ARTOO - Universal ZEN-Core + SVZ Collection Handler

!! Time-Limited Offer !!

For a limited time, Artoo is available with a no minimum name-your-price offer!

Yep, you can have it absolutely for free if you wish. Just put a 0 in the box on the right.

Have fun :)

Introduction

In the Roland ZEN-Core ecosystem, the .svz is a proprietary format used by all ZEN-Core based software and hardware to save sounds.

• A Jupiter-8 Model tone from your Jupiter-X?
• A ZEN-Core tone from Zenology?
• A ZEN-Core recreation of all the 128 Juno-106 Factory Presets from 1984?

They’re all .svz files. Either just for one tone or for many (Collections). They can all be exchanged between ZEN-Core devices and software, with Zenology Pro likely being the most complete software option.

Importing and Exporting single tones from Zenology Pro is a quick task. You have your sound, a couple clicks and you’re done with your .svz file ready to be shared or loaded on your synth. The thing gets trickier when you want to make a collection, though. Still doable, it just takes way more time...

But what if you have some good tones on your computer you want to make a collection with, but don’t have Zenology Pro and you don’t want to rely on your synth (and it's tiny display, ouch)?

What if you downloaded a collection of 5 tones created on the Jupiter-X, but 2 of them use the Jupiter-X exclusive engine... If you open the .svz file with Zenology Pro to audition the sounds, only 3 tones will show up. Dammit, bummer! You can’t audition the Jupiter-X ones. Or can you..?

If only there was a way to quickly create a collection from a folder of tones...

If only there was a way to convert every Model Expansion tone to its Universal ZEN-Core equivalent, no matter if the Model is exclusive to some hardware or not, so you can easily audition, share and edit every sound, unlocking the full potential of the ZEN-Core Synthesis Engine...

What is Artoo

Artoo is a tool created to help you manage .svz files and collections, while giving you the option to convert Model Expansion tones to Universal ZEN-Core ones. In short, here’s what it can do:

• Create a collection from many ZEN-Core tones in a given folder • Extract single ZEN-Core tones from an existing collection
• Create Universal ZEN-Core tones from Model Expansion ones

The tones created by Artoo are 100% compatibile with the ZEN-Core ecosystem, same as if they were made with Zenology Pro - only with less time wasted clicking and more flexibility added. You can load them up on your hardware, on Zenology Pro for further editing, or share them with others.

I really hope Artoo can help you get even more from the incredible ZEN-Core Synthesis Engine, leaving you more free to experiment and create.

User Interface - MacOS

User Interface - Windows

How Does it Work

Let’s start with a brief overview of the ZEN-Core ecosystem:

• The ZEN-Core ecosystem is based on a very powerful, flexible and multi- platform engine called ZEN Synthesis Engine, which boasts hundreds and hundreds of parameters.
• The ZEN Engine runs on a wide variety of current Roland products, from flagship hardware synths like the Jupiter-X to mobile apps like Zenbeats.
• ZEN-Core tones can be exchanged between products.
• When you have full access to all the ZEN-Core parameters, you’re working with a so called Universal ZEN-Core tone.
• When only a subset of parameters is available and/or some of the parameters are controlled by hidden-to-the-user macros, you’re working with a so called Model Expansion tone.
• These expansions are used by Roland to emulate vintage synths from the past, like the Juno-106, the Jupiter-8 or the SH-101.
  
  More on this in the chapter "Understanding ZEN-Core & Model Expansions" at the end of this page.
  
  On to Artoo: thanks to a proprietary algorithm, it can read and write the structure created by Roland to handle individual tones and collections for the ZEN-Core ecosystem, regardless of wether they are Universal ZEN-Core or Model Expansion tones.
  
  Artoo can recognize a Model Expansion tone and make it Universal. 
 It can open a collection of tones and extract them individually, while “universalizing” the Model Expansion ones. 

  Lasly, Artoo can pack many tones into a collection, no matter if they are Universal ZEN-Core tones, Model Expansions or a mix of the two.

Meet "Trepio"

Check out Artoo’s companion app, Trepio.

It offers more options for converting back and forth from ZEN-Core to Model Expansion, up to the possibility of creating Custom Model Expansions (ever wondered how a Juno-106 with 3 detuned SAWs and a SQUARE sounds like, with shape and filter parameters tweaked to your liking in every detail? You can do it.).


Trepio VS Artoo (Features Comparison)

Supported ZEN-Core Hardware/Software

The tones created by Trepio are 100% compatible with the entire ZEN-Core ecosystem (some exclusions apply for the JD-800 Model Expansion, which is not completely supported).

Universal ZEN-Core tones can be imported and played on any ZEN-Core powered hardware (Jupiter-X, Juno-X, FANTOM, RD-88, MC-101, MC-707, AX-Edge, ...) and software (Zenology Pro, Zenbeats, ...).

Compatibility

MacOS 10.15+ (Catalina and above).
Windows 10.

macOS 13.6 (Ventura) is the latest OS version the app has been tested on.
Artoo might work on older and newer versions of the OS, but it has not been tested there, so compatibility is not guaranteed.

Installation Notes - MacOS

If the alert that the app developer cannot be verified shows up:

• Click Privacy & Security in the System Settings window.
• Scroll down to the Security section, click “Allow”, and enter your password to continue. 

Official Apple support page for this procedure is available here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102445

Installation Notes - Windows

If the User Account Control alert shows up, click Yes to continue and provide the administrator password if asked.

Operating Tips

• Check out the video playlist. There are videos of both TREPIO and ARTOO and you can see both droids in action.
• Have a quick read of the manual you find below.
• First, test the droid with the free tones you find on the download page.
• The time required for extracting or merging tones varies depending on your computer's speed. This is especially true if you are working with hundreds of tones at once using ARTOO. Please be aware of this: if the app seems stuck, be patient.

Following these steps will get you started on understanding how each app work, and you'll be ready to fully play with them in no time!

Feedback & Support

I'm super excited to share this tool with you. Just a heads up though: like any software, it's not perfect!

If you notice anything funky happening, don't hesitate to hit me up directly instead of dropping a negative review. Your feedback means a lot, and I'll do my best to help you out.

Thanks you so much for your understanding and support!

User Manual

Download Artoo User Manual

Videos

Link to Playlist

Social Links

Facebook

Instagram

Understanding ZEN-Core & Model Expansions

The ZEN-Core Synthesis System is Roland’s most advanced sound engine, used at the core of many of their flagship synthesizers like Jupiter-X, Juno-X and Fantoms, and inside the Zenology Pro software plug-in.

The ZEN-Core Synthesis Engine boast hundreds and hundreds of parameters offering endless sound design possibilities, from modern hybrid tones to vintage synth sounds.

Model Expansions are Roland’s most recent take on emulating vintage hardware synthesizers, using the ZEN-Core Engine. However, they’re not limited to vintage emulations but can be used for newer models too, like the exclusive ones available in the Jupiter-X and Juno-X.

It’s important to understand that Model Expansions are NOT new synth engines. In fact, they are created WITH the ZEN-Core Engine.

Model Expansions are like templates, macro-controllers that wrap around the ZEN-Core Engine. When you modify a parameter in a Model, it changes one or more parameters of the underlying ZEN-Core Engine, which is always there, running, with all its 800+ parameters (now hidden to the user).

Think at a Model as a sealed box with a bunch of knobs and buttons.
Inside the box, “making the magic”, there is the ZEN-Core Engine.
Aside from the macros used to control what’s already there, there’s nothing added by the Model. Waveforms, filters, envelopes used by the Model are the ones already available within the ZEN-Core Engine. Without it, a Model is basically an empty box. No sound.

Now it comes natural to think that, basically, each Model is just a specific configuration of the ZEN-Core Engine, with a set of macros controlling it. If we open the box and play a chord with that configuration, it sounds exactly the same as it does when the box is closed (Model is used).

Going on with this, if you imagine to ship the box somewhere, you are shipping the whole ZEN-Core configuration too (which is inside the box), and not just the Model. Likewise, if you export a .svz file of a Model Expansion tone, it will contain both the parameters of the Model (the knobs and buttons outside the box) and all the parameters of the standard ZEN-Core structure.

By taking advantage of this idea, I developed a proprietary algorithm that makes possibile to open the box of a Model, and access the whole ZEN-Core set of parameters.

What do you get from this, you may ask? Well, if you get access to what’s inside the box, you can get creative with that Model and develop a Custom Model Expansion.

Let’s see this in practice: 

You have a Juno-106 pad sound created with the Juno-106 Model. 

By accessing what’s inside the box, you can open the file as a standard ZEN-Core tone:


• See how the Juno-X Model is designed. Learning, always cool ;).
• Edit something that was not available in the Model.
For instance: change the wave shape of one of the SAW oscillators and make the pad more mellow or more gritty; perhaps add a little analog wobble with the Analog Feel parameter... Getting creative, even cooler!
  
  Once you’re done, my algorithm lets you put everything back into the box (aka the Model). Next time you open up that tone, it will load as a Juno-X, but with all the tweaks you made saved with it. Bingo!
  Welcome your new Custom Juno-X Model Expansion.
  
  The algorithm converts (unlocks, actually) Model Expansion tones into the equivalent Universal ZEN-Core tone, which is a .svz file you can freely edit in Zenology Pro, in your hardware synth or any ZEN-Core compatible editor. Vice-versa, it can convert a Universal ZEN-Core into a Model Expansion one.
  
  Now you might be thinking:
  “What if I convert a Juno-106 tone to Universal ZEN-Core and then box it to a Jupiter-8 Model instead of the original Juno-106…?”. It works… That's as crazy as it can get. Up to you to try and see what happens.
  
  Trepio is designed to be a “protocol translation droid”.
  It converts a Model Expansion tone to the corresponding Universal ZEN-Core and vice-versa, with options to restore/initialize the settings of the output Model interface.
  
  Artoo is designed to be a “SVZ file handler”.
  It creates a collection of tones from a given set of .svz files, extract tones from a .svz collection, converting every Model Expansion tone he finds into the corresponding Universal ZEN-Core.
  
  These 2 apps are companions and go hand-in-hand.
  I’d suggest you to give them a try and see how creative you can get!