Tiptop Z-DSP - Manual (Page 15)

Understanding Clocking. - Continued
To start, let’s use the square wave output from a
Z3000 VCO. First set the PWM knob to its center
position, then set the Frequency and Fine knobs to
maximum. At this point the Z3000 is set well above the
20Khz range, which will be our new sampling rate.
Now while the Z-DSP is processing a fairly bright
sound, plug the Z3000 square wave into the Z-DSP
CLOCK input. Congratulations, you just took over the
system clock and replaced it with the clock from
your Z3000!
You probably heard a sudden drop in high frequency
component of your sound. That comes from the new
clock being slower (~20khz) than the internal clock
(~32khz), thus the ADC is sampling the incoming audio
less frequently, thus reducing the bandwidth of the
Z-DSP.
Now slowly start reducing the frequency of the Z3000
and listen to what happens. At some point the sample
rate gets so low, and the program execution speed
gets so slow that the result is glorious digital madness!
Ready for more? Connect an envelope generator or
LFO to the FM input of the Z3000 and sweep the
frequency up and down.... Get the idea?
Try modulating the Z3000 various ways in sync and
out of sync from the VCP, and you will cause ordinary
digital effects to perform in an extraordinary
unpredicted manner. It is all about dynamic clocking
as oppose to fixed rate clocking.