TTA MONO 8 USB MIDI Art Interface Voices Manager Instruction Manual

: May 15, 2024
: TTA

Table of Contents

TTA MONO 8 USB MIDI Art Interface Voices Manager
Product Information
Product Usage Instructions
Quick start
Introduction
Connecting Octopus to the Computer and Sequencers
Using ART modules with Octopus
Edit and Settings
Tuning Using Octopus
Using Octopus with DAWs and USB
Using Octopus with MIDI DIN Hardware
Specifications
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

TTA MONO 8 USB MIDI Art Interface Voices Manager

Product Information

Specifications

Product Name: Octopus
Manufacturer: Tiptop Audio
Interface: USB/MIDI to ART Interface + Voice Manager
Compatibility: Eurorack modular systems
Features: DAW and MIDI integration, USB and DIN MIDI data translation to ART format

Product Usage Instructions

Quick Start Guide for Single Voice

Place Octopus in your Eurorack case and power it up.
Octopus will turn on MONO 8 mode.
Patch ART OUT 1 to an ART Oscillator, follow up with a filter and envelope, and connect the gate out from the oscillator to build a voice.
If using a computer:
- Plug your computer USB to Octopus.
- In your DAW MIDI sequencer, select a channel, set its MIDI to Channel 1, and set the output to be sent to Octopus.
- If using Ableton Live, set MIDI SYNC to ON in MIDI Preferences.
- Send notes from the DAW, and you should see Octopus display flashing the number 1 as it receives notes.
- The voice should now be playing sound.
If using a hardware MIDI sequencer or keyboard:
- Connect a MIDI cable from your device MIDI Out to Octopus DIN MIDI input.
- Set the device to send notes on MIDI Channel 1.
- You should now hear it playing.

Full Product Manual
For a detailed understanding of all functions and features of Octopus, refer to the complete manual provided. The manual covers chapters on various topics including connecting to the computer and sequencers, using ART modules, tuning, DAW integration, MIDI DIN hardware usage, and firmware updates.

FAQ

Q: What operating systems are supported by Octopus?
A: Octopus uses the USB MIDI drivers that come with OSX on Mac. It works with included Microsoft drivers on Windows, though professional audio device interfaces are recommended. Linux compatibility is untested.

Manual for Octopus
This user manual contains plenty of information about Octopus, yet Octopus is very simple to operate and in most cases does not require a deep dive into the manual. The manual has chapters for easy navigation. Going through the Quick Start is recommended as it covers the basics. So let’s get started.

Quick start

Quick start single voice
Place Octopus in your Eurorack case and power it up. Octopus will turn on MONO 8 mode. Patch ART OUT 1 to an ART Oscillator, follow up the oscillator with a filter and envelope and the gate out from the oscillator to build a voice.

If you are using a computer, plug your computer USB to Octopus, in your DAW MIDI sequencer select a channel, set its MIDI to Channel 1 and set the output to be sent to Octopus. (If you are using Ableton Live set MIDI SYNC to ON in MIDI Preferences). Send notes from the DAW and you should see the Octopus display flashing the number 1 as it receives notes and the gate out LED on the ART oscillator flashing too. The voice should now be playing sound.

If you are using a hardware MIDI sequencer or keyboard, connect a MIDI cable from your device MIDI Out to Octopus DIN MIDI input. Set the device to send notes on MIDI Channel 1. Send notes and you should see the Octopus display flashing the number 1 and the gate out LED on the ART oscillator flashing too. You should now hear it playing. $TTA-MONO-8-USB-MIDI-Art-Interface-Voices- Manager- $1$$

Quick start multi mono voice:
As we saw above, in MONO 8, Octopus is mapping MIDI channels to ART outs. So MIDI Channel 1 is mapped to ART OUT 1, and as you can guess Midi Channel 2 will be mapped to ART OUT2 and so on. So let’s add another voice. Patch ART OUT 2 to an ART Oscillator, follow up the oscillator with a filter and envelope and the gate out from the oscillator to build a voice. Send notes to MIDI Channel 2 from the DAW or MIDI hardware and you should now hear the second voice playing. You can keep adding more voices up to eight in total.

Quick start Poly 3:

Now that you understand how MONO 8 works let’s move forward and patch a polyphonic 3 voice. Polyphonic 3 voice means you will have three ART oscillators driven from the same MIDI Channel, and can play more than one note at a time, for example a triad chord.
Patch ART 1 2 3 to three different ART oscillators, each oscillator will have its filter envelope and gate patched just like we did in the mono voice patch examples. In fact, polyphony is just multiple mono voices that are controlled by Octopus’s voice manager to create polyphony.
On Octopus click the Settings button once and the button LED will be Green, and turn the knob until it shows CH CONF (Channel Configuration). Now, click the knob once and the button will turn Red indicating edit mode, then rotate it to show CH CONF POLY 3, then click the Settings button again to step out of the menu. Set your MIDI sequencer/Keyboard to Midi Channel 1 and play 3 note chords. $TTA-MONO-8-USB-MIDI-Art-Interface-Voices-Manager- $2$$

As you see, Midi Channel 1 and all first 3 ART outs are now occupied by the POLY 3. But all other channels from four to eight are still in mono mode and can be used for mono voices as shown above and will correspond to their Midi channels. For example ART OUT 4, is a mono ART channel mapped from MIDI Channel 4.

Quick Start Let’s add Drums on Channel 10:
The most left column of jacks on Octopus is labeled DRUM TRIG CH 10. Plug those outs to the Trigger inputs of your drum modules. Add a MIDI channel on your sequencer and set it to MIDI Channel 10, select Octopus as your destination. If you are using a keyboard, set the keyboard to Channel 10. On MIDI channel 10 enter any note from C to G and a corresponding trigger 1 to 8 will light up on Octopus and trigger that drum. $TTA-MONO-8-USB-MIDI-Art- Interface-Voices-Manager- $3$$

Quick Start Lets Sync everything else:
Octopus can sync up your modular to the timeline of your MIDI sequencer. This is covered in depth later in the manual as there are many options to choose from. In general, turn on the MIDI Clock on your sequencer and make sure Octopus is set to receive it. Patch the Octopus Clock out and Reset out to your Eurorack sequencer/clock divider etc and set them to receive an external clock. Hit play on your MIDI sequencer, see if your Eurorack sequencer is moving in time with your MIDI sequencers. If not then click the Settings button on Octopus once, rotate the knob till you see the CLOCK menu, Click the button once, then rotate the knob to change Clock mode to match what your Eurorack device expects. Be sure to hit stop and play again after each mode change to allow all devices to sync up to the new mode selected. Once done, hit the Settings button to step out of the menu.

At this point we have completed our quick start guide. In depth description of each function is provided in the following chapters. Octopus is simple to use but due to its role of bridging between Eurorack and the rest of the studio there are plenty of combinations to deal with and the following chapters deal with them in detail.

Introduction

Octopus brings DAW and MIDI integration to Tiptop Audio’s new ART digital interface for modular. It translates USB and DIN MIDI data to the ART format. Octopus can generate ART from hardware MIDI sequencers, MIDI keyboards, computer DAWs and iPads equipped with USB.

Features

USB MIDI Input
DIN MIDI Input
8x ART pitch outputs on MIDI channels 1-8
8x gate outputs on MIDI channel 10
8x Velocity CV outputs from MIDI channels 1-8
MIDI Clock and Reset outputs
Multiple configurations for Velocity, Drum Mapping, Clock, etc.

Note – On your daw please disable MPE when using Octopus. For using MPE controllers a dedicated MPE ART controller is used.

Connecting Octopus to the Computer and Sequencers

Mac
Octopus uses the USB MIDI drivers that come with OSX and requires no installation of software or drivers. Octopus will appear as a MIDI device when connected to the Mac.

Windows
Works with included Microsoft drivers although the jitter is quite high. Professional audio device interfaces and drivers (MOTU, RME, Apogee, etc) are highly recommended – do not use built-in audio! The lowest measured in our testing was 2-3ms.

Linux
Untested

Connecting Octopus to hardware MIDI devices

Standard DIN MIDI connections are supported.
USB connection for Akai Force is supported. Jitter is similar to Windows.

Combining USB and DIN Hardware

Both USB and DIN can be used as a source at the same time as long as they are not sending on the same MIDI Channel.
Example: playing a DIN MIDI keyboard set to MIDI Channel 1 and Octopus set to POLY_3 and the computer USB providing backing track data on Channels 4-8.

Using ART modules with Octopus

ART is a digital signal for controlling pitch in modular synths. ART sends pitch data and the receiving device creates a Gate signal that functions the same as analog CV/Gate. ART can be multed and split just like an analog CV pitch signal and uses analog cables[1]. The ART signal is 40x faster than MIDI for tight sync between the CV and Gate.
[1] We have tested Tiptop Audio Stackcables only and recommend using them

Connections to Octopus
Octopus has the following outputs:

DRUM TRIG CH 10 – MIDI channel 10 can send up to 8 Gate signals to these outputs. The mapping can be changed (see below)
ART – high speed digital connection for pitch. Connect to a compatible ART equipped eurorack module or synthesizer from Tiptop Audio or other brands.
Velocity – control voltage (CV) of the note velocity or other controllers. Connect to various modules – filter cutoff, attack time, drums, FX send level, etc.
Clock – outputs the MIDI Beat Clock at 24 PPQN. Use DAW setting on Tiptop Sequencers.
Reset – outputs a reset pulse when MIDI Start is received.

Status View
Octopus defaults to the Status view which displays the current Voice mode on the upper line and the lower line displays the channels with current note on status. Sending a note on event to a channel will display the channel number (1-8) while the note is on. No other MIDI events (CC, pitch bend, etc) will display.

Edit and Settings

To edit options Press the Settings buttons to select the option to edit. The settings button will turn Green.
Turn the encoder to select the option. Press the encoder button to enter that option for editing. The settings button will turn Red to indicate editing is on.
Turn the encoder to edit the option. Press the encoder button again to return to the option selection. The Settings button will turn back to Green.
Press Settings again to return to the Status view and the Settings LED will turn off.

Settings Options

Poly Voice Management (CH CONF)
Each of the 8 outputs is assigned its own MIDI channel (1-8) and they can be addressed individually or grouped into polyphonic sets. Below are the configurations:
MONO_8 – Each output functions independently and receives notes sent to that MIDI channel. For example, send notes to MIDI channel 1 for a bassline and MIDI channel 2 for an arpeggio.
POLY_3 – The first three channels (MIDI channels 1-3) are grouped together to form a polyphonic voice. Sending MIDI to channel 1 will result in the three voice channels playing as a single polyphonic instrument. Channels 4-8 are still independent mono channels.
POLY_4 – Same as POLY_3 but with 4 voices. Channels 5-8 are still independent mono channels.
POLY_6 – Same as POLY_3 but with 6 voices. Channels 7-8 are still independent mono channels.
POLY_8 – An 8 voice poly system.
Note: Mono channels can receive polyphonic MIDI data. A single channel can control a poly module like Vortex6.

CV Out (1 – 8)

Velo uses note velocity for output CV. Velocity 127 = 5V
-Velo uses inverted note velocity for output CV. Velocity 127 = 0V
Wheel uses the mod wheel for CV
Key the MIDI note sets the CV level. MIDI Note 127 = 5V
-Key inverted key number to voltage. MIDI note 127 = 0V
Pressure the mono channel pressure (not poly aftertouch) sets the CV level

Glide (1 – 8)
Glide Time – sets the amount of time for the glide(portamento) effect to take. 0 = off.
Note that this will need to be set whenever the physical patch changes and may not recall when power is cycled.

Clock Format

16th – 4 PPQN with Reset on MIDI Start command. For legacy use only
DAW – MIDI 24 PPQN and sends Reset on MIDI Start. Use DAW mode on TR/CR
DIN – 24 PPQN clock. Reset goes High on Start and Low on Stop. Use DIN on TR/CR

Version
Displays the firmware version.

All OFF
Sends an ‘all notes off’ message to every ART output. Press the encoder and then turn the encoder either direction to send the message. The lower line of the screen shows ‘SENT’.

CH 10 Map

KEYS – maps output 1-8 to the first 8 keys (C to G) in any octave
GM – General MIDI mapping for drums also used by Akai and other drum machines:
- Ch 1 – Kick C1 – MIDI 36
- Ch 2 – Snare1 D1 – MIDI 38
- Ch 3 – Open Hat Bb1 – MIDI 46
- Ch 4 – Closed Hat F#1 – MIDI 42
- Ch 5 – High Tom C2 – MIDI 48
- Ch 6 – Mid Tom B1 – MIDI 47
- Ch 7 – Low Tom G1 – MIDI 43
- Ch 8 – Crash C#2 – MIDI 49

Velocity Out Map
The Velocity outputs can be mapped to the channels 1-8 or to drum channel 10 for drum accents. Display shows VELO MAP and has the following options:

CH 1-8: Velocity on MIDI channels 1-8 are output on the respective Velocity Outs 1-8
CH 10: Velocity sent on channel 10 that corresponds to the 8 notes mapped in the
CH 10 Map setting are output on Velocity Outs 1-8. For example, in GM mapping a MIDI note 43 velocity is sent to Velocity Out 7.

Tuning Using Octopus

Right button sends tuning messages to attached devices.
Press the button once to enter tuning mode. Display shows:

TUNE NOW
Press the button again to send a tuning message. Hold for a few seconds to do an initial tune.

Notes about tuning:
For analog VCOs like ATX it is best to only tune after the device has warmed up. In most cases that is 20-30 minutes depending on the ambient temperature and case. Initial Tuning is done at the factory and should only be done when the manufacturer suggests the process during troubleshooting.

Using Octopus with DAWs and USB

Note that USB sends data every 1ms and thus has 1ms of jitter inherent in the system. Sample accurate synchronization with the DAW timeline is not possible using USB MIDI.
To test sync use either the Octopus analog clock out pulse or an analog drum or short percussive source with no latency (do not use digital devices for these tests!).
Recording back into the DAW timeline is necessary to measure the latency of both MIDI and the audio I/O.
Octopus has been tested with the following DAW software and we can recommend some settings:

Ableton Live:
Set the buffer size to 512 samples or less for best sync.
Live can have an additional 60 samples of latency not compensated for in the driver. In Preferences > Audio > Drive Error Compensation enter -60. Make sure to disable MPE on any inputs that are routed to Octopus output.
Important Note!! MIDI Sync for Octopus must be checked in the MIDI Preferences!! This allows Octopus to deal with MIDI vs audio timing bugs in Live!!

Apple Logic:

create a ‘virtual’ instrument for Octopus. Send notes to Octopus and record the audio back to an audio track (use fast attack/decay sounds).
In File > Project Settings > General disable ‘Use Musical Grid’
Zoom in to see the offset of the audio in the timeline
Logic can be switched to show milliseconds using Preferences > Display and selecting Display Time As (H:M:S:MS). The timeline will show rough millisecond time that can be used to estimate the offset.
Under Preferences > MIDI > Sync > All MIDI Output > Delay enter the number of milliseconds to delay all MIDI messages.

Avid Pro Tools – Pro Tools has multiple settings for MIDI Sync that need to be measured and entered:

Global MIDI Playback Offset. Under Setup > Preferences > MIDI. This is in samples and needs to be measured. Put quantized Notes into a MIDI track and record the sound back to an Audio track (use fast attack/decay or Gate pulse). Zoom in and measure how far behind the recorded audio is in samples at a few different locations in the timeline. Enter an average value into the Playback offset. This will likely be a negative number.
The MIDI Clock needs to be synced with the note data. Under Setup > MIDI > MIDI Beat Clock… Enable Beat Clock for Octopus. Record audio triggered by the beat clock or the sync pulse from Octopus into an Audio Track. Measure the offset in samples from the Bars/Beats in the timeline. This number should be used for the MIDI Beat Clock offset.
These settings need to be done for each audio set up. Changing audio I/O settings, including sample buffer size, will require new measurements for both offsets.

MIDI monitoring software can help with setting up the sync and timing settings in the DAW.

Mac – MIDI Monitor http://www.snoize.com/MIDIMonitor/

Install MIDI Monitor and allow it to install its driver. Restart the Mac and Use the ‘Spy on Output to Destinations’ option. Select Octopus as the device to monitor. All MIDI messages sent to Octopus will be logged in the window. This data is very useful for determining sync (Clock, Start, Note On/Off sent at the same time) and debugging.

PC – MIDI OX – http://www.midiox.com/

Using Octopus with MIDI DIN Hardware

In general the setup for Octopus is similar to any MIDI hardware. Different sequences or sources need to be assigned to a separate MIDI channel. Since Octopus can do polyphonic voice management of mono voices the MIDI channel configuration needs to be set correctly for that.

Four voice Octopus POLY 4 example:

MIDI Ch1 – Chords sent to ART outs 1-4
MIDI Ch2 – not used
MIDI Ch3 – not used
MIDI Ch4 – not used
MIDI Ch5 – separate sequence from hardware device
MIDI Ch6 – separate sequence from hardware device
MIDI Ch7 – separate sequence from hardware device
MIDI Ch8 – separate sequence from hardware device

MIDI Ch10 – drum track
The rest of this section has specific settings and notes about using popular MIDI hardware sequencers and controllers.

Arturia Beatstep Pro:
This is best done with the computer MIDI Control Center software to configure. It can be configured from the unit control panel as well.
Octopus set to MONO 8 mode. Set the Drum Map to KEYS

Set Seq1 MIDI send channel to Ch1
Set Seq2 MIDI send channel to Ch2
Set Drum Send MIDI channel to Ch10
Note: For best timing and performance do not use the Beatstep as a USB to DIN MIDI converter. Connect Octopus directly to the computer USB.

Arturia KeyStep Pro:

This is best done with the computer MIDI Control Center software to configure. It can be configured from the unit control panel as well. Octopus set to MONO 8 or one of the POLY modes based on the desired number of voices for the first sequencer track.
The defaults are recommended for mono sequences and MONO 8 mode on Octopus:

Set Track 1 Output to MIDI Channel 1
Set Track 2 Output to MIDI Channel 2
Set Track 3 Output to MIDI Channel 3
Set Track 4 Output to MIDI Channel 4

For any of the POLY modes offset Track 2-4:
Octopus mode POLY 4

Set Track 1 Output to MIDI Channel 1
Set Track 2 Output to MIDI Channel 5
Set Track 3 Output to MIDI Channel 6
Set Track 4 Output to MIDI Channel 7

The default drum channel is MIDI Channel 10. Use the KEYS mapping when using the default.

Korg SQ-64:
The default MIDI channel mapping is:

Sequence A = Ch 1
Sequence B = Ch 2
Sequence C = Ch 3
Sequence D = Ch 10

This is fine if the A/B/C sequences are monophonic. Sequence A can be used as a polyphonic/chord sequence with Octopus in POLY3 or POLY4 mode. Change the channels for Sequence B to MIDI channel 5 and Sequence C to MIDI channel 6
Keep the default drum channel 10 on the Korg.

Novation Launchpad Pro:
The Pro version of the Launchpad has two standard serial MIDI outputs that work with mini to DIN adapters.
Each of the sequences can be set to a different MIDI channel. The following is a suggested setting for 4 channel Polyphonic plus two mono and a drum track:

Octopus mode – POLY 4
Octopus Drum Map – GM
Track 1 – MIDI Ch 1 (Chords)
Track 2 – MIDI Ch 5
Track 3 – MIDI Ch 6
Track 4 – MIID Ch 10 (drum track)

Firmware Updates:
The SD card is also used to update the Octopus firmware. Use the same MSDOS FAT32 formatted card for the update.
Unzip the firmware update file. It will be called image.hex. Copy to SD card Power off the case with Octopus and insert the SD card. Hold the left front panel button down and power on the case. The button LEDs will flash Once the update is done Octopus will run the updated firmware code.