TREPIO - ZEN-Core Model Expansion Conversion Droid

!! Early Bird Offer !!

For a limited time, you can get TREPIO at a discounted early bird introductory price!

Introduction

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 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 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.

What is Trepio

Trepio is a powerful app designed to expand the editing and creative possibilities offered by the ZEN-Core Synthesis Engine.

In short, here’s what it can do:

• Convert a Model Expansion tone to the corresponding Universal ZEN-Core. The Universal tone created will sound identical but has all the ZEN-Core parameters available to the user for editing.
• Box a Universal ZEN-Core tone to a target Model Expansion. The output will be recognized as the Model you pick (say Jupiter-8), and tied to its constraints and macros, but will keep any change you may have done to it while it was Universal ZEN-Core, opening up the possibility to create “Custom Model Expansions”.

The tones created by Trepio are 100% compatibile with the ZEN-Core ecosystem, as if they were made with Zenology Pro - but with added options and flexibility. You can load them up on your hardware, on Zenology Pro for further editing, or share them with others.

I really hope Trepio 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

Thanks to a proprietary algorithm, Trepio can easily “convert” a Model Expansion tone into its Universal ZEN-Core equivalent.

Want to see how a tone created with the exclusive Juno-X engine is made (and fiddle with it)? Want to edit the shape of the SAW oscillator and make “your” one- of-a -kind Juno-106? You can do that with Trepio!

Furthermore, it goes the other way around, too. You can start from a Universal ZEN-Core tone and, when ready, pack it to a specific Model Expansion and tie the tone to the limits and macros of that Model.

An example of workflow might be:

• You have a tone made with the Juno-60 Model on your Juno-X. (Yes, you read it right. It can handle hardware exclusive models, too!).
• You use Trepio to get the Universal ZEN-Core tone from the Juno-60 one. Now you get access to all the ZEN-Core parameters and you can edit the sound with Zenology Pro, for instance, and make changes on parameters that were not visible from the Juno 60 Model interface.
• Once done, you can use Trepio to box the Universal ZEN-Core tone back to a Model. This time, however, you can pick the Juno-106 Model instead, so you can play with the sound even outside of your Juno-X (as, again, the Juno-60 Model is exclusive to that synth).
• Voilà! You just created a Custom Juno-60/106 hybrid which is unique and can’t be created by just using the Juno-60 Model interface.

Supported Model Expansions

Trepio can convert a Universal ZEN-Core tone to a Model Expansion one and vice-versa.

Supported Model Expansions are:

Custom Model Expansions

Trepio allows you to create unique versions of any Model Expansion. This feature is made possible exclusively through Trepio's conversion algorithm."

1. You can start from a Model Expansion tone and get its Universal ZEN-Core equivalent.
2. Access and edit its structure (OSC, filters, Envelopes, ...) using any ZEN-Core compatible editor.
3. Box the Universal ZEN-Core tone back to a Model Expansion. The tone will be tied to the limitations of the Mode again, but all the changes made to the tone structure will be preserved, resulting in a uniquely sounding model, which is totally custom.create

Some easy-to-try ideas for a Custom Model Expansion:

• Replace an oscillator with any other waveform, a sample or with the SuperSaw.
• Slightly modify the waveform of an oscillator to achieve a slightly different sound (similarly to what happens in analog where two identical units on paper sound different in practice).
• Detune oscillators to give more depth to the sound.
• Add analog-like imperfections by tweaking the Analog Feel value or the LFOs.

Note: In some cases, turning OFF one or more partials can significantly increase the total polyphony of a Model. For example, if you turn off the NOISE oscillator on the Juno-106, you can double the polyphony, increasing it to 28 voices.

Meet "Artoo"

Check out Trepio’s companion app, Artoo.

It goes hand in hand with Trepio, offering you more options for extracting and creating Collection of tones you can then import on your synth or share with others. If you are tired of spending a lot of time and doing a lot of back and forth from your synth to your computer, just to add or remove a tone from a collection, Artoo is the droid you’re looking for. Check it out!


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, ...).

Model Expansion tones can be imported and played only on ZEN-Core powered hardware and software that support Model Expansions (full list available here).

Compatibility

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

macOS 13.6 (Ventura) is the latest OS version the app has been tested on.
Trepio 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 Trepio 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!