Tiptop Z-DSP - Manual (Page 14)

Understanding Clocking. - Continued
As we’ve discussed, the Z-DSP has a built in DSP
processor. Along with the processor is a pair of 24bit
analog to digital convertors (“ADC”) on the inputs and
a pair of 24bit digital to analog convertors (“DAC”) on
the outputs. The ADC samples the analog audio signal
into digital data, while the DAC takes the digital data
and converts it back to analog form. The programs
that run in the Z-DSP work on this digital data, just
like you would run a program on your computer to
crunch data for your taxes.
The clock on the Z-DSP is what controls the speed of
the DSP. In normal conditions, this clock runs at 32khz
(the “sampling rate”) which is fast enough to allow the
ADC/DAC pair to provide 15Khz of bandwidth. The DSP
uses this clock as well, but multiplies it to create
processing speeds fast enough to run programs and
keep up with the flow of data from the ADC.
This is a standard DSP clocking mechanism with a
clock at a fixed frequency, and as long as nothing is
plugged into the Z-DSP CLOCK input, this is what the
Z-DSP will provide. That’s all about to change…
By using the CLOCK input of the Z-DSP, we can
change the sampling rate of the ADC and the
associated speed that the DSP is processing data.
That allows us to slow down the ADC, or if we use a
VCO to provide the clock, we can vary the processing
speed across time… There is a lot of sonic exploration
to be done here!