EZEPTOCORE

EZEPTOCORE is an algorithmic sample mangler for Eurorack, descended from the handheld zeptocore by Infinite Digits and brought into the rack with hardware design and manufacturing by Maneco Labs. It streams audio directly from SD card, so a sample can be short, long, tidy, or completely unruly without waiting for it to preload.

Fill the card with anything

The browser-based Sample Manager organizes 16 banks with up to 16 samples in each bank, with no limit on sample length. Drop in WAV, AIF, OGG, or Renoise XRNI files, detect BPM and transients automatically, or place slices by hand. Kick, snare, and transient markers can send pulses from the trigger output as playback crosses them. When the card is ready, download the prepared archive and copy the bank folders to the SD card.

The settings page also controls CV polarity and behavior, incoming and outgoing clock behavior, reset overrides, LED brightness, and the effect combinations assigned to the Effects knob.

Let the sequence wriggle

Amen is a looping sequencer inspired by runglers and Turing machines. Fully counterclockwise gives normal playback. Turn it clockwise to move through repeating sequences and eventually into continuously changing sixteen-step patterns. Jump controls how often playback moves elsewhere and whether it returns to the underlying sequence.

Break sets the probability that effects will fire. The Effects knob selects one of seven mappings, and each mapping can combine any of sixteen real-time effects. That makes it easy to keep the source recognizable, make it wobble around the beat, or pull it apart altogether.

Blue mode and red mode

Hold Tap for Blue Mode. The knobs become volume, saturation and distortion, DJ filtering, gating, pitch shift independent of BPM, and beat repeat with pitch decay, volume decay, and quantization.

Hold Mode for Red Mode. The controls become decimation, digital wavefolding, Chaos Trembler, Digital Jitter, and Digital Smear. These modes turn the same five knobs into a second performance surface without adding more panel space.

Patch it into the rack

Amen, Break, and Tunnel accept configurable control voltage with unipolar 0 to 5 V or bipolar -5 to +5 V response. Amen can jump on voltage changes, retrigger a slice, or combine the two behaviors. Any one of the CV jacks can instead become a reset input.

The clock input follows an external 2 PPQN signal. Clock output can be divided or multiplied and configured as a short trigger or a gate. The trigger output can follow kicks, snares, detected transients, or random events, which makes EZEPTOCORE useful as both a sound source and a source of rhythm for the rest of a patch.

Built for EZEPTOCORE

EZEPTOCORE is a ground-up Eurorack implementation of the open-source zeptocore platform. Compared with the earlier Ectocore hardware, it adds improved passive thermal management, a dedicated reset button, clearer panel labeling, smoother firmware updates, and firmware built around its own control layout. The module arrives calibrated, but it can be recalibrated from the panel if the LEDs ever stop lining up with the knobs.

Firmware is loaded over USB by putting the RP2040 into disk mode and copying the appropriate UF2 file. Current firmware and hardware files remain available in the open-source repository.

A few useful answers

Which SD card should I use?

Use a reliable card. Gigastone, SP Elite, SanDisk Extreme, Samsung EVO, PNY Elite, and MicroCenter cards have been tested successfully. Labels such as A1 or U3 do not guarantee good random-access performance by themselves.

Which firmware build should I use?

Use an overclocking build when the module follows an external clock and you want the most effects headroom. Use a non-overclocking build when the internal clock is the priority. Normal latency is the best starting point; low-latency and ultra-low-latency builds trade some effects bandwidth for a faster response.

Have the timing problems been fixed?

Yes. Firmware v6.4.4 and later handles variable-length slices by accumulating clock pulses for each slice before advancing. Firmware v6.3.7 and later also fixes the earlier start and trigger delay, with typical measured response around 4 to 5 ms. If a current build still sounds out of time, first check that the loop BPM and transient positions are accurate.

• Module type: Digital sampler and sample mangler
• Format: 8 HP Eurorack
• Depth: Approximately 27 mm
• Power: 135 mA at +12 V and 11 mA at -12 V
• Audio: Stereo, 16-bit, 44.1 kHz
• Storage: Real-time SD-card streaming with no preload delay
• Capacity: 16 banks with up to 16 samples per bank and no sample-length limit
• Slicing: Even, transient-detected, or manually placed slices
• Sequencing: Amen looping sequencer inspired by runglers and Turing machines
• Jump: Adjustable probability with return and non-return behavior
• Effects: 16 real-time effects arranged across seven selectable mappings
• Blue Mode: Volume, saturation, distortion, DJ filter, gating, pitch shift, and beat repeat
• Red Mode: Decimation, digital wavefolding, Chaos Trembler, Digital Jitter, and Digital Smear
• CV inputs: Amen, Break, and Tunnel with configurable 0 to 5 V or -5 to +5 V response
• Reset: Any CV input can be reassigned as reset
• Clock input: External 2 PPQN sync
• Clock output: Division and multiplication with trigger or gate behavior
• Trigger output: Kick, snare, transient, or random events
• Sample manager: Browser-based sample preparation, settings, and SD-card export
• Firmware: USB UF2 updates with overclocking, non-overclocking, and latency options
• Hardware: Dedicated reset button and passive thermal management
• Open source: GPLv3 firmware and CC-BY-SA-3.0 hardware