Tsyklon Labs – Chaos Divider

CHAOS DIVIDER HV Eurorack Clock Modulator Module

A video posted by Cory Sterling (@redstripedown) on Jul 5, 2016 at 2:08pm PDT

A clock signal. A serial chain of pulses. Some wide, some narrow. Some pulses are taller than others. Others, not so much. A clock may not the most exciting signal that gets passed around a modular synth, but it is certainly a useful signal. Take that clock pulse and pass it back out. But maybe instead of high fidelity, you drop every other pulse. Or maybe every third, or fifth, or eighth. By dividing your clock train, you can run an entire “drum set” of modules with one input and many outputs. But what happens when you add unpredictability, chaos if you will, to a normally pedestrian module? You get a CV controllable, multi-divisor, revolutionary clock modulator we call the CHAOS DIVIDER HV.

It is easy to be distracted by the glow of the Mode indicating Nixie tube (HV means HIGH VOLTAGE), this is a hard module to miss. But look past the neon beauty, and you will see a module with brains too. Front panel or CV selectable divisor mode, 9 outputs (inverted or normal outputs selectable with front panel toggle switch), division reset via push-button or trigger/gate input, and front panel and CV controls for Intensity and Interval chaos variables. Oh, and a clock signal.

The Mode control lets you select the divisor sequence from the list displayed to the left of the Nixie tube. In CHAOS mode, the divisors change at random according to the Intensity and Interval chaos variable selectors. The Intensity variable changes the range of the randomly selected divisor and the Interval variable changes how often divisors are recalculated. In non-CHAOS mode, the Interval variable introduces slip (or delay) to the outputs. This causes the outputs to be delayed from the incoming clock signal. Similarly, in non-CHAOS mode, the Intensity variable selects whether the slip applied to all outputs is the same (low Intensity) or varies across the outputs (high Intensity).

A few technical details: CV input allowable range is 0-10VDC. Anything over 10VDC is limited to 10VDC. The output pulses can be individually configured from 5-10VDC with a twist of a trimpot. Front panel controls behave as an attenuator for CV inputs.

Add our expander module, the CHAOS DIVIDER SPUTNIK (by the way, Sputnik means “Companion” in Russian), and unleash all the features that make the CHAOS DIVIDER a clock modulator for the people, Comrade!

Technical Specifications:
– 129.4mm (5.095″) Front Panel Height (3U Eurorack format)
– 12HP Module Width
– 51mm Module Depth
– Power Consumption: +12V = 165mA, -12V = 0mA, +5V = 0mA

Front panel graphics were designed by the inimitable Hannes Pasqualini @ Papernoise

Build Document BOM etc. – http://tsyklon.com/prodsupport/chaos_divider_hv_diy_build_manual.pdf

The following parts are included in this partial DIY Kit: