Tiptop Audio TOMS909 Voltage Controlled Analog Toms

Tiptop Audio TOMS909 contains all three of the Roland TR-909's original low, mid and high tom-tom circuits adapted for use in the eurorack modular synthesizer format. The module is tested to sound like a fresh machine coming off the assembly line back in the 80s. To add flavor to the beast, Tiptop Audio extended each tom's tuning range so it's easier to dial in soft bass drums on the lower end and higher-pitched toms on the other. In addition, all three toms are voltage-controlled, letting you play the toms' pitches with CV sequencers, reshape the tuning with envelopes and LFOs, and create new metallic-sounding percussive sounds using audio rate frequency modulation of the internal analog oscillators.

The toms' circuitry is made up of nine triangle oscillators and a stack of filters, VCAs and envelopes which, in total, took up about half of the space on the original 909's circuit board. Utilizing the latest in electronic design technology, Tiptop Audio has managed to squeeze this enormous circuit consisting of more 450 components into an area only 16hp wide. It is a beautiful board with hundreds of tiny, shiny components — its a little analog jewel!

Each tom includes a trigger and accent input with accent level control, manual tune, voltage-control tune input with attenuator, and independent audio out. In addition, a MIX out is available that sums all three toms together. On each gate input Tiptop Audio designed a dual pulse-shaper circuit so you can trigger TOMS909 with trigger/gate signals from sequencers or any other pulse/clock sources.

• Module controls
• LEVEL knobs: master output gain levels
• TUNE knobs: adjust pitch/timbre of each drum
• VC-TUNE knobs: attenuators for VC-TUNE CV inputs
• DECAY knobs: amp envelope decay stage time
• ACCENT knobs: accent level controls, affect loudness and attack levels
• Patch points
• VC-TUNE inputs: CV control over pitch/timbre of each drum
• ACCENT IN inputs: gate trigger inputs to trigger accents
• GATE IN inputs: gate trigger inputs to trigger each drum sound
• LOW/MID/HIGH outputs: individual audio outputs for each drum sound
• MIX OUT output: summed audio output for all three drum sounds
• Physical specifications
• Size: 16hp
• Module depth: 51mm
• Power usage: 120mA @ +12V, 100mA @ -12V