Tiptop Audio — HATS808

• Manual PDF

HATS808 Manual PDF

Using the Tiptop Audio HATS808 for Dense, Complex, and Hyper-Rhythmic Percussion in Eurorack

The Tiptop Audio HATS808 is a clone of the iconic TR-808 hi-hat voice, expanded for Eurorack with CV control and creative potential far beyond the original. If your aim is hyper-complex, densely layered percussive music—think extreme polyrhythms, polymeters, and intricate dynamic patterns—this module is a powerful building block.

Below, you’ll find advanced musical strategies and manipulation techniques to push the HATS808 deep into experimental rhythm realms:

1. Patch Foundations: Understanding the Voices

• CH (Closed Hat) & OH (Open Hat): Both are available simultaneously. Use separate rhythmic triggers for maximum overlap and "choke" interplay.
• Band-Pass OUT: Feed this to additional filters, wave folders, or VCAs for radically new textures.
• Resonance/Q Control: Turn up for metallic, noisy, or even pitched tones. CV can radically animate the timbre.

2. Sequencing for Hyper-Complex Rhythms

• Polyrhythms & Polymeters:
• Connect distinct, unsynchronized gate sequencers to CH and OH, each running different step lengths (e.g., 7 against 5, or 13 against 16).
• Patching two grids ensures the hats interact unpredictably, especially in how the choke circuit truncates OH decays.
• Clock Skewing/Time Signature Tricks:
• Sequence hats off odd divisions. Example: Clock CH with a /3 divider and OH with a /5 divider, both reset with different intervals.
• Or, employ rotating or logic-based sequencers (Ornament & Crime, Euclidean modules, etc.) for evolving, skipping rhythms.

3. Sound Animation: Unique, Punchy Percussive Timbres

• Dynamic Accent Control:
• Patch a fast LFO, stepped random, or complex envelope to the ACCENT IN. This means each hit varies in loudness and punch—far more dynamic than a static drum machine pattern.

• Manual accent knob becomes a trim for fine-tuning groove feel.

• Extreme Gain/Overdrive:

• Crank LEVEL and ACCENT for overloaded, harmonically rich hats.
• Take OUT into a wavefolder or analog distortion for industrial crunch.
• Record both ‘hot’ and ‘soft’ takes; layer for thick, punchy hats.

4. Modulating Decay & Q for Textural Complexity

• Animated Decay:
• Patch stepped random CV or sequence to an external VCA that gates the input trigger, causing variable envelope lengths for a “live” drummer feel.

• Use a slow LFO to modulate DEACY between short blips and washier hats.

• Q/VC-Q for Morphing Sizzle:

• Sequence or randomize Q via the CV input (VC-Q) for each trigger. Fast modulation here generates metallic, comb-filtered, or “broken digital” hats.
• Send audio-rate modulation (oscillator output) into VC-Q for wild FM crunch!

5. Advanced Choke Techniques

• Creative Choke Interactions:
• Program CH hits to “interrupt” long OHs for intentionally glitchy, stuttery hat lines.
• Disable choke with the PCB jumper for pure layered textures when needed.

6. Band-Pass Out as a Parallel Percussion Voice

• Send the Band-Pass OUT through another envelope/VCA/filter for a second, heavily processed “hat” to layer with the main CH/OH outs.
• Use this OUT as a percussive synth voice—mix back in for controlled chaos.

7. Feedback, Self-Patching, and Processing

• Mult the OUT or Band-Pass OUT back into your modular for feedback (through distorting preamps, filters, or LPGs).
• Use other percussion, radio noise, or field recordings as CV sources for VQ or Accent to add organic unpredictability.

Extra Tips

• Accent Trick: Use stepped random triggers on the ACCENT input (rather than just gates)—some hats “pop” and some are soft, creating micro-grooves.
• CV Animate Everything: Modulate as many parameters as possible, ideally sequenced or with random sources.
• Layering: Stack several HATS808s (or one HATS808 plus digital hat voices) for hyper-complex hi-hat percussion beds.

With creative clocking, accent modulation, aggressive filter resonance, and extreme gain/overdrive, the HATS808 can become a ferocious, living, and hyper-complex rhythm generator—perfect for pushing your Eurorack into new percussive territory.

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