Cellular Automata

A 12 HP gate and pattern generator: sixteen cells in a 4x4 grid run cellular automata rules 90 and 150, stepped by a clock. A process needs a signal on one of the four seed inputs (anything crossing 1 V) to start, or to alter the current one; the seeds feed external signals into the four corner cells. Without seeds a process may run for hours or for minutes, depending on its starting point and the clock rate. An early version appeared in the maker's 4U panels, four cells per board in lines; here the cells are a grid, so each one is affected by its neighbours on up to four sides. Each cell has its LED, lighting its square on the panel, and its gate output. Three CV outputs: CV1 and CV2 follow what happens in each half of the circuit, CV ALL reflects the pattern of the active cells. CMOS chips and op amps, no microprocessor; its maker warns it is a big build.

Key features

• Sixteen cells in a 4x4 grid on rules 90 and 150, each with its LED square and its gate output
• Four seed inputs into the corner cells, a clock input
• CV1 and CV2 from each half of the circuit, CV ALL from the active cells' pattern
• 12 HP; Nonlinearcircuits publishes no current draw, depth or assembled price (it sells the DIY PCB and panel), and ModularGrid lists none