"I'm one of the lucky few beta testers of the new Tiptop Audio Z-DSP eurorack module, and boy is it a lot of fun. The Z-DSP is a lot like the Tiptop Audio Z5000, except embiggened. A lot. There are three CV controlled parameters per program. There is a feedback loop that you can tap into on the front panel so you can insert a filter or whatever module you can think of inside a part of the DSP process that is usually closed to tinkering. You can change the personality of the DSP by inserting a different card on the front panel. You can even voltage control the clock. This is serious sound-mangling mayhem."more including samples at The Stretta Procudure Be sure to click on that image.
Quote: "used three TipTop Z3000 oscillators to perform some additive synthesis, using triangle waves, as I wanted a few extra harmonics in there. The mixed output went into a Cwejman RES-4 filter, with the frequencies of all the filters modulated by a Cwejman VCO-6. This is what I fed into the Z-DSP."
ReplyDeleteWhat? I'm not even going to listen to these demos. That's so much stuff before you hear the Z-DSP how is anyone to know what the effect is? Makes me think the actual effect would be boring if you just fed a sawtooth in.
Yeah, you have a good point there. I've certainly done lots of very dry demos in the past with raw waveforms etc (like the Z2040), but, in retrospect, those may have erred in the other direction of being way too clinical.
ReplyDeleteI didn't set out to make a demo of the Z-DSP, although that turned out to be the banner of the blog post. The drones were the first thing I happened to record with it, and this was a natural process of exploring what the module could do. Faced with posting nothing, which would benefit no one, and posting the results of some fun I had with the module, I chose to post something rather than nothing. I have some other ideas that will expose the module more directly, but I have not got those yet. I'm just having fun.
Although the front side signal chain sounds excessive, basically what you have is a steady state tone with some harmonic shift due to the modulation of the RES-4. One needs to put SOMETHING into the input. Most, of the tonal variation has to do with manipulating the Z-DSP in real time.
It is also worth noting that one of the key features of the Z-DSP is the ability to patch other modules into the feedback path. Demonstrating this necessities the use of other modules.
Thanks for the explanation, I didn't mean to be mean and harsh, just that I'm clueless still at what the Z-DSP is and if it's not redundant to the Z5000. Still would liek to hear what it does to raw sound to isolate the actual effects.
ReplyDeleteits cool dan, you'll just sell it off in a month for the next new thing. don't worry about it. ;)
ReplyDelete