Lumatic Visual at Synth East: Analog Video Synthesizer in an Audio World
Lumatic Visual Devices at Synth East: Analog Video in an Audio World
This Saturday we’ll be exhibiting at Synth East in Norwich, and for Lumatic Visual Devices, it marks a small but significant milestone: our first ever exhibition.
Synth East has quickly become a standout event in the UK’s electronic music calendar, bringing together instrument makers, artists, and experimental technologists from across the scene. With the event organised by Electronic Sound Magazine, Molten Modular, and Norwich Arts Centre, it’s a space that celebrates hands-on instruments, creative risk, and ideas that sit slightly outside the mainstream.
That makes it the perfect place to introduce Rorschach.
Standing Out in a Room Full of Sound
Most of the exhibitors at Synth East appear to focus on audio, modular synthesisers, effects, controllers, and sound-making tools. We’ll be approaching things from a different angle.
Our stand will be built around analog video synthesis, using multiple CRT televisions driven directly by Rorschach. In a sea of knobs and patch cables, glowing black-and-white video patterns have a way of pulling people in, especially when they’re generated entirely in hardware and displayed on the kind of screens they were originally designed for.
There’s something uniquely compelling about CRTs: the curvature, the phosphor glow, the way analog video breathes and reacts. It’s visual synthesis in its most direct form, and it feels right at home in an experimental environment like Synth East.
What Is Rorschach?
Rorschach is a hardware video synthesizer designed to generate abstract, symmetrical video patterns using a combination of programmed control logic and analog circuitry.
At its core, an onboard microcontroller generates timing and pattern data, which is then shaped, processed, and output as a standard composite video signal. The result is a system that behaves like an analog instrument: immediate, tactile, and responsive, while remaining stable and predictable enough to integrate into real-world setups.
Rorschach outputs black-and-white composite video via RCA, making it compatible with a wide range of displays and capture devices, from vintage CRT televisions to modern projectors, capture cards, and software environments.
Designed for Real-World Setups
One of our goals with Rorschach was to remove unnecessary barriers. You don’t need rare converters, specialist monitors, or expensive software to start using it.
At Synth East, we’ll be demonstrating Rorschach with:
- CRT televisions via direct composite input
- Laptop with AV to HDMI converter and capture card
For recording or routing into software, even VLC Media Player can be used to preview and capture composite video via common USB capture devices. For more advanced workflows, Rorschach integrates smoothly into environments like TouchDesigner (which is free for non-commercial use) or Resolume Arena for live performance setups.
The idea is simple: Rorschach should slot into whatever visual workflow you already have, rather than forcing you to rebuild everything around it.
PAL, NTSC, and Analog Reality
Although Rorschach generates black-and-white video, PAL and NTSC still matter. The two standards differ in timing and sync, which can affect compatibility with CRTs, analog mixers, and capture devices.
For best results, we always recommend matching the video standard to the first device in your signal chain - especially when working with older displays or broadcast-era hardware. At Synth East, we’ll be happy to talk through these choices in person and help people understand what works best for their setups.
Why Synth East Matters to Us
As a small, independent hardware maker, events like Synth East are invaluable. They’re not just about showing a product - they’re about conversations, shared curiosity, and letting people experience an instrument directly.
Rorschach was designed to be touched, patched, and explored. Seeing people interact with it in person, especially those encountering video synthesis for the first time, is a huge part of why we build hardware in the first place.
If you’re attending Synth East, come and say hello. We’ll have the CRTs glowing, the patterns evolving, and plenty of time to talk video.
Big Love
Lumatic Visual Devices