ART from Tiptop Audio: the new frontier for polyphony in Eurorack

Today we are here to talk about the brand new ARTsystem from Tiptop Audio. Art is a protocol, so for all intents and purposes a signal like the various CVs, gates and triggers that allows you to send information to the various modules that receive it.

Finally, thanks to the ART system, it is possible to implement polyphony in a Eurorack system . ART is a really incredible signal because it is 40 times faster than MIDI and it allows you to keep the oscillators in tune at all times, which was really difficult before because one of the most uncomfortable features in a polyphonic Eurorack system was also the tuning of the various oscillators.

As you can see in the video, we tested one of the two systems currently available in the market that use the ART protocol.

The main modules of the ART system

Among the modules of the ART system we have, first of all, Octopus, which is the brains of the whole system, ATX1, which is the analog carrier oscillator, MiX7 mixer, which is the mixer used to mix the various signals, Control path, which is the brand new envelope dedicated to the ART system, and Z2040, the renowned TipTop filter.

Next we have Vortex, which is the first digital oscillator that has the ability to be controlled through ART and is a wavetable oscillator.Then, we have the second brain, let's call it that, of the system which is theART Quantizer. Let's go now and look specifically at these modules that we have listed.

How the Octopus module works

Let's start by talking specifically about Octupus. What is Octupus? Octupus is a module that converts MIDI signals to ART signals. This allows this module to be able to interface with various external instruments such as can be DO, then a computer, via USB input or hardware sequencer.

We have eight trigger outs, so that we can control, for example, drums, and eight ART outs so that we can send the ART signal to various oscillators, and eight velocity outs, because we also have the possibility of being able to control velocity.

As we said before, one of the main parameters of the ARTsystem is precisely pitch control. So, through autotune, in Octopus we have the possibility of perfectly tuning the analog oscillators connected to it. This is done by calculating the temperature of each oscillator when it is first tuned, and it allows us to be able to recalibrate the pitch because of the memory, which is stored precisely with the temperature. Once started via autotune, Octopus begins to tune the oscillators.

This, as we said, is the tuning that occurs for each individual oscillator. The first of Octopus's two modes, which is mono-8, allows us to control the individual oscillators, each tuning differently. We have assigned through our DO a channel for each oscillator. So channel number one will send via ART1the pitch to the first oscillator. Same for two, same for three, same for four.

The second mode, Poly 3, (you can change modes by pressing the Setting button), allows us to hear the three oscillators as if they were a single voice creating a chord.

The other channels can be used to be able to control other oscillators as well. In this case we have Vortex, which is a digital wavetable oscillator, again with ART input , that is controlled by the fourth channel. So this allows you to create a triad, a chord with the first three, with the first three voices. From three onward, so from four inclusive onward, you have the ability to control as many other oscillators as you want.

The ATX1 module: the analog carrier oscillator

Let us now look at ATX1, which is the analog oscillator. ATX1 is a fully analog oscillator that can be controlled either by ART or by a classic times per octave, or it can be used as an LFO. The modes are changed by pressing a button: red is for ART and orange is for a volta per octave; when the button is off, so there is no light, the oscillator goes into non-audio and then becomes for all intents and purposes an LFO.

It is a really very powerful oscillator with a very robust timbre, and it has various waveforms, starting with a sine wave and ending with a square wave. Of course, like all analog oscillators, you can control it in frequency, to Pulse Width Modulation, to any kind of modulation you can imagine.

Control Path: the envelope of the ART system.

After that we go to see Control Path, which is the envelope that controls the signal instead. Control Path is a double envelope. It is divided into two parts. The right section is dedicated to amplitude control, in fact it has a built-in VCA that allows you to control the amplitude of the signal.

The part on the left, on the other hand, is typically directed toward controlling a filter. This is really very convenient because, with precisely a polyphonic system in mind, it allows us to have various envelopes without having to take up a considerable amount of space.

As we can see from the video, it has control over attack, decay, sustain and release, then it has two trimmers that allow us to control velocity, because the control pad can also receive velocity signals.

The Z2040 filter and the Vortex digital oscillator.

Now we are going to look at the Z2040, which is the classic TipTop filter; a filter that needs no introduction because we already know it and it is really amazing. It too has a built-in VCA and it gives a resonance that goes into self-oscillation when placed at maximum; it generates obviously a sine wave.

After that we have Vortex, which is the first digital oscillator that you can control by ART signal . Vortex is precisely a wavetable oscillator with 55 tables already preloaded inside. More can of course be added via SD card.

Like all Wavetable oscillators, Vortex has the ability to move through this table via Position. In the video we have 281 T modulating it. In addition to Position, we have the ability to detune the oscillator and we have a vibration.

ART Quantizer: the second brain of the system

Next we have ART Quantizer, which is the second brain of this system. Art quantizer is designed primarily for those who don't want to go outside the Eurorack ecosystem and therefore maybe don't want to rely on external hardware sequencers or Ado.

So what does it allow you to do? Through a sequencer or any voltage generator, you can, using the volt per octave input, input a voltage. He will convert that into ART signal, and there is, as with the Octopus, the ability to go into it and select various modes.

For example, we have mono-4 which allows us, as it was for Octopus mono-8, to be able to control the pitch of the four oscillators, or we have Cord 4 which allows us to create chords. ART Quantizer is designed, as I said before, especially if you want to stay in the Eurorack ecosystem and then if you want to use sequencers, maybe from other brands or always from TipTop.

The future of the ART protocol

This was a brief overview of the currently available modules that use the ARTsystem . TipTop has already announced that many more will be available. There will be some that, for example, will use polyphony right in one module.

There will be oscillators with eight oscillators inside them that can be controlled through the cables, which then will be the real beating heart of the ART system, which are the PolyTipcables . These cables are fully analog cables and they allow you to bypass the connection as we have seen so far.

Basically, through the connection of a single cable that has a USB-C at its end, they allow us to be able toconnect, for example, an ARTcontrol to eight oscillators, which then allows us to be able to control polyphonic modules through the use of a single cable.

We will definitely come back to talk about the ARTprotocol and all the modules that will implement it in the future. We already know that there are many brands interested, and it will certainly be one of the turning points in the future of the Eurorack landscape. For any information and to see them in action come visit us in our showroom or contact us on our social channels or by email.