Tiliqua aims to make FPGA-based audio and video synthesis accessible to everyone. The Tiliqua hardware architecture, alongside a comprehensive collection of example projects built in Python (Amaranth HDL), allows you to experiment with synthesis techniques that are out of reach of embedded microcontroller-based platforms. Think extreme oversampling for alias-free audio-rate modulation, low-latency effects, video synthesis, and high-speed USB audio.

Get your Groove On — No PC Required

Tiliqua can store up to 8 projects (bitstreams) simultaneously—you can switch between them at runtime without needing a PC. Out of the box, Tiliqua can be:

• A video synthesizer (vectorscope display with audio-rate beam modulation)
• A multichannel wavetable oscillator (1 MHz oversampling for audio-rate FM)
• A high-speed 4 in/4 out USB 2.0 audio interface
• A polyphonic MIDI/touch synthesizer
• A multichannel diffusion delay
• A multichannel pitch shifter
• A MIDI/CV converter
• A matrix mixer

As the project develops and with community contributions, we hope to add many more.

Features & Specifications

Tiliqua itself is modular—the FPGA core (an integrated System-on-Module in M.2 form factor) can be removed and embedded in your projects. The audio interface section can be decoupled and connected to other FPGA development platforms. Pictured above, Tiliqua contains the following key components:

Audio Interface

• 8 (4 in + 4 out) DC-coupled audio channels, 192 KHz / 24-bit sampling supported
• Touch and proximity sensing on all 8 audio jacks (if unused)
• PWM-controlled, user-programmable red/green LEDs on each audio channel
• Jack insertion detection on all 8 jacks

Motherboard

• Switched rotary encoder with bar graph display.
• Dual USB ports:
  • dbg: Included RP2040-based JTAG debugger supported by openFPGAloader
  • usb2: USB PHY connected directly to FPGA for high-speed USB Audio support
• Display output for video synthesis (maximum resolution 720/60P)
• 2x expansion ports for up to 24 simultaneous audio channels (PMOD-compatible)
• MIDI-In jack (TRS-A standard)

Embedded FPGA SoM

• Lattice ECP5 (25 K) FPGA, supported by open-source FPGA toolchains
• 128 Mbit (16 MByte) HyperRAM / oSPI RAM (for long audio buffers or video framebuffers)
• 128 Mbit (16 MByte) SPI flash for user bitstreams
• High-speed USB HS PHY (ULPI)

Expansion

Using the 2 expansion headers, Tiliqua can be augmented with:

• Extra audio sections for up to 24 simultaneous audio channels (1 internal + 2 external audio sections = 3 * 8 channels)
• Existing boards from the PMOD ecosystem, like LED panel drivers, SD card readers, and so on
• Anything that uses 3.3 V logic levels for communication

Open Source

Design files and example projects for Tiliqua can be found on our GitHub. We also have design files for the audio interface section for you to browse.

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