Modular Monthly

Delve into Tiptop Audio’s Z-DSP

The Z-DSP is over six years old and is still a much-loved module. It’s gained support from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Richard Devine, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails) and many more. It’s made its way into film soundtracks, sound design projects and music. We love it so much we’re giving it a two-part special in our Modular Monthly.

So what does it do? Tiptop Audio say: “The Z-DSP is an open-source, cartridge-based, digital sound processing and generating platform for your modular synthesizer”. At its core is a stereo DSP processor that offers 24-bit sampling, voltage control of its parameters and it has plenty of analogue circuitry to interact in a more hands-on and fluid way within the modular environment. You can control three parameters per cartridge and use the analogue external feedback paths to further process audio with other modules. You can vary the clock speed (internal sample rate) too, to go from clear digital audio through to grungy lo-fi warbles – “this is where binary DSP bits meet up with the organic analogue circuitry of the Z-DSP.”

Various cards are available from other companies as well as from Tiptop Audio and, through the use of ‘numbers’, you can burn your own programs onto blank cards to use in your module. The Bat Filter card offers precise and steep digital filters, Time Fabric has pitchshifting, Spring Waves offers physical behaviour modelling and Grain de Folie brings granular to the platform. Valhalla may be a word you associate with your favourite FX plug-ins, but you can get The Halls Of Valhalla cartridge and a Shimmer Reverb card from Valhalla that both sound excellent too.