Boards for jobs nobody makes a box for

Audio · IP and USB to CAN bus converter

CANary

Rev A built · board #1 powered, flashed and passing its self-test

An IP and USB to CAN bus converter for use with the d&b amplifier ecosystem. It puts amplifiers that only speak CAN onto the network, so the control software you already run can discover and drive them through hardware you can build yourself.

• Transparent bridgeNo interpretation and no extra protocol layer. The gateway is invisible to the control application, which is what it's for.
• Running on real hardwareBoard #1 came up on the first plug-in. Ethernet, the isolated CAN transceiver and the whole network protocol all answer on the bench.
• Galvanically isolatedThe CAN side sits across a 7 mm barrier on an ADM3053 with its own supply, so an amplifier rack and a laptop never share a ground through this box.
• Standard partsESP32-S3, W5500 Ethernet, ADM3053 isolated CAN. Nothing exotic, nothing unobtainable. 45 of the 50 BOM lines carry a part checked against live distributor stock, and the other five are the hand-soldered connectors.
• Bench test rigA self-test image the board runs on itself, a host-side acceptance script, and a written bring-up procedure with generated probe-point drawings.

The CANary project page →

Video · Inline HDMI EDID box

Cuckoo

Coming soon · Rev A boards on order, firmware written, never run

A small box that sits in an HDMI line and shows the source an EDID of your choosing, while the picture goes straight through on copper. It's named after the bird that lays its egg in another bird's nest: this one tells the source it's a display it isn't.

• Any EDID you likeThe source reads the EDID you picked, not whatever happens to be plugged in downstream. Force 1080p50 into a converter, pin a laptop to one mode, or keep its display layout when the projector goes off. With nothing plugged in downstream at all, it's a dummy plug, as long as it has USB-C power.
• The picture stays on copperThe four TMDS pairs run from one connector to the other as 100 Ω pairs and nothing else. An RP2354A answers EDID reads itself and forwards the rest of the DDC traffic, so HDMI 2.0 scrambling and HDCP still reach the display.
• HDCP, blocked on requestIn Block mode the box doesn't answer on the HDCP address, so the source finds no receiver and never starts encrypting. Nothing is ever decrypted: protected content refuses to play, as it would on any display without HDCP.
• The phone sets it up, the show doesn't need itAn ESP32-C3 serves a web page with eight EDID slots, the display's own EDID and a copy of the EDID Editor, all offline. The RP2354A keeps the slots in its own flash and carries on if the ESP32 falls over.
• Unplugged, it's a cableWith no power, two relays put the DDC lines, hot-plug and +5 V straight through, so the source reads the display's own EDID. The picture may change format, but it doesn't go black.

Lighting · Art-Net / sACN to DMX512

nanODE

Ready to order as a prototype · nothing ordered or built yet

A PoE-powered, daisy-chainable Art-Net / sACN to 4x DMX512 node. One Cat5 in and one loop out, carrying power and data, so a run of nodes needs a single cable from the switch instead of one per box.

• 4 universes out5-pin XLR, from Art-Net 4 (including ArtSync) or sACN / E1.31.
• Real RDM discoveryRuns as a background task, so the web console never blocks on it.
• Daisy-chain built inInternal 3-port switch: Cat5 in, loop out, plus the ESP32 itself.
• Field-replaceable portsEvery external connector is a daughter-card. Smash an XLR on site, swap it without a soldering iron.
• Browser consoleOver WiFi or Ethernet: patch, address, and see RDM devices live.

RF & wireless · UHF pair extender

ANTeater

Front-end test board on order · head and rack routed

A UHF pair extender: it sends a wireless-mic receive antenna pair down a single shielded Cat cable. Filtering, gain and line drivers at the antenna end; balun, slope equalisation and a matched step attenuator pair at the rack end. 470-698 MHz, A/B diversity preserved, one cable instead of two coax runs down the side of a stage.

• Diversity stays diversityEach antenna gets its own individually screened pair. With a single overall screen, pair-to-pair crosstalk at 500 MHz is 30-40 dB, which couples antenna A into B and destroys the independence the receiver's diversity logic depends on, and never tells you.
• Noise figure comes first0.97 dB system noise figure at any attenuator setting, because the step attenuator sits after the line driver rather than mid-chain. The same parts mid-chain give 11.8 dB.
• The preselector is split on purposeLow-loss filtering before the first LNA, where its 0.46 dB lands directly on noise figure; the lossy LTE traps after 20 dB of gain, where 3.3 dB costs a hundredth as much. Worth 2.8 dB of sensitivity for no extra parts.
• No AGC, everReceivers derive squelch thresholds and diversity decisions from absolute RF level. Gain is measured once at commissioning and then frozen. A running loop that holds a target level is a defect here, not a feature.
• Power gets its own pairWideband UHF transformers rate around 30 mA and the head needs roughly 200 mA, so the DC feed rides the one pair that's split at the connector, which makes it no use for signal anyway. Never parallel two pairs for one RF signal: cable delay skew puts comb nulls inside the passband.