Downloadable Frontplate Templates for Doepfer Modules Announced

Doepfer A-168-1, A-110-6, A-110-3, A-121-2 and A-184-1
with custom frontpanel designs

You might have noticed the colorful new frontplates on the Doepfer website recently.
I had almost mistaken them for new Special Editions, but Doepfer clearly writes:

"The custom versions of a few modules featured on the Doepfer website are only a design study made with a self adhesive foil, printed by a color laser printer.

That way the customer will be able to design "his" personal module by printing his design on an self adhesive foil and stick the foil to the module (for this the module has to be dismantled).

There are no plans to offer these versions of the module, but they do plan to offer suitable templates for download."

Knobs in different colors are also still available so your only limit will be your imagination.

I wonder how Doepfer will further develop this idea... i.e. if there could be such a thing as an online Doepfer Template designer tool or such... Hmmm... Nice.

The first examples look very impressive IMO...

Doepfer in Black... Vintage Style

Exciting news from Doepfer for this upcoming NAMM2016.

First this:
Finally they decided to release modules featuring black frontpanels with white print and vintage style knobs.
The result is truly stunning... i would love to change all my silver frontpanels rightaway :)
It will also look great with their latest series of Special Edition modules.

Doepfer A-100 System in black, with vintage-style knobs (click to enlarge)

Imagine this with their new colored knobs too... i'm very excited for this :)

So far for these modules vintage versions are planned:
A-110-1 Standard VCO, ƒA-110-2 Basic VCO, A-114 Ring Modulator, ƒA-118 Noise/Random, A-120 24dB Transistor Ladder Lowpass Filter, A-132-3 Dual Linear/Exponential VCA, A-138 Mixer, A-140 ADSR, A-147-2 VCDLFO, A-148 S&H/T&H, A-180-2 2x4 Multiple and the A-190-3 USB/MIDI-to-CV/Gate Interface.
If there are sufficient inquiries they will offer the black panels and vintage style knobs as spare parts.

There are also plans to offer more modules with black panels (e.g. the sequencer series A-154/A-155/A-156).

Each module (old and new ones) will be available in any case in the standard version (i.e. silver-grey aluminium with grey knobs).
But they will offer some modules also in the vintage edition (black front panels with black glossy vintage style knob with metal disc
at the top) or other Special Editions (like the black/yellow A-124 Wasp, the blue/white A-110-4 Thru Zero Quadrature VCO or the (upcoming) cream/black A-106-5). So there is no need to dispute. Simply order the version you prefer.

Angled view (click to enlarge)

After NAMM Doepfer will decide how they will proceed...
 
Update 22/02/2016:
Presumably in April 2016 these modules will follow as vintage versions:
A-112 Sampler, A-138b Mixer, A-154 Seq, A-155 Seq, A-156 Dual Quantizer, A-160-5, A-170 Slew Limiter, A-188-1 BBD and A-199 Spring Reverb.

Likewise the Low Cost Cases A-100LC3, A-100LC6, A-100LC9 and A-100LCB will be available in black coated versions from April 2016. 
The above picture shows the vintage modules mounted into a black A-100LC3. 
More information, prices, picture, release dates will be available about middle of March 2016. 
The surcharges will be in the range Euro 45 (A-100LC3) to Euro 80 (A-100LC9).

Doepfer A-197-2 / Velleman VPS10 Oscilloscope Kit

In the early days of the A-100, Doepfer also sold the A-197-2 LCD Oscilloscope Front Panel Kit.

This kit is no longer available, and was not a module manufactured by Doepfer but only a 34HP wide front panel kit to mount the one-channel Velleman Panelscope VPS10 LCD Oscilloscope into an A-100 frame.

The kit consisted of the plain front panel (punched for VPS10, without printing), an A-180 Multiples PC board (mounted crosswise below the scope) and all wires necessary to connect the VPS10 to the A-100 bus (power supply) and the A-180 board (signal input). 

A-197-2 Kit with Velleman VPS10 Oscilloscope
installed plus manual and mounting screws

The connecting lines between the sockets were made with black, waterproof felt pen. 

A little bit of mechanical skills and soldering was necessary to put this all together. 

Three wires had to be soldered to the VPS10 (GND, +12V, signal). 

One hole had to be drilled into the plastic case of the VPS10 for the passage of the wires, and the VPS10 had to be mounted to the front panel with 4 screws and nuts. 

A detailed mounting and soldering description was added to the panel kit. 

A-197-2 Kit with Velleman VPS10
Oscilloscope installed

No special measuring cable (BNC - 3.5 mm jack) was necessary as the four right sockets were internally connected to the VPS BNC input (the BNC input was connected to the right four sockets of the A-180 board) . 

The four left sockets built a second multiple without connection to the VPS10 (same as A-180).

It was also possible to run the VPS10 with an external power supply to save the "high quality" current/voltage of the A-100 bus. 

The VPS10 did not require an exactly adjusted and highly stabilized supply voltage.

Back-side of the A-197-2 Kit with Velleman VPS10
Oscilloscope installed

So... Why did Doepfer offer only the front panel kit ?
Doepfer mentioned on their website: " We do not get a better price for the VPS10 than a normal end user but have to take on the warranty and to calculate the dealers rebate into the final price.
I.e. we have to add at least the dealers rebate and the handling charges to the VPS10 price to obtain a zero profit !
This would extremely increase the price of the module and we think that this is not in the sense of the customers."

You can find the full description and support files for the Vellemann VPS10 HERE
The assembly and wiring manual is available for download from the Doepfer website: A197_2_man.pdf

The price of the A-197-2 was 40 Euro (only for the front panel kit, the VPS10 had to be ordered seperately by the customer e.g. from an electronic shop for almost 200 Euros)

Remark: We are not responsible for the features of the VPS10. 

Mounting/wiring the VPS10 may affect the warranty. 

Pictures via MATRIXSYNTH