Built mine and have been messing with it, pretty fun, the cirklon host midi port can power it which is a nice + for me but I can’t seem to get it to sync for some reason maybe usb midi needs a computer currently?
Prob you need this from Zeptocore to sync it on MIDI -
Would love to hear your thoughts on it when you’ve had it a while.
Maybe some audio if you can.
Seems like a fun device!
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There’s an Ectocore module version in development according to Infinitedigits, and a prototype is currently at Superbooth:
Editing to add in this demo from Superbooth:
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Wow, what a flashback.
I just stumbled across the Zeptocore and I realized it was developed by Zack Scholl (not the person in the video directly above). Zack did a rotation in my lab many years ago as he was starting grad school. He’s one of the sharpest and most creative young scientists I’ve had the pleasure of working with. He developed all sorts of cool gadgets and scientific instruments during his grad school years – super cool to see he’s translated this into his artistic pursuits.
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it does have usb midi tho!
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new Ectocore video
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Just an update here for those who are curious.
I bought the Zeptocore, and then the Zeptocade when it came out. I want to love this thing so much, but it’s not there.
The basic idea is so great, of a stereo, super performable slice machine, and when everything is working, it’s a ton of fun. Feels nice to press the buttons, and the Zeptocade really physically spaces things out like they need to be and increases the dedicated buttons/knobs.
But in many critical respects, I’m running into obstacles that totally break the fun of jamming with hardware.
I’m synching it with the Deluge and the Zeptocore is always behind the beat. There doesn’t seem to be a way to adjust latency and I have no idea why is delayed since it’s just clock, not MIDI.
It has a one-shot mode, which is awesome (plays one slice per clocked 16th note). The problem is that with some button presses, it no longer triggers the one-shot, and in fact I can’t make it make any consistent sound at all. I have no idea why. There’s no “reset to default” option, so the only way to get sound back is to turn the device off and on again. But doing that also turns off one-shot mode, so then you have to turn it back on again with a hidden button code.
It has buttons you can play to trigger the performance effects, which is a ton of fun. However, it also has hidden button codes for settings, and these can be triggered from any mode. So in a performance you may press buttons 5 then 6 then 5 really quickly (turning on one effect, then another, then turning the first effect off) only instead it turns off one-shot mode. There is no way that I can see to turn off these hidden button codes, so playing the performance effects turns into accidentally switching a bunch of settings that you have no idea about and can’t reset.
Then there are all the random changes and light flashes and mode switches I can’t figure out, whether it’s the knobs being noisy and sending parameter information accidentally, or a stuck button, or bugs, or something else. Sometimes it switches to modes I don’t even know/understand and I just press a bunch of random buttons until I can get out.
In short, it sounds great, the tempo matching works, the performance effects are cool, but actually using it in practice with other hardware is an exercise in frustration. The device just has too many controls overlaid on top of one another on the same buttons. It could really benefit from a screen for more information (or fewer functions), and more knob/button per function control. And that’s presuming I could eventually get rid of the latency.
Some of the design decisions also aren’t for me. For example, there’s no play button (!), and it requires a button combination to start/stop. Then there’s the way the filter is DJ-style in that it has LPF and HPF on the same knob, but it doesn’t have it in the standard way, instead basically set as two filters that are discontinuous (the LPF closes as you twist it clockwise). Many of the knobs are labelled with symbols that aren’t easy to psychologically connect with the knob’s function (e.g. an airplane for filter, paper crane for selecting effects). These ones feel deliberate, so I’m not knocking them, only identifying that they’re not for me. Most of them I can live with, though I would really love a play button, and maybe a button for switching between looping and one-shot.
In short, there’s so much that’s cool about the Zeptocore and Zeptocade. I want to love it so much. But the latency issues I’m running into, and hidden button presses, and random bugs (or user error related to hidden features) continually slowed me down and meant I didn’t get a jam finished today, and I had no idea what the problems were when I encountered them. I’m going to try to power through because it sounds so cool, and the on-board samples are excellent, but I’m also bummed out by the experience.
Just thought this might be useful for others who were curious about the device.
I’d also love to hear if you’re having an amazing experience with it! It could just be me, which would be an easier fix!
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Have you had a chance to reach out to the developer, Zack Scholl, to report your bugs?
I see the firmware, which is open source, is under very active development:
You should probably submit your bugs on the issues page on the Github repo:
Need ectocore so bad
I haven’t reached out to report the bugs, because I’m not even sure what’s a bug and what is user error from hidden button presses or knob/button noise. I also don’t have a GitHub account and I’m not super excited to do thorough bug hunting when I primarily just want to make music. And finally, I worry about telling a creator how their device “should” work, because it feels awfully presumptuous. But thanks for thinking of it!
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Kind of a catch-22. If the developer of the device doesn’t know for example there’s a sync / latency issue than it will never get fixed.
I don’t think any well meaning instrument developer would receive a report about latency / sync issues as presumptuous. 
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Yeah I messed with it a bit, but it has ended up on the side of the desk mostly unused… I was running into bug that may or may not be related to the SD card mine was sent with and I’ve been too lazy to get one that will supposedly work right. I should update it again and see how it plays first, every session I have ever had with it ended in a crash.
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Zack has always been incredibly responsive and quick to sort issues out with the many incredible Norns scripts he has created over at Lines, and he can also be contacted via his website. It’s worth letting him know as I’m sure he can help get to the bottom of your issues with the device.
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Just a small update. Here’s the Zeptocore/Zeptocade in action with the Deluge. Again, I love the sound and performance of this thing and just wish it worked better. But I will say that after more extensive use with it, I can reproduce most of the problems consistently, so I will be reaching out to the developer to let them know.
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Did you end up reaching out? I’ve been running into similar lag with the sync input, and was wondering if connecting via MIDI instead would improve things at all. The ectocore videos I’ve seen seem fairly well-synced, so maybe it was improved for that firmware?
I did reach out. Didn’t get to any sort of satisfactory conclusion, but I suspect that swapping out the SD card will make a big difference. It seems to be struggling to grab the sounds from the card, and that’s what results in both the lag and also the bugs I’ve bumped into. I’ve meant to go back and try with a new card, but buying a new SD micro is annoying and I’m usually just as happy to explore other gear. Soon, though.
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Thanks, that makes sense. Did he mention a specific SD card that might be better? I see this interesting writeup and the section in the docs, but the Gigastone card I’ve been having issues with is listed as one of the “good” ones there.
Oh that’s such a bummer, and definitely makes me even less keen to go spend money on a “good” SD card.
He didn’t mention a specific SD card that worked better, only the one that he sold it with not being good enough.
Best of luck!
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Hi everyone. Just joining on this thread as I had a lot of back and forth with Zack about the Zeptocade after I received it. I use a mac computer and the first thing was that he had not actually tested any of the sync with mac at all.
SO it was impossible for him to replicate my issues and I eventually felt I was doing his head in really, also because I’m not that techy and I all this updating and rebooting became tirresome.
Zeptcore on it’s own seems to need some kind of hub to get recognised. But once it is placed into the zeptocade, it’s all over. NADA. Zack eventually sent me the itty bitty midi thingy, but that also seem to be on and off. I think he switched his attention to the eurorack module and that was it, this zeptocade thing was over. It works well as a solo intrument, it’s fun, but I also find it frustrating that It cannot be used to jam with another machine.
(further trial and errors led me to just use a patch cable from the clock out of the arturia keystep direct into the clock in of zeptocade. The keystep gets midi clock from Midronome, which is the master clock in my studio. The sync and start stop messages are working now although the issue is that the sync output of keystep follows the arpeggiator’s clock division, so it can only be used at 1/8 to work in time. I tried other clock sources like the MOOG DFAM’s trigger oouput but that was a fail.
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