LZX IndustriesWar of the Ants Noise Generator

LZX Industries War of the Ants

Noise is often referred to in poetic terms as a war between white and black insects. The War of the Ants is exactly that, a dedicated noise and texture generator for video synthesizers. A wideband spectrum of noise is generated via the avalanche noise characteristic that is inherent in certain diodes. Each of the spectral characteristics can be modified and filtered, such as the horizontal noise, vertical noise, and low frequency noise. 

War of the Ants Features

• 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
• 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