Developer Christophe Duquesne shared this experimental demo of his Mariana Trench, a FDN card for the Tiptop Audio Z-DSP.

Sound Source: two Z3000 oscillators. One with FM’d sine wave the other one with the modulator’s square wave that is pulse width modulated by a third Z3000. Mixed in Tiptop MixZ and after that run through Z2040 VCF/VCA controlled by a pair of Z4000 VcADSRs.

Sequenced with Tiptop’s Circadian Rhythms, Z8000, Trigger Riot and a QuantiZer (transposed by Verbos Touch Keyboard).

Here’s what he has to say about the card:

Feedback Delay Networks (FDNs) are built around multiple delays, which are connected to their inputs, thanks to a feedback matrix designed for its stability and lossless properties. FDN can mimic the recursive process of sound waves bouncing back and forth in an acoustic space.

They were first suggested for artificial reverberation by Michael Gerzon (1971). later John Stautner and Miller Puckette (1982) introduced four-channel FDN reverberator with general stability conditions. FDN can also be used as a special case of digital waveguides, they can be tuned, or also used as complex delays.

The Mariana Trench Z-DSP cartridge is designed to explore these more unusual sides of the FDN algorithms.

Pricing and Availability

The Mariana Trench card is available to pre-order for US $75. See the Anchorage Sound site for more info.