Squid Axon

from $12.00

Description/Usage

8hp

Just the module everybody has been waiting for! A squid brain cell simulator!

The Squid Axon is a circuit based on the Hodgkin-Huxley equation describing the chaotic behavior observed in giant squid axons. The inspiration for the module came from a 2003 paper by T. Matsuzaki & M. Nakagawa, titled 'A Bipolar Logistic Chaos Neuron and Its Hardware Implementation'.

Basically it is a four stage analog shift register with two feedback paths, one nonlinear and one linear (I do try to walk the line). If you turn the feedback paths down to zero, you get a regular ASR. Turn up the feedback to get more complex and staggered patterns from the 4 CV outputs. It will happily run at audio rates as well.

DIY

  1. Build guide / BOM (pdf)

  2. Panel Template

Package:

Description/Usage

8hp

Just the module everybody has been waiting for! A squid brain cell simulator!

The Squid Axon is a circuit based on the Hodgkin-Huxley equation describing the chaotic behavior observed in giant squid axons. The inspiration for the module came from a 2003 paper by T. Matsuzaki & M. Nakagawa, titled 'A Bipolar Logistic Chaos Neuron and Its Hardware Implementation'.

Basically it is a four stage analog shift register with two feedback paths, one nonlinear and one linear (I do try to walk the line). If you turn the feedback paths down to zero, you get a regular ASR. Turn up the feedback to get more complex and staggered patterns from the 4 CV outputs. It will happily run at audio rates as well.

DIY

  1. Build guide / BOM (pdf)

  2. Panel Template

Just some examples of the signals from the Squid Axon when fed a tri-wave and clocks at various rates. Adjusting the feedback pots gives various chaotic burs...
The squid Axon is fed a fast clock from a VCO and samples a tri-wave from an LFO, 2 CV outputs are to VCOs and 2 outputs to a 'scope in X-Y mode. It makes a ...