To get started simply get Octopus and a few ART Oscillators. Have your DAW, Keyboard or Hardware MIDI sequencer ready to connect to Octopus and feed the ART system. We are assuming you already have a Eurorack case and some envelopes, filters, VCAs and effects.

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Yes, ART modules are Eurorack modules and use Eurorack signal levels for oscillator audio and gate/cv controls, same power connector, and are designed to blend into any Eurorack system.

All of your filters, envelopes, LFOs, VCAs, effects, signal processors, mixers , patch cables will work with the ART modules. 1V/oct based sequencers and oscillators will not work with ART control inputs and outputs.

No, 1V/Oct is no longer needed with ART. ATX1 is the only oscillator in the ART line that can still be switched between ART control and 1V/Oct, which is only for legacy compatibility purposes. Although ATX1 has a single jack for both signals they are not compatible or interchangeable.

No, we decided to make Octopus first to solve the problem of integrating Eurorack with other hardware and computer DAWs. There are several Eurorack sequencing and pattern generation products in development.

Yes, ART was tested using Stackcables and should work with Passive mults too.

ART Control and MIDI have some similarity in the fact that both are digital communication for music and use digital commands. However ART is mainly a modular synthesizer control signal while MIDI is a global studio control system and has many legacy aspects to the protocol including low speed. ART is extremely fast so it does not lag behind the very low latency of CV and Gate signals we use in a modular synthesizer. ART also does not require any channel configuration which makes it simpler to use. For the user patching ART is exactly like patching 1V/Oct.

ART control has precise pitch information as well as performance data about the note (velocity, mod and pressure). The ART signal is high speed for near zero latency and an analog ‘feel’. ART is also much cheaper to implement compared to the old quantized voltage based analog method.

ART does not define anything about the nature of the module, since it is just a communication method. ART adds a functionality to either a fully analog module or a fully digital module or a hybrid.

Each tone generator is responsible for allocating its available voices based on the incoming ART data. For monophonic VCOs this is a single gate that activates with any note data. In Polyphonic modules like Vortex6 a voice allocation system is programmed into the module to assign the pitch and gate to the correct outputs including voice-stealing if needed.

Polytip patch cables are completely analog that use the USB C type connectors, everything inside the cable is completely different from USB. Please note, Polytip cables are not USB cables and should never be used to plug USB devices. Conversely, standard USB C cables will not work with Polytip modules. Internally the Polytip patch cable is all analog and the signals carried are all analog audio CVs or Gates.

No, Polytip cables are required only for modules that are strictly polyphonic by design like OCTOPASS and OCTOSTAGES. HEXAGAIN and Vortex6 are Polyphonic too but have options for both independent signals over standard patch cables and Polytip cables.

Polytips do not define anything about the nature of the module, since they are a passive multichannel analog audio patch cable. Polytips adds a polyphony patching to either a fully analog module or a fully digital module or a hybrid.

Yes using the OCTO I/O expander module you can bring all the Polytip signals to 3.5mm jacks.

The ART terminology was developed so we all speak the same ‘language’.

Signal flow:
Voice = can refer for example to a single filter in a poly filter module or a complete voice like VCO + VCF + EG + VCA patch.

Patch types:
Poly synth patch = patch with only Polytips. Patching with Polytips is like a higher level patching, you don’t patch one monophonic signal like you usually do in Eurorack, you patch blocks of voices.

Discrete polyphony patch = a polyphonic patch made from single modules, like multiple ATXs that goes into multiple filters and multiple vcas. Obviously it is very interesting to try and make each voice different from the other.

Multi-Voice patch = a patch of multiple mono voices.

Paraphonic patch = a polyphonic tone generation mix, like the MIX out on Vortex6 or multiple mono voices (ATX1) mixed together goes into a monophonic processing (VCF, VCA, EG, etc) path.

Module type:
Polyphonic module = module with poly tips jacks like OCTOPASS
Polyphonic module with discrete I/Os = like Vortex6 and HEAGAIN, having both Polytips and 3.5mm jacks in parallel.

Jacks:
Polyphonic jack = the Polytip jacks, these carry multiple audio signal in one cable
3.5mm jacks = the standard jacks used in Eurorack