LZX Industries - War of the Ants

LZX Industries - War of the Ants - is a wide-range and useful noise-generator tool with the kind of architecture that is hard to find in eurorack. The module is primarily designed to generate a great variety of visual textures.

Wideband white noise generator based on Zener diode avalanche noise with dedicated output

In many European countries television static noise, or "snow", is described using the visual metaphor of a war between swarms of black and white insects. War Of The Ants is LZX's first dedicated noise and texture generation instrument for video synthesis. At its core is a wideband full spectrum noise generator based on amplification of the avalanche noise characteristic found within certain diodes. With the ability to modify and filter the separate spectral characteristics of horizontal, vertical, and low frequency noise, War Of The Ants is capable of generating textures that range from blinking starfields to buzzing grayscale grain to thrashing clipped snow.

Wideband white noise generator based on Zener diode avalanche noise with dedicated output.

Two voltage controlled filters, tuned separately to the horizontal and vertical frequency ranges. Both filters have high pass and low pass modes, allowing blurring or sharpening of the horizontal and vertical spectral components.

Each filter has dedicated external inputs and outputs, allowing the module to act as a dedicated analogue 2D blur/sharpen processor in addition to a texture source.

Voltage controlled density adjusts the proportion of white and black in the final output texture, as well as providing an external signal source input before the saturation amplifier and filters.

Saturation amplifier allows adjustment from evenly weighted grayscale noise to clipped or compressed response resembling television snow.

Two sample and hold circuits at frame rate and horizontal sync rate create low frequency animation and vertical spectral components for further processing. An adjustable lag speed control adjusts the smoothness of low frequency random voltages.

Signal path performs at high frequency, video rate speeds from input to output.

AC/DC input coupling switches and inverting level attenuators on all voltage control inputs.

User manual