In this video, Raul Pena of Modular Wild takes a look a the Tiptop Audio Z-DSP VC Digital Signal Processor.
The Z-DSP is a Eurorack module that can load software digital audio processing applications, letting it transform into many different types of modules.
See the Tiptop Audio site for details.
If you’ve used the Tiptop Audio Z-DSP, let us know what you think of it!
Not new at all. It was introduced four(!) years ago.
http://vicmod.blogspot.no/2010/02/tiptop-audio-z-dsp.html
So true – post updated!
Yes, but what does it sound like?
It’s a software platform.
What does your computer sound like?
A friend of mine had one of these for years and used it, together with a sherman filter bank, in his modular guitar fx setup for our electronic jam sessions. I don’t know how he used it exactly and which effects he had loaded, but he made some really whacky and cool sounds! 😉
I have a z-dsp and while the programmer is windows only and requires a crossover / wine. And only a limited number of effect cards out, I feel this unit can allow extreme programming. I feel in time this platform will be the standard in terms of stereo modular dsp. The voltage control options and the Valhalla reverb really saved it. I just wish I could load presets off my reverb card and my delay card and use the zdsp card writer to make single card devices with these effects. But it gets the job done, the more cards that come back make this modular more and more useful. Modulating presets and getting chains like a chorus echo reverb chorus type thing would be sick! If you want vcdsp this one kills it.
Hi All, Hi Chris Arndt,
the one guy trying to play the guitar with the Modular 6HE including the Z-DSP, Sherman Filterbank and last but not least the Roland Space Echo (in digital) RE-20 is me, I guess 🙂
The Z-DSP is a great versatile tool, I build my other modular stuff around it.
I also own and have used the programmer “Numbers”. With a bit of effort it is no big deal to burn your own cards. 8 Programms per Card, if you choose wisely, there are a lot of possibilities ´cause of the programmchange-trigger input.
If you´re capable of coding in Assembler, there are a lot of sonic adventures out there. You can code, while Numbers is attached to your PC, in realtime 🙂
But the sheer computer-power is limitited, so you have to know your bits&bytes.
The Z-DSP is build around of a FV-1 CPU/DSP by Spin Semiconductors.
–> http://www.spinsemi.com/programs.php
There are quite a bit of free FX-progs out there.. But all the commercial cards are also very good, like Broken Sillicon or Vallhala (which I still don´t have! *waitwaitwait*), but Vallhala is always good! Check out this great PlugIn, for free, all platforms –> http://www.valhalladsp.com/valhallafreqecho
This is really a good one!
The Modular world is great fun, Euro(c)rack is quite a bad habbit … lots of fantastic producers, manufacturers, engineers and artists out there. I love it 🙂
Greetz from Cologne.
Micky