Reference Manual
Navigator
Technical documentation, setup guidance, and patching workflows.
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Archived community reference. This page preserves the official LZX Community forum thread for Navigator inside the new documentation site.
Additional related discussions are included below.
Uncharted Waters, New Horizons
Making shapes spin and move is notoriously difficult for pattern synthesis based only on oscillators synchronized to horizontal and vertical frequency ranges. Navigator is a large piece of a new method of video synthesis technique that I have been researching, simulating, and developing for the past few years since the initial release of our video synthesizer commands. Rather than using VCOs as a primary signal generator, this method uses horizontal and vertical ramp waveforms as a method to convert voltage to screen position. For example, with horizontal and vertical ramps that go from black-to-white across the screen, we can identify an X,Y position on the screen with two voltages. The point at which each ramp is at 0.5 volts (medium gray) is the center of the display.
Once a screen position can be identified in X/Y points, we can use analog computing techniques to perform operations such as position modulation and the 2D rotation transform (involving four 4-quadrant multipliers and 2 summing blocks, it’s a big circuit!) Navigator maintains video rate signal path from input to output.
We get lots of requests about using our modules for vector rescanning techniques using oscilloscopes and XY displays. Due to some careful consideration on signal paths, Navigator is perfectly at home in this environment as well.
Navigator is a functional block of a 2D analog graphics engine. Designed to take two input voltages representing X and Y points on a display, it can perform adjustment and modulation of their position, anchor point, and continuous rotation in 360 degrees. A typical use case is to process the horizontal and vertical ramp waveforms generated by Visual Cortex, before passing them to a shape or pattern generator. In this case, Navigator repositions and rotates the resulting shape. Since the entire signal path performs at video rates from input to output, the processing opportunities are limitless: cycle color components of external video, rotate objects inside of rotating objects with series processing, or patch your outputs into an XY display, laser projector interface, or oscilloscope to open a whole new world of possibilities.
- Voltage controlled XY position and anchor point channels allow summing of a modulating voltage before and after rotation processes.
- Analog rotation processor with digital control allows modulation of the hue angle directly, or of the rotation spin speed in clockwise or counterclockwise directions.
- Dual full wave rectifiers allow for ramp-to-triangle shaping of the input signal. This enables quadrilateral and bilateral symmetrical mirroring of the resulting transformations.
- Signal path performs at high frequency, video rate speeds from input to output.
- AC/DC input coupling switches and inverting level attenuators on voltage control inputs.
Specifications
- Width, 16HP
- Mounting Depth, 32mm
- Power +12V @ 130mA
- Power -12V @ 100mA
Technical Notes
Navigator is an analog computer for the following formula:
cos(α+β)=cosαcosβ−sinαsinβ
sin(α+β)=sinαcosβ+cosαsinβ
sinα and cosα are the H and V ramp inputs.
sinβ and cosβ are the internally generated Sine/Cosine quadrature waveforms.
sin(α+β) and cos(α+β) are the HV outs
The “spin” mode just increments the phase of the Sine/Cosine modulators infinitely backwards or forwards, whereas the manual rotation mode just sets the angle directly.
Anchor point translation sums an offset before rotation.
Position point translation sums an offset after rotation.
User Reference
Videos
Patching Tips
- Modulate X/Y position and rotation using external oscillators (or video) to get a good handle on what happens under modulation.
- Play with all of the various rotation modes and switches to see how they effect the output signal.
- View the difference between “Position” and “Anchor” modes on the selection switches at the bottom, while X & Y position are being modulated.
- Try feeding H & V with 2 color channels from an RGB video source to achieve colorspace rotation.
- Use only one input (H or V) and use the H & V outputs as a cyclical signal panner.
- View the difference of rotation and position with the X & Y mirror switches both on and off.
Downloads
Other Resources
Related Archived Discussions
How to spin (or rotate) a shape
Another cross post from Facebook. This was a question i had been looking for a answer to recently.
Zach Michels - If I had a Navigator, could I spin shapes I am making in Cortex from Cortex ramps? Most of the videos I see with Navigator are doing exciting things, but I don’t feel like I’ve seen examples of this. I understand that with the release of Shapechanger this will be possible, right? Any one who has a Navigator wanna make an example video?
Cheers all.
Lars Larsen - The missing ingredient for what you’re describing is an H/V mirroring (saw-to-triangle) circuit. If you want to rotate a 2D shape, you need to rotate the ramp waveforms, THEN perform H/V mirroring/saw-to-triangle conversion on both ramps, and then you would be ready to mix or combine them in some way to create a 2D shape key.
Navigator includes the facility for mirroring, but its mirrors are placed BEFORE rotation, in the signal path – this is great for quadrilateral/bilateral mirroring when feeding Shapechanger, but does little if you want to create a rotated shape without the Navigator+Shapechanger combo.
Lars Larsen - To make myself doubly clear, (1) The Navigator+Shapechanger combo gives full 2D shape generation/rotation (in the spinning the shape clockwise/ccw sense.) (2) If you want to do this with Navigator alone, you need a way to (a) mirror your HV ramps post-Navigator, (b) mix/combine them in some way, (c) generate a key of that mix, such as with Doorway or Cortex. FYI, Staircase is five mirror circuits in series! So a pair of them could mirror H/V and then keep going…
Lars Larsen - In fact, Navigator+2xStaircase makes for a pretty interesting pattern/geometry voice in its own right. These kind of relationships are what the XY series modules are all about!
Lars Larsen - When imagining patches, it may also be helpful to think of Navigator as positioning/rotating a camera, rather than the shape itself.
Zach Michels - Ok… more like rotating the reference frame than the object kind of?
Lars Larsen - Yes! Because everything derived from the ramps which have been rotated will have their own geometries rotated identically. Say you have a Navigator with HV outs multed to 2x Shapechangers. One creates an ellipse, another a squiggle. When the Navigator rotates the ramps, both shapes will rotate, as if a camera pointed at them is spinning.
Lars Larsen - For me, a video synthesizer “voice” consists of 2 components: one for spatial parameters (position and rotation) and one for geometry (width/height, curve). Think of it like the VCF-to-VCA relationship in a monosynth. Usually the VCF is before the VCA, but you can also do it the other way around create different and interesting results. Navigator+Shapechanger present to you a holistic approach to the spatial+goemetry processor concept, but there are other ways to patch up the essential pieces of ramp processing based shape generation.
Thread Replies
Would the H/V mirroring now be possible with Arch?
Yes it would! But you’d need two mirror functions (for H and V separately, before combining them.)
So my main reason for wanting Shapechanger is to spin a shape. What would be the signal path to use Arch and achieve this.
Something like this
H Ramps >Arch > Bridge Mixer > Navigator
V Ramps > Arch >
You’ve almost got it! Like that, but with Navigator between Ramps and arches. The patch above would give you double mirroring on the input to Navigator.
You can also use Staircase to do mirror function, but may have to tweak it a little to dial it in.
3 of the 4 functions in Arch are patched out utility block versions of some of the Shapechanger circuitry!
I tried by using Staircase for the second H mirror and was able to spin things!!! Still need to tweak some more but will share some notes over the weekend. I may need to head out and grab a second Arch.
I’m using doorway to try and scale but looks like I’m missing the ability to skew the ramps from what I’ve learned from watching videos of how Shapechnager behaves.
What I’m looking to do at its simplest is have a white diamond shape spinning 360” set against a black background.
Would this be possible without the scale and skew functions of Shapechanger?
what is the analog function of the mirror? just wondering what it does to the signals… if its just rectifiers or something else?
It is an absolute rectifier (very fast, with video opamps and high speed schottky diodes) but in a frequency doubling configuration. So the input signal as 0-1V is scaled to +/-1V so that it will slice right in the center. The rectifier then slices positive/negative portions and inverts the negative portion to give 0-1V on output, but at double frequency.
Yes you can get a white diamond rotating that way! You will want to run H/V ramps into Navigator, then essentially you are doing a sawtooth to triangle (frequency doubler) conversion on the outputs. You can use Arch to do that or Staircase (at low frequency settings, you want 2X). Basically you are converting the sawtooth ramps into triangle ramps AFTER the rotation. Then you mix them (a crossfader works well for this, and gives you something similar to the skew control) and then you key them (using Doorway or Cortex) to get the flat shape results.
Hello,
so if navigator doesn t spin a shape, wath exactly does it do ?.
thx
Navigator does spin the shape but from my understanding the mirrroring needs to take place after which is why I’m using Arch as a replacement for Shapechanger.
Navigator rotates the XY dimensions of the “scene” that the shape is created within.
Some spinning things.
Patch notes.
More spinning shapes.
Patch notes.
Even more 
I’ve been waiting a long time to get this technique down so please bear with me sharing lots of experiments.
Patch notes to follow.
Patch notes.
This is the patch for the videos above but if you were to remove Navigator you would still achieve the same look. Also im using one Staircase and one Arch. A cheaper route would be to use 2 x Arch. If you were to use 2 x Staircase that would up open up a world of variation but would be a bit more expensive.
The videos basically show the same patch but with different levels of mirroring switched on. Spinning shapes 1 shows the patch with all mirroring switched off. The only mirroring is whats taking place via arch and staircase to draw the shape. The rest of the videos show different combinations of the mirroring options on VC ramps and Navigator switched on.
More variations. Similar kind of as patch as before.
I didn’t get round the grabbing a second Arch but its on my wish list. I had filled my current case and only just started setting up a second case for new stuff so now can start planning to expand.
Would Arch bring a lot to a setup that already has Shapechanger in terms of bending and shaping things?
Yes for sure. Arch is my favourite module by far. Can get a world of shape variations of out when using ramps. Also processing control signals can get some amazing results.
Cool! I’m having a bit trouble understanding logic stuff in video synthesis. I just got the multi gate and love it but I guess arch is doing something entirely different to the signal.
I got Photoshop 3.0 at 8 years old and it’s been a continual source of inspiration! A lot of the work on Expedition series is from looking at the way computer graphics evolved from analog computing, and then figuring out ways to do the next level of analog by emulating a lot of the computer graphics workflows. For example, Shapechanger + Navigator perform a lot of the same math you’ll find in any 2D graphics engine, only they do it with analog computing circuitry. Marble Index (and Cortex Compositor) perform a lot of the same blending modes math you’ll find behind Photoshop or more robust digital compositing suites, only they likewise do it with analog circuitry. Most of the design challenge has been on how to take these functions and present them in a patchable hardware way, UI wise, and design analog circuits that do the math.
Arch is my favorite too, You should see what you can do with four
Speaking from experience, the best way to augment MP is with a solid analog synthesis setup behind it. It is a ground breaking module, but to truly exploit it’s power feed it the best material. It will do really cool things with live video input and still frames, but IMO where it really shines is as an integral part of diverse system. That said, you can do some awfully cool stuff with just a Vidot and an MP
And now I’m completely off topic
Even though I have a Shapechanger, these patches are very educational. Thanks!
Yes, thanks! Every little trick helps. I’m at the stage now where I’m looking for new layers to add to a patch, and I’ll look to any modules that are as-yet-unused-in-this-patch to do this.
Big bump!
I’m playing about trying to rotate some shapes with mostly 4HP Cadet and other DIY modules, does anyone have a nice block diagram for simple shape rotation?
I’ll draw up a diagram in a minute.
I don’t know who did these or recall where I got them (probably here), but I have some useful images. I’ll see if I can upload them.
[EDIT]
Sorry, every upload attempt fails.
Ahh, yes. From another forum, years earlier, a diagram of basic Rutt Etra. Now I need to find the source for the other image, a diagram illustrating the rotations using phase quadrature.
Note that there are some exceptions – for example, the “CROSS” switch on Navigator inverts one of the Sin/Cos outputs, so that one output rotates the opposite direction from the other (creating a kind of perspective morph rather than a rotation.) In other words, there are lots of fun ways to patch it up, which are similar to but not the exact same as the textbook rotation formula.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CIAkBDlhfxZ/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
That is just one third of the patching required to do it!
Cheers @sprthhfk for posting the 2nd picture in particular. I was aware of the first & I found that it helped or worked but was a lot of modules just to perform a rotation, especesially how the Prismatic Ray was used.
The 2nd image makes so much sense but if someone doesn’t have an Arch, the top right corner (2x recitifier) can be done with a Syntonie VU-002 or Staircase just dialled a fraction. But how about the top left of Arch? It’s the min output function under the two inputs.
The prismatic ray is not necessary for the basic action of spinning a shape. The patch notes i posted were showing how to recreate the effect in the videos i had posted along with them.
You can remove the final part of the patch after arch and bridge for a basic spinning shape patch. The Prismatic Ray was just used for the spinning lines that were overlaid over the main spinning shape part of the patch.
Cheers for clarifying that @destroythings 
I was just gotten a bunch of Expedition modules at the time I tried it so I most likely messed up a part of the patch before it hit the Prismatic Ray.
I’m glad to see you’re still on here & that this thread you created is still relevant & of interest to people on here 
I’m still minus a Shapechanger so it’s most definitely relevant to me 
Navigator Plus Vidiot
I’m thinking of adding a navigator to my vidiot and am wondering what to expect from the navigator when processing external video. There’s only one video I found on youtube showing color changing of the external video. I think a bridge and a staircase may also be necessary to get more pattern effects, but I’m trying to do one thing at a time. If you have experience with the vidiot and navigator working together could you please provide your insight? 
Thread Replies
Also, tips/insights for patterns generated on the vidiot using only the navigator would be welcomed also. I’m new to video synthesis but I’m excited to be getting into this world. I’ve watched all of the videos on youtube about the navigator, but found most of them to involve several other modules so I’m really trying to get my head around what the pair of vidiot and navigator can do alone. Thanks!
It should be a fun pair. Have you seen this?
Indeed! That’s actually the one that made me buy it, but now I’m looking for more examples/ideas
Cool. You’ll have fun experimenting with the pair. If you find a novel patch, please post your results.
Will do! I picked up a few more modules so I’ll see what I can come up with
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