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TipTop Audio Z-DSP Grain de Folie Cartridge

Tiptop Audio

357,00zł
In stock
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TipTop Audio Z-DSP Grain de Folie Cartridge main image
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Granular Synthesis uses small slices of sounds (‘grains’) to compose new sounds from existing material. By combining multiple grains of differing lengths, amplitude, pitch and speed creates very characteristic sounds of modern music. Xenakis claims to have invented the technique and indeed his ‘Analogique A-B’, composed of tiny tape splices of pure tones, is credited as the first piece of granular music in 1959.

Tape editing proved extremely time consuming, but by the 1970s digital processing could take the place of tape splicing. Curtis Roads dove into the early computer based granular synthesis and made some of the classic techniques known through his recordings, teaching and texts like ‘Microsound’. Today, most computer audio programs have some sort of granular synthesis engine or plugin. Dr. Richard Boulanger has used granular synthesis in Sound to great effect and he is also a beta tester for this card.

The French phrase for the cartridge is "Grain de Folie" which could be translated as "seeds of madness", but in French "grain" also translates to "grain", and "madness" evokes the strange disassembling/reassembling granular process. Also, "avoir un grain de folie" is a typically French expression to describe people behaving in a non conventional way, thus a fitting play on words. How it works: Granular processing requires a block of memory to hold digital samples for playback, and the Z-DSP has one second of memory for the audio used in processing.

From this audio buffer the grains will sample smaller sections for playback. The number of grains in the process determine how dense the overall output sounds. These programs have 3, 4 or 6 grains for playback. Each grain plays from a random point in the audio buffer and have an independent envelope controlling their duration. The envelope time is the ‘grain size’ parameter in many of the programs. In the context of the Z-DSP, the FV1 (the DSP brain) is really not designed for grain synthesis (due to technical choices like a "circulating" delay memory, and the lack of indirect memory access), but the chip also has other design niceties that help overcome its limitations…

This cartridge implements a simple and customised granular synthesis with a limited number of grains, and parameters that mainly control the size of grains and their positions in the sample. One nice aspect of the Z-DSP is that it uses live inputs (granular synthesis is usually based on a pre-recorded sample), so it can disassemble live input and reassemble it in real-time into a different order resulting in a (usually !) nice sonic transformation of both texture and the rhythm.

How much is my shipping?

Shipping costs are calculated automatically at checkout. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll see the available shipping options and their prices. VAT at the applicable rate for your country will also be displayed at checkout.

European Union orders:

  • Standard shipping is free on orders over €100. Express shipping is available on orders over €100, and free on orders over €400.

Poland orders:

  • Standard shipping is free on orders over 250 PLN. Express shipping is free on orders over 500 PLN.

What about local taxes?

By default prices on the site include sales tax at 20%. The precise sales tax rate for your country will be calculated at checkout.

Do you ship to my country?

We ship to all EU member states from our warehouse in Warsaw, Poland. Add an item to your cart and enter your country and postcode to see the available shipping options and prices for your location. If you have any questions about shipping to your country, drop us an email at info@signalsounds.eu and we'll be happy to help.

Shipping methods

All EU orders are shipped via UPS. We offer two service levels:

  • UPS Standard – our default shipping option. Delivery times vary by country (see estimated delivery times below).
  • UPS Express Saver – next business day delivery to most EU destinations.

Each product page shows the estimated delivery time for your location, so you'll always know what to expect before you order.

Estimated delivery times (Standard shipping)

The times below are estimates in working days from dispatch, based on UPS Standard service. Express Saver delivers by the next business day to most destinations.

Country Estimated delivery (working days)
Austria2–3
Belgium2
Bulgaria4–5
Croatia2–4
Cyprus10
Czechia2–3
Denmark3
Estonia2–3
Finland3–5
France2–4
Germany2
Greece5–7
Hungary2–3
Ireland4–6
Italy3–5
Latvia2–3
Lithuania1–2
Luxembourg2
Malta5–7
Netherlands2
Poland1–2
Portugal4–5
Romania3–4
Slovakia2–3
Slovenia2–3
Spain4
Sweden3–5

These times are estimates and are not guaranteed. Delivery may occasionally take a little longer due to customs processing, local conditions, or carrier delays.

Dispatch times

Orders placed before 15:00 CET (Central European Time) on a working day are normally dispatched the same day. Orders placed after 15:00 CET, or on weekends and public holidays, will be dispatched on the next working day.

If you have an urgent order, please email us at info@signalsounds.eu before placing your order and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Pre-orders

If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.

If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch at info@signalsounds.eu if you have questions.

Product Overview

Granular Synthesis uses small slices of sounds (‘grains’) to compose new sounds from existing material. By combining multiple grains of differing lengths, amplitude, pitch and speed creates very characteristic sounds of modern music. Xenakis claims to have invented the technique and indeed his ‘Analogique A-B’, composed of tiny tape splices of pure tones, is credited as the first piece of granular music in 1959.

Tape editing proved extremely time consuming, but by the 1970s digital processing could take the place of tape splicing. Curtis Roads dove into the early computer based granular synthesis and made some of the classic techniques known through his recordings, teaching and texts like ‘Microsound’. Today, most computer audio programs have some sort of granular synthesis engine or plugin. Dr. Richard Boulanger has used granular synthesis in Sound to great effect and he is also a beta tester for this card.

The French phrase for the cartridge is "Grain de Folie" which could be translated as "seeds of madness", but in French "grain" also translates to "grain", and "madness" evokes the strange disassembling/reassembling granular process. Also, "avoir un grain de folie" is a typically French expression to describe people behaving in a non conventional way, thus a fitting play on words. How it works: Granular processing requires a block of memory to hold digital samples for playback, and the Z-DSP has one second of memory for the audio used in processing.

From this audio buffer the grains will sample smaller sections for playback. The number of grains in the process determine how dense the overall output sounds. These programs have 3, 4 or 6 grains for playback. Each grain plays from a random point in the audio buffer and have an independent envelope controlling their duration. The envelope time is the ‘grain size’ parameter in many of the programs. In the context of the Z-DSP, the FV1 (the DSP brain) is really not designed for grain synthesis (due to technical choices like a "circulating" delay memory, and the lack of indirect memory access), but the chip also has other design niceties that help overcome its limitations…

This cartridge implements a simple and customised granular synthesis with a limited number of grains, and parameters that mainly control the size of grains and their positions in the sample. One nice aspect of the Z-DSP is that it uses live inputs (granular synthesis is usually based on a pre-recorded sample), so it can disassemble live input and reassemble it in real-time into a different order resulting in a (usually !) nice sonic transformation of both texture and the rhythm.

Technical Specs

Shipping Details

How much is my shipping?

Shipping costs are calculated automatically at checkout. Simply add items to your cart and proceed to the checkout page, where you'll see the available shipping options and their prices. VAT at the applicable rate for your country will also be displayed at checkout.

European Union orders:

  • Standard shipping is free on orders over €100. Express shipping is available on orders over €100, and free on orders over €400.

Poland orders:

  • Standard shipping is free on orders over 250 PLN. Express shipping is free on orders over 500 PLN.

What about local taxes?

By default prices on the site include sales tax at 20%. The precise sales tax rate for your country will be calculated at checkout.

Do you ship to my country?

We ship to all EU member states from our warehouse in Warsaw, Poland. Add an item to your cart and enter your country and postcode to see the available shipping options and prices for your location. If you have any questions about shipping to your country, drop us an email at info@signalsounds.eu and we'll be happy to help.

Shipping methods

All EU orders are shipped via UPS. We offer two service levels:

  • UPS Standard – our default shipping option. Delivery times vary by country (see estimated delivery times below).
  • UPS Express Saver – next business day delivery to most EU destinations.

Each product page shows the estimated delivery time for your location, so you'll always know what to expect before you order.

Estimated delivery times (Standard shipping)

The times below are estimates in working days from dispatch, based on UPS Standard service. Express Saver delivers by the next business day to most destinations.

Country Estimated delivery (working days)
Austria2–3
Belgium2
Bulgaria4–5
Croatia2–4
Cyprus10
Czechia2–3
Denmark3
Estonia2–3
Finland3–5
France2–4
Germany2
Greece5–7
Hungary2–3
Ireland4–6
Italy3–5
Latvia2–3
Lithuania1–2
Luxembourg2
Malta5–7
Netherlands2
Poland1–2
Portugal4–5
Romania3–4
Slovakia2–3
Slovenia2–3
Spain4
Sweden3–5

These times are estimates and are not guaranteed. Delivery may occasionally take a little longer due to customs processing, local conditions, or carrier delays.

Dispatch times

Orders placed before 15:00 CET (Central European Time) on a working day are normally dispatched the same day. Orders placed after 15:00 CET, or on weekends and public holidays, will be dispatched on the next working day.

If you have an urgent order, please email us at info@signalsounds.eu before placing your order and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Pre-orders

If a product is listed as a pre-order, it means we've ordered it from the supplier but it's not physically in stock yet. The product listing will include an estimated shipping date based on the best information we have from the supplier, but do bear in mind this is subject to change and is not a guaranteed date.

If you place an order containing a mixture of in-stock and pre-order items, we'll normally hold off on shipping anything until the pre-order item(s) have arrived, rather than splitting it into multiple shipments. If you need the in-stock items sooner, we'd recommend placing separate orders. As always, please get in touch at info@signalsounds.eu if you have questions.

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