Squid Axon

Chaotic Analogue Shift Register with panel by Sascha von Ott

Just the module everybody has been waiting for! A squid brain cell simulator!

The Squid Axon is a circuit based on the Hodgkin-Huxley equation describing the chaotic behaviour observed in giant squid axons. The inspiration for the module came from a 2003 paper by T. Matsuzaki & M. Nakagawa, titled 'A Bipolar Logistic Chaos Neuron and Its Hardware Implementation'.

Basically it is a four stage analog shift register with two feedback paths, one nonlinear and one linear (I do try to walk the line). If you turn the feedback paths down to zero, you get a regular ASR. Turn up the feedback to get more complex and staggered patterns from the 4 CV outputs. It will happily run at audio rates as well.

High quality anodized aluminum panel (milled, thickness of 2mm) with UV print.