NonLinear Circuits

NLC - Cellular Automata

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  • $ 36


This is a 16 cell gate and pattern generator using cellular automata rules 90 & 150. It will run thru a process driven by a clock signal and requires a signal on one of the seed inputs (anything crossing 1V) to start a new process or alter the current one. The seed inputs feed external signals into the 4 corner cells. A process without seeds may run for hours or minutes, depending upon the start point and clock rate.

An early version of this circuit did appear in the NLC 4U panels in sets of 4 cells per PCB. This version is different as the cells are in a grid rather than lines, meaning each cell can be affected by the activity of neighbors on up to 4 sides.

There are 3 CV outputs, two based on what is happening on each half of the circuit, one reflects the pattern created by the active cells. Each cell has a gate output.

The circuit uses CMOS chips and op amps, no microprocessors. It is a big build!