Time Fabric Z-DSP Card

Tiptop Audio Time Fabric

Time Fabric is an assemblage of pitch programs for TipTop’s Z-DSP module. It utilizes a pitch shifting algorithm similar to those of old school pitch shifters, imparting a sound remniscent of the Eventide H910 et al. Rather than complex multi-harmonies, its effects are decidedly vintage, enabling the creation of chords from single VCOs and things of that nature.

The pitch shifting process can be convceived as a digital emulation of the results achieved by “rotating tape head” style delay lines, where tape heads move independently from the playback path with two crossfaded heads producing continuous output (a la Karlheinz Stockhausen’s tape machine methodology). Time Fabric uses digital processing and memory to achieve similar ends: altering two memory playback positions and crossfading between them. Obviously this process is slightly primitive compared to today’s DSP technology, but that’s essentially the point. When it comes to ingenuity, limitations are more effective than overabundance.

Time Fabric Features

• Dual Pitch Shifter: shifts +/-1 octave. Delay time left <500ms, delay time <250ms
• Dual Delay Shifter: Like program 1 but with individual delay time control per channel
• Interval Shifter 1: semitone quantized pitch shifting with identical intervals for both channels
• Interval Shifter 2: semitone quantized pitch shifting. Left pitches up, right pitches down
• Dual Micro Shift. Microtonal pitch shifting by +/-1 semitone. Common control of delay time for L & R
• Dual Delay Micro Shift. Like program 5 but with individual delay time per channel
• Pitch -> Delay. Pitch shifter before the delay. Feedback taps the delay output only
• Delay -> Pitch. Delay before the pitch shifter. Feedback taps the delay output only