputs
the APA102 (dotstar) which is a faster two wire protocol – a single data line plus clock line can control up to the 2000 recommended pixels
motivation
this product is a bit different from the video instruments we usually focus on for underscores releases – unlike those, there are many led controllers already on the market. however when researching options for our club nights (just over a year ago now) we didnt find anything suitable in our price range.
all the existing led controllers we looked at were either:
very expensive professional gear
only supported a couple of universes (ie <500 pixels)
designed for home use with only wifi options ( we need a wired ethernet connection for use in a crowded venue)
i wanted to design a controller specifically made for the kind of video-art installation work we were doing
new alternatives ?
interestingly enough there does appear to be some more affordable options for generic wired ethernet led controllers coming out of china these days such as this H807SA (and a few others i could see on ali)
i have not tested any of these myself so do not know how/if they work – i would be curious to hear from anyone who has however!
regardless i believe it is still worth releasing open source and artist made alternatives where possible. the main advantage to using an open source controller is that we can fine-tune it to our specific needs rather than relying on a black box – this also future proofs us – if a better led strip with a new protocol comes out we can update the open-source firmware and continue using our existing hardware.
circuit modules in the design
one interesting thing about this hardware design is that it is made up of a few existingcircuit modules. besides the WT32-ETH01 micro-controller there is also the MP1584EN_5v_stepdown module and the WeMos_CH340G_USB_to_SERIAL module:
the main advantage of this approach is that we can use smd parts while still keeping the project diy friendly. also sometimes it works out cheaper to source these premade modules than the individual parts since they are purchased and assembled in large batches and then resold. however it can feel more “hacky” and make sourcing parts for the project harder in the long term (if these particular modules become less available)
this project started as an adaption from a in-house one-off solution i designed and the use of these modules in it reflects this – if it proves to be popular enough and useful to others outside of this i may consider a future revision which is made up directly from the smd parts it needed – time will tell!
the local web interface
another cool feature of this controller is the local web interface for easily configuring network / led settings:
by joining a wifi access-point created by the controller we can access all the settings required on our computer / phone
i found this to be a nice way to configure a micro-controller without needing to edit code or dive deep into a tiny menu – im excited to use this approach again for other micro-controller projects i work on!
im happy to announce the launch of a new product for underscores : the tv_wall_mapper – an open-source cross-platform application for creating synchronized tv wall installations
although many underscores projects have software components to them this is the first purely software application we have released – its also the first of a series of open-source tools forvideo installation work that i have been working on inspired by my own art practice over the last year.
project overview
tv_wall_mapper is a software designed to help you create a synchronized tv wall effect– where many tvs are installed together to output different portions of a single cohesive video feed.
there are a few different hardware options (outlined in the project readme) that this app can work with to achieve this effect – perhaps the best being the use of off-the-shelf tv_wall_controllers such as these:
these kinds of controllers are designed for commercial spaces where multiple (expensive) bezelless tvs are used – however by using this software we can define a mapping so that any physical arrangement of tv’s can be used:
i made a tutorial video where i walk through the hardware/software options and show how to set up and map this demo tv wall:
inspiration and motivation
this project was inspired by a recycled tv wall installation we built for the dojo stage at Twisted Frequency Festival 23/24 – you can hear a bit more about this project in my WORKS IN PROGRESS 02 artist talk:
under the hood the video mapping is done using openframeworks + some glsl shaders (both things i had some experience writing for other projects)
it is possible to achieve this effect with existing projection mapping software – for our installation originally we were using resolume with the hardware controller to achieve this.
the main reason i have taken the time to polish and publish this little diy alternative:
i use pop_os as my daily driver and wanted an app that could run on this (which resolume does not)
resolume is proprietary and expensive – it is important to have open and accessible alternative tools for artists
building on the unix philosophy of creating software tools that are designed to do one thing well – this app aims to be simple and lightweight (you can always “pipe” video from other apps using NDI )
a nice side-effect of having a light-weight cross-compatible app is we can also run it on single board computers such as raspberry pi’s – commonly used for installation work
compared with hardware releases which are relatively easy to price (taking into account the cost of parts, labor, creative work and similar products on market ) it is harder to know how to price software -especially “small specific task” apps such as these. the code is open source and available via the github for anyone to compile for free. i have decided to also offer pre-compiled versions of these apps via the underscores shop for a small donation (a sliding scale between $10-100) hopefully this strikes a balance between making it accessible to those without the funds and also sustainable to invest our time into.
this kind of release is new for us and im very happy to hear any thoughts or feedback from those reading about it here
i am happy to announce that the two_point_one_colorizer circuit based on Rob Schafer’s design is in stock now!
it is currently available as a diy kit or fully assembled and tested unit – bare pcbs will also be in stock soon (when my next pcb order comes in)
you can find all the source – schematics, gerbers and documentation on the project github page
theres some more written info about this circuit in an earlier post i made here
im not quite ready to stock front-panels in the shop yet – partially because im still working on how to expose interface parts like the slide switches that sit below the panel – however panel blueprints are available as files for those who want to diy some.
i will make a dedicated intro/demo video for this circuit some time in the coming month – in the meantime however you can see a demo of it in action in this artist talk:
finally i wanted to share some images captured from this circuit (these are all directly into a cheap easycap capture card) – in particular some examples of when it glitches / breaks (due to providing out of spec video):
some of these were captured while i was experimenting with different kinds of monostables to generate the colour subcarrier frequencies – you can see where the oscillations are too slow to be interpreted as colour as start to be interpreted as changes in brightness. i recommend using ic sockets for the parts U9 & U10 so you can experiment with this also!
heres some new updates about whats been happening / whats coming up at underscores.shop
after a summer hiatus spent working festivals / installations in new zealand (+ quality holiday time with friends and family) we moved to melbourne, australia in march 2024
current catalog restocked
since being unavailable in the shop since late last year we now have back in stock as pcbs, kits and assembled units for:
plus at least a few of everything else (theres only a couple _transcribe_ units left and these are unlikely to get a restock since i have plans for a newer version of this that will supersede it)
raspberry pi zero w’s in stock
also for the first time i am now stocking a limited number of raspberry pi zero w for recurBOY – if you order one along side an assembled recurBOY i will solder on the 2×20 and 1×2 headers and test the complete unit before sending out to you
a few foundations of analog video on breadboard
i am currently preparing for the second session of my interactive six part online course – a few foundations of analog video on breadboard – the last one we did was a lot of fun – you get a kit with this vga-breadboard module and all the parts to explore a number of circuit designs online with me and others.
the next one will be running this june/july, likely followed by another session in september/october if there is still enough interest. people on the waitlist (found at bottom of the link above) will get offered spots first before a general release of remaining tickets after that – so sign up now to be part of the first release (tickets on sale end of april)
WORKS IN PROGRESS – artist talks / behind the scenes at underscores
i have been doing monthly online talks showing various WIP projects – theres still a couple more of these upcoming – you can find the details here – also check out the recordings of the talks that have been to get an idea of whats coming up:
scanlines x polyphase community showcase
every year in april we celebrate the birthday of scanlines.xyz community space and forum with an open-call and livestream of recent works – its a fun time to come together and share what everyone is up to! for this one we are combining our screening with the seasonal polyphaseportal.xyz showcase- check out the forum post / polyphase page for info on how to submit
upcoming releases
i have just built and tested the v1_0_0 release version of two_point_one_colorizer circuit – which i have written about already here – so this should be available in the shop within the next few months (just need to order parts, make kits, write documentation and film a demo video for this)
after this i hope next to release my installation-based software/hardware for tv wall and addressable ledmappings followed by some new hardware designs tba
if you want to help support this research into developing open source video instruments please consider buying assembled units, spreading the word or donating directly
heres a short update about whats been happening and whats coming up here at underscores.shop:
summer hiatus
i have decided to effectively close the shop for 2-3 months over the summer here in new zealand starting from monday 27th november. i will be on and off the road for festival work and holidays plus moving out of my studio (and home) to relocate to melbourne.
there wont be any underscores releases or restocks during this time but for any remaining stock it will still be possible to place an order with the understanding that your items will ship by end of feburary 2024 at the latest – i will update here and on the mailing list when we get restocked and settled on the other side.
plans and projects for the new year
once we are settled and im back working in a studio space again i have a lot of projects i want to finish and share with you. heres a few of them:
documenting and sharing some custom code & circuits iv made recently for video-art installations including addressable led lights & syncing tv_walls
works in progress
im also planning a monthly series of online talks hosted by polyphaseportal.xyz where i share and discuss various works in progress from behind the scenes at underscores.shop.
as you may have noticed by the sporadic updates, teasers and ideas thrown around here and elsewhere online, im much better at starting new projects than i am at following though, finishing and sharing current ones. im also not that comfortable with sharing too much about upcoming things publicly since it makes me feel bad when i cant meet the self-imposed deadlines or end up shelving them because i get overwhelmed. i want to get better at sharing the process and allowing room for feedback and discussions in these stages though. hopefully this informal format will help with this – would be nice to see you there!
i’ve spend the last two weeks house-sitting at my parents place while they are on holiday. this has given me time to deep dive into some larger topics i have been meaning to get around to.
one of these topics was the design and fabrication of panels for underscores circuits (having unlimited access to a laser cutter over this time helped!). i made a half vlog / half tutorial style video to document this exploration – you can see on videos.scanlines or on youtube:
types of panels
sometimes i get asked if there are enclosures/front-panels available for the pcbs i sell (there actually have been a few community contributed designs for the recurboy and i_n_c_u_r circuits) but so far nothing from me. this will change soon with the addition of two enclosure options – stand-alone sandwich and eurorack front-panel for the following circuits:
sync_ope
recurboy
_rupture_
two_comparator_effect
i_n_c_u_r
originally i planned to prototype with laser-cut MDF (and share these files so others can laser-cut also) but only stock the FR-4 versions in the shop (since these would be cheaper and tend to look quite professional) – however after seeing the MDF i think i prefer them to FR-4.. i wonder if there would be any interest in stocking MDF (or even bamboo) lasercut panels too ?
euro-friendly designs
although definitely not eurorack modules themselves a number of these underscores circuits were designed to be euro-friendly, in the sense that you could mount them in eurorack case with the appropriate front-panel if you wanted to.
all the interfacing parts of these circuits are vertically mounted and the pcbs are at most 100mm tall. all circuits run on single-rail power (mostly 5v) but some have footprints for euro-power headers anyway and the others you could mount a vertical barrel-plug on the bottom of the pcb allowing a small eurorack-to-barrel-jack converter to sit inside your case and power from beneath:
as i mentioned in the video there are a few other things to consider when adapting to eurorack – the small slide switches i usually use sit a bit too low for comfortable switching (i would love to try 3d-print some switch-caps for these when i get a printer!) and i would recommend choosing longer shafts on the pots than the ones usually supplied with my kits…
its fun to see them mounted together in a rack like this however this conversion is not the same as an actual eurorack module version of these circuits – which i do plan to design one day (closer to that day now that i finally have a euro-case built) the true eurorack versions will:
use smd components and be designed to conserve hp
have interface parts chosen to fit panels better rather than prioritizing what is cheapest
layout of interface optimized for rack use
have proper eurorack power headers
hopefully expose some more of the controls with CV
my workflow for creating panels
this is shown with more detail in the video, but here is a written overview:
copy the pcb footprint into a new project and delete everthing except for the edgecuts, silkscreen and any footprints of interface parts
then replace each interface footprint with a edgecut hole to access it from the panel (based on a table of known hole sizes)
arrange the silkscreen however you want the panel to look – 3d viewer in kicad is useful!
when you are happy with how the panel looks you can export it – use the usual GERBER export if you want to get it fab’d in FR-4. my method for getting designs into lightburn was to first export from kicad as SVG and then open these SVGs with inkscape and save a copy as DXF (it seems like lightburn didnt like some of the SVG format that kicad creates)
once in lightburn put the edgecut and silkscreen imports on different layers – you can add thickness to the silkscreen using the offset tool
then set your laser speeds, check the material is lined up with the cutting area and make the cut!
we have a number of new projects in the works – im hoping to release three more circuits before the end of this year – heres a preview and small overview of one of them!
underscores presents an adaption of Rob Schafer’s two_point_one_colorizer:
history of the project
the original circuit was designed by Rob Schafer on breadboard and shared on the facebook group Video Circuits :
since then Rob has moved on from working with composite video – (check out his youtube channel to follow his exploration of HD analog video) – but my interest in this circuit remains!
how it works
the way this circuit creates colour is both genius and extremely hacky!
the first stage is very similar to another underscores circuit adapted from Rob Schafer – the two_comparator_effect :
the signal passes through two comparator stages – reducing the signal down to this posterized effect with only white, grey and black visible – two_point_one_colorizer is similar but instead creates two colours plus black (hence the two point one)
colour on composite video is created with a sub-carrier signal – an extremely fast sine wave that runs over-top of the luminance signal:
the hue is selected by the phase difference between this sub-carrier signal and the colour burst reference.
on the next stage of the two_point_one_colorizer a sub-carrier signal is approximated using high-speed monostables and overlaid over these ‘white’ and ‘grey’ portions of the comparator outputs:
monostables generate square waves with variable pulse widths -which at this speed can approximate the sub-carrier signal with variable offsets (hue) – inverters are also used to shift the offset by 180 degrees – since this approximation is not perfect some colours are easier to generate than others – and some displays are more or less picky than others.
what i love about this approach is that it is less precise and predictable than (for example) generating colours with an rgb encoder – you end up getting some really unexpected results – and also some great colour glitches as the tv decoders struggle to make sense of the out-of-spec signal:
the adaption
back in 2020 i made a start trying to adapt this design to pcb with help from Rob and others from the scanlines community – a few of the mods made to the original design include:
simplifying the sync and burst pulse portions by using lm1881 instead of doing this more ‘manually’
swapping out the monostables for another ic – similar in spec but around 1/10th of the price (can still swap out for robs original ic if you would like!)
adding video by-pass toggle – making the circuit more usable in larger signal chains
adding more control over colour selection – a master colour offset that changes both channels together and sub-carrier amplitude that changes colour saturation
(attempting to) adapt the circuit to also work on pal cvbs – adding a switch to select sub-carrier frequency and also logic to implement Phase-Alternating-Lines
PAL troubles
i got a bit stuck on the PAL compatible part of the mod and ended up shelving this project for a bit while i focused on working towards the shop launch and polishing other projects..
..im still not sure that the PAL version is perfect – the Phase-Alternating-Lines mod never quite worked how i expected and the range of colours seems a bit less (could be just due to PALs faster sub-carrier though since the monostables are already being pushed to limits with NTSC). im sure there will be some displays that wont show any colours for PAL but to my surprise the three monitors i tested it on in my studio all worked with NTSC and PAL (a crt tv, a small car-reversing lcd and a easycap capture card)
the nature of this project is hacky and experimental so it is already wishful thinking to have it running consistently on all displays – I think the current version would be a useful tool in the studio of many composite video artists and im excited to see it out in the world!
its been a long time coming but finally this month a limited number of pcbs, kits & assembled units will be in stock for all 8 current projects in the underscorescatalog
the idea was to try focus on bringing batches of 3 projects to market – avoiding my usual mistake of taking on too many concurrent ideas, but still benefiting from batch efficiency / parallel processing
this would also open up feedback cycles for the general processes before getting too far along in any one direction
as it turned out a number of setbacks delayed the shop launch:
covid related shipping disruptions early this year made distribution from nz near impossible
recurring issues with the sync_ope circuit caused me many revisions and much confusion
i was away from my studio for 3 months over nz winter – traveling in australia and then visiting berlin
more the merrier
although distribution needed to be put on pause, this didnt stop my research and development ! as others projects approached a stable state i decided to add more and more to the launch line-up
the final result is an 8 product launch (although some of the more recent additions still needing proper photoshoots and demo videos)
one main advantage of this is the ability to combine shipping on mulit-orders. it works out to be a similar price to ship 3 products as it is for 1 (this calculation based on weight is built into the shopfront) so with more in stock at once you will have more options to combine and save money !
silent launch ?
im calling it a silent launch because at first there will be very little announcements regarding this. ultimately i plan to try keep everything more or less available (restocking projects in batches of 10) but currently i only have parts for between 3-8 of each project.
while managing such a large inventory i want to avoid being overwhelmed at first – i will stagger the announcements of the shop being open to allow time for feedback from early adopters and any adjustments needed to my workflow – also these initial orders can help fund the 8x10_bulk_part_order for a future full shop restock
