(1) Channel Outputs

• produce 1 volt per octave pitch signals for patching into other modules in your eurorack system
• Ziggurat will output voltages from -4V to +7.916V (twelve octaves)

(2) Channel CV Inputs

• accept any voltage from -8V to +8V

(3) Channel Gate Inputs

• will detect any voltage moving above around 0.7V and count it as a gate edge

(4) Channel Buttons

• select which of Ziggurat’s 4 channels you want to edit
• Multiple channel buttons may be held down for 1 second to link them together - this edits all parameter settings for linked channels together. When linking channels, the first channel button will have its current settings copied to subsequent channels pressed down together
• To unlink channels simply press and hold one of the linked channels for 1 second.

(5) Note Mask Keyboard

• These 12 buttons represent a musical keyboard turned on it’s side 90 degrees to left, where C is at the bottom and B is at the top. The diagonal lines on Ziggurat’s panel move through the semitones from bottom to top
• Individual notes can be turned on and off to change the musical “note mask” or scale that your incoming voltage is quantized through
• Note masks of only a few notes turned on can sound very good!
• The note mask keyboard buttons are also used in some of the other functions described below
  

Here is an overview diagram describing how Ziggurat uses external CV and gate signals to create pitch voltages:

Input Signal Type

• No input - Ziggurat defaults to the equivalent of 0V at the CV input
• CV input only - Ziggurat will read the CV input and feed it directly into the quantizer. Notes will change whenever their voltage threshold is crossed
• CV input and gate input - Ziggurat will read the CV input and sample and hold it’s value whenever a gate rising edge is detected at the gate input. This stepped voltage signal is then fed through the quantizer
• Gate input only - Ziggurat will generate a random value at the input whenever a gate rising edge is detected at the gate input
• Chain input - the Chain function allows you to type in a sequence of specific note values. Ziggurat then sends this signal through the quantizer

Quantizer Functions

• Offset - provides a voltage offset to the input signal BEFORE the quantizer
• Note quantizer - determines the musical notes across all octaves that your input signal will be quantized to
• Slew - a setting applied to individual notes that sets a time that voltages will take to change to the note during quantization
• Range - determines the octave range that the quantizer output will be restricted within
• Root - provides a semitone voltage offset AFTER the quantizer to change the key of the musical output
  

Range

• To adjust the octave range press the range button, and on the note mask keyboard press the bottom and then top (or top then bottom) of the voltage range you want to set. You will notice that the buttons for -4V, 0V and +7V are labeled on the panel as a guide to which buttons correspond to which octaves
• Note that voltages outside your currently set range will "wrap" back to the opposite end of the range. For example, if you have the range set to octaves 0-4, voltages above 5V will move up from 0V and voltages below 0V will move down from 5V
• To leave the range menu press the range button again

Offset

• To adjust the pre quantizer voltage offset, press the offset button and select any note on the note mask keyboard
• Within the offset menu you can also press and hold the range button to add additional whole octave offset pre quantizer (using the same range octave selection described above)
• To leave the offset menu press the offset button again

Slew

• To select which notes will have a slew time to reach their note value during quantization, press the slew button and select notes on the note mask keyboard
• To adjust the slew time, press and hold the slew button while inside the slew menu. The right column of buttons represents slew times of 50ms, 100ms, 300ms, 750ms, 1.5s, 3s, 5s
• The same slew time is used for all notes selected to slew on a given channel or grouped channels
• To leave the slew menu press the slew button again

Root

• to adjust the post quantizer voltage offset, press the root button and select any note on the note mask keyboard. This will change the key of the pitch output of a channel or group of channels
• To leave the root menu press the root button again

Chain

• to create a chain sequence of notes at the input of the quantizer, press the chain button. Inside the chain menu you can type in any sequence of up to 32 notes and ziggurat will play these pitch voltages at the output as you type them in
• While building a chain, you may press and hold the range button to change octaves (with the same range octave selection described above)
• If you enter a note you don’t like, simply press the offset button to undo it
• To apply the chain to your channel or grouped channels, press the chain button again. Note that you cannot edit a chain after applying it
• To clear a chain from a channel or group of channels, press the chain button twice - once to enter the chain menu and again to leave and clear the chain
• Note that while building a chain, your note selections are being sent through the current quantizer settings - you may select notes outside the current note mask or range settings, but they will be quantized live to the note mask and range you have selected at the time you enter the chain menu. To have all notes available, we suggest turning on all notes on the note mask and enabling a wide range before building a chain - you can always remove notes and reduce the range to try our variations on your chain!

Mod

• To enter the mod menu, press the mod button. Here you can select different functions for the Mod CV input to dynamically modulate.
• By default, all 4 channel buttons are illuminated - indicating the the mod signal is applied to all channels. You may press any of the channel buttons to remove them from the modulation
• The mod input will accept signals between -8V and +8V and different parts of this range are used in different ways depending on which function mod is assigned to
• Offset - the mod input becomes a 1 volt per octave pre quantizer offset from -8V to +8V added to the current offset setting
• Chain - any signal in the mod input that crosses 1V resets a chain if one is applied to the channel, or resets the string of random voltages produced by only using a channel’s gate input with nothing in the CV input
• Range - any signal between 0V and 5V at the mod input adjusts output range from a single octave at the bottom of the currently applied range to the full range setting. Any signal below 0V or above 5V will be clamped to these values
• Slew - any signal between 0V and 5V at the mod input will adjust the slew time between the minimum slew time and maximum slew time regardless of the current slew time setting. Any signal below 0V or above 5V will be clamped to these values
• Root - the mod input becomes a 1 volt per octave post quantizer offset from -8V to +8V added to the current root setting
• Load - the 35 save slots on Ziggurat can be loaded by a 1 volt per octave signal between 0V and 3V at the mod input (36 semitone voltages)
• To exit the mod menu press the mod button again

Save

• To save your current Ziggurat module settings, press the save button to enter the save menu
• The note mask keyboard represents 35 save slots with the right column of “keys” as 7 slots per bank in the left column of “keys”
• Select any bank and press a slot button to save and immediately leave the save menu
• Note that ziggurat also autosaves any changes you make on the module as you go (in a separate save location). When you turn off your case and turn it back on, Ziggurat will be right where you left it

Load

• To load saved Ziggurat module settings, press the load button to enter the load menu
• The note mask keyboard should look familiar from the save menu
• Select any bank and press a slot button to immediately load the data and exit the load menu

Input and Output Voltages

• Ziggurat’s channel CV inputs are precision calibrated and accept voltages from -8V to +8V . They will respond into audio rate, however the result may be noisy and unpredictable (and fun!). Ziggurat is primarily designed to be used with sub audio frequency signals
• Ziggurat’s channel gate inputs will detect any signal rising above 0.7V and count it as the rising edge of a gate - all kinds of signals may be used on the gate inputs including audio rate signals with similar noisy and unpredictable results to be had
• Ziggurat’s mod CV input will accept any signal between -8V and +8V and uses different parts of this range depending on which function mod is assigned to as described above. The mod input will read audio rate signals with bizarre and noisy results
• All of Ziggurat’s inputs are safe to use with signals spanning the full range of eurorack power from -12V to +12V. Signals outside this voltage range are not advised
• Ziggurat’s channel outputs are also precision calibrated and will produce voltages from -4V to +7.916V - a twelve octave range. Note that changes in output voltage occur with a delay of 2ms from input voltages and gates - this should be undetectable in most situations but may be a factor for certain modules that demand a CV signal before an incoming gate signal. In this rare situation you may look into possible features the destination module may have for slightly delaying an incoming gate or use a module dedicated for this purpose.

Power

• 90mA on +12V, 10mA on -12V, 0mA on +5V

Physical Dimensions

• Ziggurat requires 14hp of horizontal space in your eurorack case and is 25mm deep measured from the back of the front panel, including the connector on the power cable

Limited Warranty

• Acid Rain Technology warrants this product to be free of defects in materials or construction for a period of one year from the date of purchase (proof of purchase/invoice required).
• This warranty does not apply to normal wear and tear, including art/panel wear, or any products that have been modified, abused, or misused. Our warranty is limited to manufacturing defects.
• Warranty repairs are provided free of charge, and other repairs we will try to provide at an affordable rate.
• Customers are responsible for shipping units to Acid Rain Technology for repair. Please contact us on our web contact form if you think one of your Acid Rain products needs repair