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Rossum ASSIMIL8OR Operation Manual

Multi-timbral phase modulation sampler
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ASSIMIL8OR
Multi-Timbral Phase
Modulation Sampler
Operation Manual
_040618
Copyright 2018 Rossum Electro-Music LLC
www.rossum-electro.com

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Summary of Contents for Rossum ASSIMIL8OR

  • Page 1 ASSIMIL8OR Multi-Timbral Phase Modulation Sampler Operation Manual _040618 Copyright 2018 Rossum Electro-Music LLC www.rossum-electro.com...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Contents 1. Introduction 2. Module Installation 3. Assimil8or Overview 4. Basic Functionality 5. The Main Display 6. Managing SD Cards, Folders, Presets, and Samples 7. Sampling 8. Sample Start and End 9. Channels 10. Zones 11. Play Mode/Latch 12. Envelope 13.

  • Page 3: Introduction

    Modulation Sampler. with your Assimil8or, tell us about it here: This manual will give you the information you http://www.rossum-electro.com/support/ need to get the most out of Assimil8or. The support-request-form/ manual assumes you already have a basic understanding of synthesis, synthesizers and …and we’ll get you sorted out.

  • Page 4: Module Installation

    2. Installation Be Sure You Have the Latest As you will have no doubt noticed, the rear of Assimil8or is a circuit board with a daughter Firmware board, exposed parts, and connectors. When If we’ve released an updated version of handling Assimil8or, it’s important that the...

  • Page 5: Assimil8Or Overview

    3. Overview What is Assimil8or? Assimil8or provides eight independent Designed to provide a powerful, flexible channels of sampled sounds (or control sampling engine for modular synthesis, the voltages), transposable over an astonishing Assimil8or Multi-Timbral Phase Modulation range of up to +6 octaves (at 48kHz sample...
  • Page 6 24 CV inputs that can be arbitrarily > Key Assimil8or features include: assigned to any parameters on any channels. Eight-channel multi-timbral operation. > Each channel is available from its own Examples include: independent output as well as (optionally) Pitch appearing in the stereo mix output.

  • Page 7: Basic Functionality

    4. Basic Functionality Control Voltage Inputs Before we jump into individual functions, let’s take a look at Assimil8or’s basic organization. Assimil8or provides 24 CV inputs that can be arbitrarily Power Up assigned to any parameters on any channels. A single...
  • Page 8 Folder, Channel, or Sample, to enter a currently selected Individual Channel Outputs parameter value (see individual parameters Each of Assimil8or’s 8 channels has for details), or to confirm some action. a dedicated individual output. Each channel’s signal always appears at its...
  • Page 9 (if any) and program linear and/ menu where you will have access or exponential frequency modulation. Also to Assimil8or’s various housekeeping and lets you set a pitch offset for each zone in the maintenance functions. See Chapter 21 for channel.
  • Page 10 (leaving In addition to sampling directly A TIP: the original sample intact). into Assimil8or, you can also use your computer to create folders at the root level Loop Start/End/Length Lets of your SD card and put WAV files in those you define a loop within folders.

  • Page 11: The Main Display

    OLED displays (which is IMPORTANT: background, that channel’s sample is what the Assimil8or display is) have long loaded, but not selected for editing. lifetimes under normal use, but if you leave your system on 24/7 (or just want to ensure...
  • Page 12 Waveform Display A real-time display of the waveform of the currently selected channel. Only appears when the channel is actually playing. Yellow “Unsaved Changes” Indicator When the little yellow caution triangle appears in the lower lefthand corner of the display, it indicates that you have made changes to the current preset that have not been saved.

  • Page 13: Managing Sd Cards, Folders, Presets, And Samples

    Content may either be written Assimil8or’s front panel micro SD card stores directly to the card by your Assimil8or or, in all of the folders containing the files required the case of folders and WAV files, copied to to play your stored presets.
  • Page 14 While this is Folders are Assimil8or’s file storage construct. happening, you will see a green progress Assimil8or can have one folder at a time in bar across the middle of the home screen its memory. That folder contains a number that indicates the loading process.
  • Page 15 This may or may not A preset contains the information necessary be useful to you, depending on your situation. to play up to 8 of Assimil8or’s channels with the parameters you’ve programmed. Presets Importing Presets...
  • Page 16 Starting with an Empty Preset If you release the button before 2 seconds have elapsed, the display briefly shows “Save When creating presets, you may sometimes canceled” and exits the screen without want to start out with a completely empty executing the save operation.
  • Page 17 Samples are the raw material of your channels and presets. Samples can be Channels recorded directly by Assimil8or or can be copied onto an SD card via computer. Each channel contains the information required to play your programmed audio or See the Sampling chapter for details of CV files through it’s dedicated channel output...
  • Page 18 Renaming and Erasing Samples Do NOT click IMPORTANT NOTE: the encoder here. If you do, you To rename a will actually load the folder (rather than sample or to browse its contents) and erase any unsaved erase a sample changes in the preset you were working on. from the current folder (and from Scroll through the folder’s contents to...

  • Page 19: Sampling

    The Sampling Setup screen lets you Once armed, sampling can be triggered by pushing the Sample button, having the configure Assimil8or’s sampling functions. Once configured, you can choose to trigger incoming audio exceed the programmed sampling manually with the Sample button,...
  • Page 20 The choices Circular With Circular sampling, are: Assimil8or samples for the time set in the Unassigned Sampling Time parameter below and sample will then circles back to the start of sample appear in the...
  • Page 21 Sampling Time Naming Mode This parameter When you lets you set record a new the maximum sample, it is sampling time initially given a for your sample. default name The choices (which you are “All” (i.e., all would do well of the currently to change to available...
  • Page 22 If you want to do this, you will need to manually tweak the Side gain for your particular patch. This parameter tells Assimil8or where to look for the incoming signal(s) and what to do Arming Safety with them. Choices are:...
  • Page 23 If you continue adjusting the value past -1dB, you will encounter “Off,” which turns off threshold triggering. If you continue adjusting beyond “Off,” you will be able to choose any of the 24 CV inputs to act as a sampling trigger. The different triggering methods NOTE: can be used in combination to start and...

  • Page 24: Sample Start And End

    8. Sample Start and End Sample Start and End Sample Start Sample Start sets the point at which the This screen lets you set the point at which sample starts playing when its channel your sample starts playing when it receives a receives a trigger or gate.
  • Page 25 Sample End Zones Sample End sets the point at which the If a channel is using the Zones function, the sample stops playing (assuming a loop isn’t start and end points can be set independently set in the sample that prevents the sample for each sample in a zone.
  • Page 26 To truncate the end of the sample (the data after the currently set end point), set the end point as desired and then press and hold the Sample End button. As above, the display will show “Truncating in 2 seconds.” If you release the button before the 2 seconds have elapsed, the truncation will be canceled.

  • Page 27: Channels

    9. Channels The Channels screen (along with the Zones button pressed or by being highlighted by screen, if you’re using zones) is where you the encoder, the red background will be configure your presets, assigning samples to brighter to indicate its selection. channels and setting Channel Modes that If a channel does not have a sample define the way that channels interact with...
  • Page 28 Copying Channels If the sample you assign has been NOTE: used in another preset in your folder, it If you’ve will already be present in memory, so will be previously immediately available to play. However, if the programmed a sample has not been used in another preset, channel (either it will first have to be loaded into memory in the current...
  • Page 29 Click the encoder to bring up the Channel Link Link Mode is designed to let you create > Op window. Select “Import” and click the layered voices. A channel in Link Mode does encoder again. not respond to its own channel’s trigger, but instead is triggered by the trigger or gate of the The Channel and all of its samples will be >...
  • Page 30 Cycle Cycle Mode is designed to allow Combining Channel Modes a single trigger source to trigger multiple The various Channel Modes can be channels in sequence. A Master channel’s interspersed for interesting effects. For trigger/gate will sequentially trigger the example, in the following configuration, the Master and each of the Cycle Mode channels three Link groups alternate being triggered in below it in order (until another Master...
  • Page 31 The Crossfade Width parameter varies from 0.01 to 10.0 volts and controls the width of the crossfades between the group members. A small value will result in very short transitions, while large values will provide gradual transitions that will result in multiple members of the group being audible simultaneously.

  • Page 32: Zones

    10. Zones The Zones function lets you assign up to 8 zone with a selection range of -5V to +5V. samples to each channel and select between Otherwise it will become the bottom (highest them in real time via a CV. numbered) zone.
  • Page 33 Copying Zones Voltage Selection Ranges If you’ve Each time you add a new zone, the default previously voltage selection range for that zone is half programmed of what was the voltage range for the zone a zone (either above it. in the current “Huh?”...
  • Page 34 Manual Adjustment Gate Rise vs Continuous Modes You can also navigate to each voltage field and adjust it with As mentioned above, you can specify if zone the DATA 2 knob or the encoder. When switching happens only on a trigger or gate adjusting a voltage, it can not be made rise, or instantly as soon as the controlling CV greater than the value above it or less than...

  • Page 35: Play Mode/Latch

    11. Play Mode/Latch The Play Mode/Latch button Latch Mode lets you select the way in which Pressing and holding the Play Mode button a channel responds to a trigger and then pressing a channel button puts or gate. that channel into Latch Mode. Latch Mode is the equivalent of pressing and holding the In addition to its associated LEDs, NOTE:...

  • Page 36: Envelope

    12. Envelope The Envelope Attack Start Value lets you define This setting allows you specify the envelope’s the Attack and starting voltage when its channel receives a Release times trigger or gate. Its primary use is to decide for a channel’s what happens when a channel is playing and or zone’s gets a new trigger before its envelope has...
  • Page 37 The Release Time can be modulated by any of the CV inputs with the modulation gain set by the associated attenuverter. Play This field reports the Play Mode as set by the Play Mode button. The Play Mode can also be set here, in which case the Play Mode button’s LEDs will change in response.

  • Page 38: Loop Mode

    13. Loop Mode The Loop Mode button lets you turn a channel’s loop on and off as well as select the loop’s behavior during the envelope’s Release phase. In addition to its associated LEDs, NOTE: Loop Mode status is also displayed on the Envelope screen and can be set from there as well.

  • Page 39: Loop Start And End/Length

    14. Loop Start and End/Length This screen lets You can bring up the screen by NOTE: pressing either the Loop Start or Loop End/ you define a loop within your Length buttons. The screen will appear with the sample which, selected numerical field highlighted.
  • Page 40 Loop End vs. Loop Length Using the High Resolution Display All loops, by definition, have a start and end If you are programming a sample to loop point. But there are two ways to specify the while its audio is playing (as opposed to just end point: End Point or Loop Length.
  • Page 41 Positive CVs The shortest loop allowed by Assimil8or is 4 move the start point towards the end of the samples, so if you move or modulate the end...

  • Page 42: Pitch

    15. Pitch The Pitch screen lets you set a channel’s initial pitch, set a zone pitch offset if the channel contains zones, and set up exponential and/ or linear pitch modulation. The number of the selected zone Pitch NOTE: is displayed in the upper righthand corner Pitch lets you set the initial pitch of the of the screen, along with the number of the channel over a range of from 8 octaves...

  • Page 43: Level

    16. Level Linear Amplitude Modulation The Level screen lets you set a Lets you assign the CV source and channel’s initial modulation gain for linear amplitude level, set a zone modulation. Modulation gain can be set from level offset if the -20% per volt to +20% per volt.

  • Page 44: Phase Modulation

    Phase modulation as implemented A TIP: index. in Assimil8or is in some ways a new territory to explore. Certainly as far as samples Phase Modulation Source modulating samples is concerned. We strongly The modulation source can come from encourage experimentation in the choice of any of Assimil8or’s channels (including the...

  • Page 45: Mutate

    Aliasing The Mutate screen includes Dave has developed some really amazing a number of pitch shifting technology to allow Assimil8or parameters that to transpose sounds up and down over a allow you to huge range without artifacts. The Aliasing subtly (in the...
  • Page 46 From 36% to 51%, Positive modulation of both Sample Start the interpolator > transitions from a brick-wall lowpass filter and End and Loop Start and End/Length to (at 51%) a linear interpolator. push the appropriate markers towards the end of the reversed sounds (i.e., what was From 51% to 89%, the interpolator its beginning before reversal).

  • Page 47: Shuttle And Scrub

    The greater the CV value, the shuttling and scrubbing are accomplished faster the sample plays. by the appropriate programming of existing Assimil8or parameters. To understand how When the CV is negative, the sample > to accomplish each, refer to the instructions plays backward.
  • Page 48 To set up a channel for Scrubbing with the DATA 2 knob: Assign the sample you want to Scrub to a channel. In the Pitch screen, set the sample’s pitch to +60.00 semitones . In the Loop screen, create a 4 sample loop in Start/Length mode at the approximate center of the sound.

  • Page 49: Pan/Mix

    20. Pan/Mix The Pan/Mix screen lets you assign a channel (or not) to the Mix Outputs, set the channel’s level and initial pan position, and set up CV control of pan. Pan lets you set a channel’s initial position in the stereo field. The range is from -1.00 (full left) to +1.00 (full right).

  • Page 50: Utilities

    21. Utilities SD Card Usage The Utilities menu is where you’ll find Assimil8or’s various housekeeping and The SD Card maintenance functions. Usage screen gives you both To access the numerical Utilities menu, and graphic press the Utilities indications of button. Turn...
  • Page 51 New Folder . Select Utilities > OLED Control on your Assimil8or. Unsurprisingly, the New Folder function allows you to create a new empty folder on the currently inserted SD card. Clicking on this function initially brings up the Name New Folder...
  • Page 52 You must change the name NOTE: instructions to turn the encoder and then of the folder before saving or you will click it to reboot your Assimil8or with the get the message “File Exists” and the new software. copied folder will not be saved.
  • Page 53 NOTE: to be used in this process are the ones present on the Assimil8or. The boot card installed in your Assimil8or. If, for process erases some reason, you end up installing this card anything that in the future, if there’s been an intervening...
  • Page 54 This function provides a suite of tests to be used during manufacturing to ensure that everything on your Assimil8or is working correctly. Unless something goes horribly wrong, there shouldn’t be a reason that you ever need to worry about it.

  • Page 55: Sample Sounds And Demos

    Cycle function. In both We’ve also provided some presets designed presets, press the Channel 1 button repeatedly to demonstrate some of Assimil8or’s unique or patch a repeating trigger into Channel 1’s capabilities. They can, if you like, be used as Gate/Trig input.
  • Page 56 Demo-Scrub&Shuttle Preset 002: A demo of Zones in Continuous mode. Press and hold the Channel 1 button The Demo-Scrub&Shuttle folder contains (or send a long gate into Channel 1’s Gate/ templates for programming shuttling and Trig input) and turn the DATA 2 knob. You will scrubbing.
  • Page 57 Havok LFOs + CV: Demonstrating consistent playback. All channels have CV A Assimil8or’s ability to sample CVs as well as patched to Pitch, CV B patched as Phase Mod audio, this folder contains 5 banks of sampled source, and CV C patched to Phase Mod Index LFOs, as well as some crazy random voltages from Reek’s Frap Sapel.
  • Page 58 DivKid Drones: 12 stereo (but see above) sample in 3 presets. A variety of single note drones that let you use Assimil8or like an oscillator, as well as chordal textures and a wider polyphonic ambient piece to play with. DivKid Drums: 45 stereo (but again, see above) percussive samples in 13 presets.

  • Page 59: Calibration

    There in your system. may not be too much you can do about it, but using a short power cable to Assimil8or If for some reason your Assimil8or has is particularly important. If you have...
  • Page 60 CVs you are calibrating, probably in red. modules in your system, you can use this Apply exactly -4.000V to the CVs you are feature of your Assimil8or to do this! If you calibrating; they should turn green. Once want to calibrate your keyboard (or other you’ve done this, press the encoder to...

  • Page 61: Specifications

    24. Specifications CHANNELS OUTPUTS MIX L/R 2x 3.5mm mono socket SAMPLE RATES 1kΩ Impedance 48kHZ, 96kHZ, 192kHZ INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT 1-8 A/D AND D/A 8x 3.5mm mono socket 24 Bits 1kΩ Impedance POWER REQUIREMENTS INTERNAL PROCESSING +/-12V (+/- 5%) via 16-pin, Doepfer-style 32 Bits connector LATENCY...

  • Page 62: From Dave's Lab: Intro To Phase Modulation

    25. From Dave’s Lab: Intro to Phase Modulation Phase modulation is a new kind of audio Let’s look at some oscilloscope photos to cross-modulation for sampled sounds. It can understand the difference. If I frequency produce rich and varied timbres and textures, modulate a sine wave with another sine as well as wild distortions and grating noises.
  • Page 63 Now let’s use “through zero” modulation Here’s what a sawtooth phase modulated by and turn up the gain of the modulator to a pulse looks like. When the pulse goes high, show how the sawtooth slope now goes the carrier skips ahead to a higher point in downward (backward) when the FM goes the sawtooth ramp;...
  • Page 64 The frequency and sharp edges of the sawtooth are maintained, but the complex timbre of the violin is added: When first planning Assimil8or, I thought phase modulation might be a neat feature. I was really surprised to find almost nobody had taken advantage of phase modulated sampled sounds.

  • Page 65: From Dave's Lab: Circuit Protection

    Rossum Electro module is accidentally plugged in backwards, no stress is placed on the +5V supply or...

  • Page 66: Acknowledgements

    (or doing chores) with them. The following applies to portions of the binary code used in Assimil8or: Copyright (C) 2010 Texas Instruments Incorporated - http://www.ti.com/ Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

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