Zadar

Xaoc Devices 10HP
fw 1973/2.3 · shapes fw 2.0
ENVELOPE FUNCTION LFO

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Four-channel vector envelope generator. 270 vector shapes across 27 banks, each scalable 0.85ms to 30min without aliasing. Per-channel warp, response, sustain, level, repeat, phase, and chainable inter-channel looping.

Patch Ideas · 8

★ Snappy transient via WARP
A percussive bank-U shape on channel A, time-warped tight and bent concave, used to excite a noise-fed resonator for crisp plucks.
Walkthrough
  1. Short-press CHANNEL until A is shown in the bottom-right of the OLED.
  2. Rotate encoder A (SHAPE) to bank U and pick a snappy transient shape (U1–U10).
  3. Rotate encoder B (TIME) until the display reads about 50 ms.
  4. Press encoder C so it reads WARP, then rotate to +80 (compresses the attack).
  5. Press encoder C again so it reads RSP, then rotate to -40 (sharpens the decay curve).
  6. Patch your clock/drum trigger → TRIG A on Zadar.
  7. Patch a noise source Out → VCA In.
  8. Patch Zadar OUT A → VCA CV.
  9. Patch VCA Out → the In of a resonant filter (self-oscillating) or a physical-modelling resonator.
Signal out Zadar OUT A — 0–10V unipolar envelope, 50 ms long, driving the VCA that gates the noise exciter.
Listen for A tight 50 ms tick of filtered noise that excites the resonator into a pitched ping. Dial WARP toward 0 for a softer thud; push to +100 for an almost click-like transient.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 4 connections. Modules: Zadar, Clock, Noise, VCA, Resonator. Signals: 2 audio, 1 cv, 1 trigger.ZadarClockNoiseVCAResonatorCH A shape: bank UCH A TIME: 50msCH A WARP: +80CH A RSP: -40TRIG AtrigOUT AcvOuttrigOutaudioInaudioCVcvOutaudioInaudioaudiocvtrigger
★ Looping LFO with CV shape select
Channel B free-runs as an oscillator, while a slow external LFO scans through its shape bank via the ASGN input — the modulation family keeps mutating.
Walkthrough
  1. Short-press CHANNEL until B is selected.
  2. Press MENU once to reach the CHAIN/LOOP page (fig. 5).
  3. Press encoder B, rotate to REPEAT, and turn until the display shows ∞ (infinite → free-running oscillator).
  4. On the same page, press encoder B again to reach TIME (or return to the main screen and use encoder B) and set TIME to about 2 s.
  5. Press MENU once more — twice total from main — to reach CV ASSIGNMENTS (fig. 4).
  6. Press encoder B and cycle the destination list until it reads SHP.
  7. Rotate encoder B to set the depth bar to +100 (full shape scan).
  8. Press MENU to return to the main screen.
  9. Patch a slow LFO Out → ASGN B on Zadar.
  10. Patch Zadar OUT B → Filter Cutoff.
Signal out Zadar OUT B — 0–10V unipolar modulation, 2 s per cycle, whose waveform morphs as the external LFO scans shapes.
Listen for A filter sweep that never repeats the same contour twice — each 2 s cycle is a different shape drawn from the library as the LFO crawls through the bank. Lower ASGN depth to stay within a single bank.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 3 modules and 2 connections. Modules: Zadar, Slow LFO, Filter. Signals: 2 cv.ZadarSlow LFOFilterCH B REPEAT: ∞CH B TIME: 2sASGN B: SHP (+100)ASGN BcvOUT BcvOutcvCutoffcv11. scans shapescv
Four-stage chain pad
A single trigger on channel A fires a 4-channel sequential chain; each channel drives a pad voice VCA so four voices swell in strict succession.
Walkthrough
  1. Press MENU once to reach the CHAIN/LOOP page.
  2. Rotate encoder A to select the A→B→C→D (four-in-a-row, non-looped) algorithm from the 16 chain topologies.
  3. Press encoder B, navigate to PHASE, rotate to 100%. Do the same for encoder C and encoder D. (PHASE 100% means each channel waits for the previous to finish.)
  4. Press MENU twice to return to the main screen.
  5. Short-press CHANNEL to select A; rotate encoder A to a long bank-X shape; rotate encoder B (TIME) to 3 s.
  6. Short-press CHANNEL to select B; pick a long bank-X shape; set TIME to 4 s.
  7. Repeat for C (5 s) and D (6 s).
  8. Patch your gate source → TRIG A. (TRIG B/C/D are inactive for chained channels.)
  9. Patch OUT A → VCA 1 CV, OUT B → VCA 2 CV, OUT C → VCA 3 CV, OUT D → VCA 4 CV.
Signal out Four separate jacks — OUT A, OUT B, OUT C, OUT D — each 0–10V, each rising in turn over 3/4/5/6 s.
Listen for An 18-second pad progression where voice 1 swells for 3 s, then voice 2 takes over for 4 s, then 3 for 5 s, then 4 for 6 s — a slow hand-off between four pad layers from a single gate.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 6 modules and 5 connections. Modules: Zadar, Gate, VCA 1, VCA 2, VCA 3, VCA 4. Signals: 4 cv, 1 trigger.ZadarGateVCA 1VCA 2VCA 3VCA 4Chain: A-B-C-DPHASE B/C/D: 100%CH A TIME: 3sCH B TIME: 4sCH C TIME: 5sCH D TIME: 6sTRIG AtrigOUT AcvOUT BcvOUT CcvOUT DcvOuttrigCVcvCVcvCVcvCVcvcvtrigger
Pitch-tracked resonant exciter
Channel C becomes a pitch-tracked pinger: ASGN depth of -50 gives ~1V/oct time scaling, so envelopes shorten with pitch and the filter pings stay musical across the keyboard.
Walkthrough
  1. Short-press CHANNEL until C is selected.
  2. Rotate encoder A to a percussive bank-U shape.
  3. Press MENU once to reach the CV ASSIGNMENTS page.
  4. Press encoder C, cycle the destination until it reads TIM.
  5. Rotate encoder C until the bipolar bar shows -50 (inverted, half-height — this is the manual-specified 1V/oct tracking depth).
  6. Press MENU twice to return to the main screen.
  7. Patch your sequencer's Pitch CV (v/oct) → Zadar ASGN C. You will need a stackable/mult if the same pitch CV also drives the filter.
  8. Patch your clock trigger → Zadar TRIG C.
  9. Mult the pitch CV → Filter V/Oct (so the filter self-oscillates in tune).
  10. Patch Zadar OUT C → Filter In (the envelope kicks the filter into ringing).
Signal out Zadar OUT C — 0–10V percussive envelope whose duration now scales with pitch (halves per octave up), patched into the filter input to ping it.
Listen for Pitched, Rings-style pings that stay crisp across octaves — high notes ping tight, low notes ring longer, all from one shape. Adjust depth away from -50 to detune the tracking and get inharmonic results.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 5 connections. Modules: Zadar, Sequencer, Mult, Filter, Clock. Signals: 1 audio, 3 pitch, 1 trigger.ZadarSequencerMultFilterClockCH C shape: bank UASGN C: TIM (-50)ASGN C1v/octTRIG CtrigOUT CaudioPitch1v/octIn1v/octOut1v/octV/Oct1v/octInaudioOuttrig121. 1V/oct time2. pingaudiopitchtrigger
Freeze-modulated drone
Channel D free-runs a 30-second drone envelope; a performance gate into ASGN D freezes playback on command, letting you hold any point of the sweep as a static CV.
Walkthrough
  1. Short-press CHANNEL until D is selected.
  2. Rotate encoder A to a long, evolving bank-X shape.
  3. Press MENU once to reach CHAIN/LOOP, press encoder D to reach REPEAT, rotate until ∞.
  4. Return to the main screen and rotate encoder B (TIME) to about 30 s.
  5. Press MENU once to reach CV ASSIGNMENTS.
  6. Press encoder D, cycle destination until it reads FRZ (freeze — binary comparator).
  7. Rotate encoder D until the threshold bar sits around 50% (fires above ~5V).
  8. Press MENU twice to return to the main screen.
  9. Patch a manual gate or footswitch → ASGN D. (While the gate is above threshold, Zadar freezes OUT D.)
  10. Patch Zadar OUT D → Filter Cutoff and/or a VCA CV on your drone voice.
Signal out Zadar OUT D — 0–10V slowly evolving CV, momentarily latched to whatever voltage it was at when the gate goes high.
Listen for A 30-second timbral tide that stops dead the instant you hit the gate, holding the current hue — release the gate and the motion resumes exactly where it froze. Perfect for stasis builds.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 4 modules and 3 connections. Modules: Zadar, Gate, Filter, VCA. Signals: 2 cv, 1 gate.ZadarGateFilterVCACH D REPEAT: ∞CH D TIME: 30sASGN D: FRZ (threshold ~50)ASGN DgateOUT DcvOutgateCutoffcvCVcv11. freeze while highcvgate
Quadrature modulator via copy
Dial channel A once, copy it to B/C/D, then phase-offset all four triggers — four identical envelopes running 90° apart from a single clock.
Walkthrough
  1. Short-press CHANNEL until A is selected.
  2. Rotate encoder A to a smooth cyclic shape (a sine-like entry from any bank works well).
  3. Rotate encoder B (TIME) to the cycle length you want — e.g. 2 s.
  4. Press and HOLD the CHANNEL button to open the copy destination menu.
  5. Rotate encoder A to select ALL, then press to confirm — A's settings paste to B, C, and D.
  6. Press MENU once to reach CHAIN/LOOP. Make sure algorithm is the fully-unchained one (all four independent).
  7. Press encoder A → PHASE → rotate to 0%. Encoder B → PHASE → 25%. Encoder C → PHASE → 50%. Encoder D → PHASE → 75%.
  8. Press MENU twice to return to the main screen.
  9. Patch your clock → a 4-way mult or stackable.
  10. From the mult: Out 1 → TRIG A, Out 2 → TRIG B, Out 3 → TRIG C, Out 4 → TRIG D. (Channels are unchained so each TRIG is live.)
  11. Take OUT A and OUT C to stereo filter L/R cutoffs (or any four CV destinations).
Signal out Four jacks — OUT A, OUT B, OUT C, OUT D — each 0–10V, each identical in shape but staggered by a quarter cycle.
Listen for Four-voice quadrature motion: picture one LFO on filter cutoff that is 90° ahead of another on VCA, with a third and fourth further behind. Panned, this reads as a wide rotating modulation field.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 7 connections. Modules: Zadar, Clock, Mult, Filter L, Filter R. Signals: 2 cv, 5 trigger.ZadarClockMultFilter LFilter RCH A: sine-like shapeCopied to B/C/D: PHASE A/B/C/D: 0/25/50/75TRIG AtrigTRIG BtrigTRIG CtrigTRIG DtrigOUT AcvOUT CcvOuttrigIntrigOut 1trigOut 2trigOut 3trigOut 4trigCutoffcvCutoffcvcvtrigger
★ CV-morphing bass envelope
Velocity CV into ASGN A drives WARP, so soft hits play rounded envelopes and hard hits play snappy ones — a single envelope with dynamic shape.
Walkthrough
  1. Short-press CHANNEL until A is selected.
  2. Rotate encoder A to a percussive bass-envelope shape (bank U works; any attack-decay shape).
  3. Rotate encoder B (TIME) to about 300 ms.
  4. Press MENU once to reach CV ASSIGNMENTS.
  5. Press encoder A and cycle the destination until it reads WRP.
  6. Rotate encoder A so the depth bar shows +80.
  7. Press MENU twice to return to the main screen.
  8. Patch your keyboard/MIDI-CV Velocity Out → ASGN A.
  9. Patch your keyboard Gate Out → TRIG A.
  10. Patch a bass VCO Out → VCA In.
  11. Patch Zadar OUT A → VCA CV.
Signal out Zadar OUT A — 0–10V envelope, ~300 ms, whose attack/decay ratio now flexes with velocity.
Listen for Soft notes get a rounded, loungy thump; hard notes snap hard and bright. One envelope doing the work of three velocity layers.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 5 modules and 4 connections. Modules: Zadar, Velocity, Gate, VCA, VCO. Signals: 1 audio, 2 cv, 1 gate.ZadarVelocityGateVCAVCOCH A TIME: 300msASGN A: WRP (+80)ASGN AcvTRIG AgateOUT AcvCVcvOutgateCVcvInaudioOutaudio11. warp by velocityaudiocvgate
Chained looped rhythm
A looped 2-channel chain with different repeat counts produces a steady polyrhythm from a single trigger — channel A drives the kick envelope, channel B the hat envelope.
Walkthrough
  1. Press MENU once to reach CHAIN/LOOP.
  2. Rotate encoder A to select a LOOPED A–B algorithm (any of the 2-channel looped variants from the 16 algorithms).
  3. Press encoder A → REPEAT → rotate to 2 (A plays 3 cycles total). Inside a chain, infinite is disabled — finite values only.
  4. Press encoder B → REPEAT → rotate to 1 (B plays 2 cycles total).
  5. Press encoder A → PHASE → rotate to 100% (the manual requires at least one non-zero PHASE in a looped chain for the loop to advance).
  6. Press MENU twice to reach the main screen.
  7. Short-press CHANNEL → A. Rotate encoder A to a snappy bank-U shape; set encoder B (TIME) to 200 ms.
  8. Short-press CHANNEL → B. Rotate encoder A to a brighter short shape; set TIME to 300 ms.
  9. Patch your gate source → TRIG A (only the chain head accepts triggers).
  10. Patch OUT A → Kick VCA CV, OUT B → Hat VCA CV.
  11. Patch Kick voice Out → Kick VCA In, Hat voice Out → Hat VCA In.
Signal out OUT A (kick envelope) and OUT B (hat envelope) — 0–10V each, running in a repeating chain loop.
Listen for A rolling 2-against-3 pattern: three 200 ms kick thumps followed by two 300 ms hat chips, then the loop restarts — steady, off-kilter, and all from one clock pulse.
▸ Show diagram
Patch diagramPatch diagram with 6 modules and 5 connections. Modules: Zadar, Gate, Kick VCA, Hat VCA, Kick, Hat. Signals: 2 audio, 2 cv, 1 trigger.ZadarGateKick VCAHat VCAKickHatChain: [A-B] loopedCH A TIME: 200ms · REPEAT 2CH B TIME: 300ms · REPEAT 1PHASE A: 100%TRIG AtrigOUT AcvOUT BcvOuttrigCVcvInaudioCVcvInaudioOutaudioOutaudioaudiocvtrigger

Behaviors

Vector shape library SHAPE encoder · 27 banks

270 shapes as vector curves of 3–1000 breakpoints. Because shapes are interpolated in real time, the same curve renders cleanly from sub-millisecond transients to 30-minute drones with no stepping. Bank U favours snappy transients and resonator exciters; bank X is built for long evolving envelopes; several banks are signature contributions from guest artists.

WARP and RESPONSE deformation C encoder · press to toggle

WARP skews time horizontally — positive values compress the head and stretch the tail (or vice versa), turning an AD shape into an AR or vice versa. RESPONSE bends amplitude vertically, convex ↔ concave. Extreme settings mangle the base shape beyond recognition; moderate settings fit an existing shape to a VCA's response curve.

Retrigger modes DG / AN / NR B encoder press

DG restarts from 0V on every new trigger (may cause a click at non-zero states). AN restarts from the first breakpoint matching the current output voltage — glitch-free retriggering. NR ignores triggers while the envelope (or chain) is still playing, enforcing full-cycle completion.

Sustain point D encoder press · SUS selected

A dashed vertical line on the display marks a hold point. When TRIG receives a gate, playback pauses at SUS for as long as the gate is high, then continues. Reversing the shape does not move the SUS line relative to the starting point. Scrolling SUS past the end displays OFF and disables the sustain stage entirely.

CV assignment per channel MENU page 1 · push channel encoder

Each ASGN input is routed to one of ten targets: SHP, TIM, WRP, RSP, LVL, REP, PHS, REV, SUS, FRZ. Depth is bipolar (-100…+100). At TIM sensitivity of -50 the input responds at roughly 1V/oct — usable as a pitch-tracked envelope for resonant or rhythmic duties.

Binary CV: REV and FRZ ASGN routed to REV or FRZ

These two targets ignore gradient CV and act as comparators against the bar-set threshold. When CV exceeds threshold: REV flips the envelope direction relative to current panel state; FRZ freezes playback in place, holding the current output voltage until CV drops below threshold.

Chain algorithms (16 topologies) MENU page 2 · knob A

Sixteen algorithms split four channels into independent, paired, three-chained, or fully-chained configurations, with looped derivatives of each. Chained channels inherit their trigger from the chain head; only unchained channels accept external TRIG. Phase and repeat shape how the chain advances.

Phase parameter in chains MENU page 2 · PHASE per channel

Unchained: PHASE simply delays the trigger (percentage of cycle length). Chained: PHASE controls when the next envelope fires relative to the previous one — 0% starts all envelopes simultaneously, 100% waits for full completion, 50% overlaps at halfway. For looped chains, at least one channel's PHASE must be >0% or the loop will not advance.

Repeat with infinite oscillator mode MENU page 2 · REPEAT per channel

Unchained channels repeat 0–100 times or ∞. Infinite repeat turns the channel into a free-running shape oscillator — useful for tempo-synced LFOs via ASGN→TIM. Inside a chain, repeat is finite (∞ is disabled) and the phase calculation treats all repetitions as one long cycle.

Presets & default MENU page 3 · A encoder

18 preset slots store the full module state (all channels, all menus). Operations are save / load / clear / default, each requiring confirmation. The DEFAULT preset is auto-recalled on power-up. Hold MENU to quick-save the current state as default without opening the menu.

Channel copy hold CHANNEL button

Opens a copy destination menu: paste the current channel's settings (shape, time, warp, response, sustain, level, repeat, phase, retrigger mode, CV assignment) to any single other channel or to all three at once. Useful for setting up quadrature/identical voices quickly.

Nin expander Nin module attached via rear

Adds a second set of four ASGN CV inputs (independent destinations) and four manual trigger/gate push-buttons per channel. Pressing a Nin button displays that channel's envelope on the OLED, aiding setup. A fourth MENU page appears for the expander's CV assignments.

Screen sleep 10 minutes idle

The OLED turns off after 10 minutes of no touch. Any encoder turn, encoder press, or button wakes it instantly. Envelopes continue running normally while the screen is asleep.

Controls

Selected channel A · SHAPE / REV Rotate: selects one of 270 shapes across 27 banks. Press: toggles REV to play the shape backwards. In CHAIN menu this knob edits the chain algorithm for channel A.
27 banks × 10 shapes · press = reverse · retains WARP when reversed
Selected channel B · RTG / TIME Rotate: sets envelope duration. Press: cycles retrigger behavior DG (digital, jump to 0V) → AN (analog, glitch-free restart) → NR (no retrigger, ignore trigs while playing).
0.85ms – 30min · DG / AN / NR modes
Selected channel C · WARP / RSP Press: toggles between WARP (horizontal time skew) and RESPONSE (vertical amplitude bend). Rotate: bipolar deformation of selected parameter; extremes radically reshape the envelope.
±100% each · press to switch WARP ↔ RSP
Selected channel D · SUS / LEVEL Press: toggles between SUS (sustain point along shape — holds while TRIG gate is high) and LEVEL (output amplitude attenuator). Set SUS past the shape end to display OFF and disable sustain.
LEVEL: 10mV–10V · SUS: position 0–end or OFF
Global CHANNEL Blue-lit button. Short press cycles the edited channel A→B→C→D. Hold: opens the channel-settings copy menu, allowing paste to one or all other channels.
short: next channel · hold: copy menu
Global MENU Red-lit button. Cycles three pages: CV assignments, chain/loop settings, preset management (plus a fourth page with Nin expander). Hold: quick-save current state to the default preset slot.
short: next menu · hold: quick-save default preset

I/O

IN · 2

  • TRIG A–D trigger / gate GATE
    Per-channel trigger/gate input. Fires the envelope; gate sustains at SUS point while high. Inactive when the channel is chained downstream of another (only the chain's head accepts triggers).
  • ASGN A–D -10V to +10V · -50 TIM ≈ 1V/oct CV
    Per-channel assignable CV input. Destination parameter is selected in the CV assignments menu: SHP, TIM, WRP, RSP, LVL, REP, PHS, REV, SUS, or FRZ. Sensitivity set per-channel with bipolar depth bar.

OUT · 1

  • OUT A–D 0V to +10V (unipolar) ENV
    Per-channel envelope output. Always appears on its own dedicated jack even when chained — chained channels fire sequentially, each on its own output.