Random Video: DIY Acrylic Modular Syntheziser

This video comes from Jonas Karlsson via the Doepfer A-100 Analog Modular Facebook page.

It features himself, building and installing modules into his DIY acrylic Eurorack-case.

It even has some nice music...

Video: DIY Acrylic Modular Syntheziser

" DIY Building a Eurorack modular synthesizer case of acrylic and Doepfer DIY kit 1.
Stills and video, Music is made with Doepfer A-111-5 Mini synthesizer voice,
Make Noise Phonogene Sequenced with Make Noise René

And a Korg Monotron delay "

Uploaded by miip999

Zyntetix at Bandcamp

The Rest: Waldorf Pulse

Waldorf Pulse

The Doepfer A-100 is not the only analog synthesier in my studio.
Although i am not a collector, I do have some other quite interesting analog machines which I will review in a new section called 'The Rest'

Th first synth that I will discuss today is my Waldorf Pulse... just the plain edition, not the fancy 'plus'-version that was released one year later with CV-Gate outputs and an audio input...
The original Pulse does have the full MIDI in/out/thru sockets and a stereo audio-output.

Waldorf is the German company that emerged from the former digital synthesizer company  PPG,

The Pulse (Years of production: 1996-2002) is a monophonic synthesizer with three digitally controlled analog oscillators and an excellent arpeggiator. 

Waldorf Pulse modulation sources and  destinations

This 3-unit high synthesizer module has 100 patch programs which are divided into 59 presets, 40 user sounds and one random sound.
It has only 4 buttons and 6 knobs on the front panel and a very powerful programming/ modulation matrix.
Besides the more standard modulations, four assignable modulation routes with selectable source, amount and destination allow unlimited possibilities for creating fat analog bass and lead synth sounds.

Waldorf Pulse programming matrix

I have used this synth quite a lot, but it is not in my live-set at the moment. Maybe i should try to integrate it in my current setup... I want to change my studio just a little bit anyway (again)
The Pulse is a very powerful machine, but sadly it is monophonic.
The arpeggiator sounds great and is sync-able via MIDI, making it great for arpeggiated basslines and trancey bleeps.
The 24dB Low-Pass filter is nice but steep, and as you all might know by now, I do prefer 12dB filters...

Waldorf showed the follow-up, the Pulse 2 at the MusikMesse this year.
This is a much compacter desktop- module but it has the same type of programming matrix and many knobs on the front and is backwards compatible with the original Pulse.
It looks and sounds great and it has 500 memories, a large LCD display and up to 8-voice polyphony.
I think i'll stick to the original...

Video: Waldorf Pulse

Video uploaded by mummstylesound

Doepfer A-170 Dual Slew Limiter Video Tutorials by Raul Pena

Yay... a new tutorial series by Raul Pena has started...
The topic this time is the Doepfer A-170 Dual Slew Limiter , enjoy!

Video 1: Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter Basics
" First video in a series on the Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter. Discussing Basic Concepts and features. Audio demonstrations begin in next segment. Sound and Video by Raul Pena. "

Video 2: Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter-Processing and Oscilloscope views Pt 1

" A continuation of the Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter series. In this segment Oscilloscope views of subaudio waveforms are examined when processed through a slew limiter. Audio rate examples begin in the next segment. Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

Video 3: Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter-Processing and Oscilloscope views Pt 2

" A continuation of the Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter series. In this segment Oscilloscope views of subaudio waveforms processed with a slew limiter modulating a VCO are compared to those unprocessed. Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

Video 4: Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter Processing and Oscilloscope Views Pt 3

" A continuation of the Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter series. In this segment we continue to compare oscilloscope views of processed versus unprocessed signals effecting a VCO. Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

Video 5: Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter-Slew Portamento and Filtering Examples

" Continuing the Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter Series. This segment explores a more standard use of the Doepfer A170 Slew Limiter for Portamento. Also included is an example of using the A170 as a Filter. Sound and Video by Raul Pena. " 

Video 6: Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter-Glissando AM example

" A continuation of the Doepfer A170 Slew Limiter Series. In this segment we examine a patch from the manual involving AM.Special thanks to chrisso from the Muff's Module forum.Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

Video 7: Doepfer A170 Dual Slew Limiter -Slew as AR example

" A continuation of the Doepfer A170 Slew Limiter Series. In this segment we examine a patch from the manual involving the A170 as an AR envelope.Sound and Video by Raul Pena."

New videos in this series will be added to this post weekly on Thursdays.

Check out Raul's latest survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/K3Z9PVF

Other places to find Raul's World of Synths on the Web:

raulsworldofsynths on YouTube

raulsworldofsynths on Vimeo

raulsworldofsynths on SoundCloud

raulsworldofsynths at iTunes

raulsworldofsynths at CDBABY

Doepfer A-135-1 Voltage Controlled Mixer Re-Design

Old version of the A-135

The original A-135 module was a simple quad voltage controlled mixer.
It was made of 4 independent linear VCA's, mixed to one common output.
For each VCA the following inputs and controls were available: audio input with attenuator, control voltage input with attenuator, gain (pre-amplification).
The VCA's were realized with high-quality CEM VCA's (CEM3381).

The module could be used for voltage controlled mixing of up to 4 audio signals with separate control voltages (e.g. by LFO's, ADSR's, Random, Shepard generator, MIDI-to-CV interface or other control voltage sources).

In June last year, Doepfer announced the re-design of several modules because of shortage of CEM3080 Chips that were used in this A-135 and other modules.
This year a few of these re-designed modules were released, each in a slightly extended/ improved version (like the A-130/131 that are now also DC-coupled, and the recently announced A-141-2).*

A-135-1 Redesign of the A-135

This new version of the A-135 also has some nice extras in the form of a Sum Out and 4 single outputs for each channel instead of only one (Mixed) Audio output on the original A-135.
They've also managed to make it only 18 HP instead of  22 HP wide.

The new version of the A-135-1 is also able to process slowly varying control voltages because the signal in/outputs are DC coupled.

The new version is manufactured from May 2013 and is available now.

* More re-designs were also promised to us last year, like the A-107, A-116, A-127, A-132-1, A-147, A-171), so that promises a lot for the future...

Find more about various Doepfer re-designs via http://patchpierre.blogspot.nl/search/label/Re-design

SiteTip: A Patch A Day by Hamilton Ulmer

I have been following Hamilton Ulmer's 'A Patch a Day' project from the very beginning, and he completed the first full month of his eurorack/video-project this week.

On his YouTube page, he writes:
" I am not new to music, but I am new to modular synthesis. So I am creating one simple patch a day in order to get used to my small system.

I will do approximately 365 patches over the next year. Over that course of time I will likely add modules, change my setup, and explore various rabbit holes.

A few questions arise from these constraints. First, can I manage to create compelling sounds on a small system without investing a hell of a lot more money? Second, can I consistently produce something even moderately worthwhile every day?"

Videos: A Patch A Day by Hamilton Ulmer (Full Playlist)


Very interesting sounds and a great idea for a project, I'm looking forward to the next 11 months... ;-)

Site: http://hamiltonulmer.com/patch/
You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and Bandcamp

New A-141-2 Voltage Controlled ADSR/LFO Announced

A-141-2 Voltage Controlled
ADSR/LFO

Doepfer announced another new module this week.
The A-141-2 Voltage Controlled ADSR/LFO will replace the old A-141 module that is running out now. (the last ones are on sale)

The newly announced 14 HP wide A-141-2 Voltage Controlled ADSR/LFO will be similar to the A-141 but it has a lot of extras/ improvements.
For example it has a common CV input for all time parameters (A/D/R), a 3-position range switch for time range 10:1:100 and digital outputs for EOA (end of attack) and EOR (end of release).

It also has three envelope outputs: one with fixed ADSR, one inverted output and a third output with additional CV input for level (i.e. built-in level VCA)

There's also the possibility to change the shape of each segment of the envelope (exponential - linear - inverted exponential), it has a VCLFO mode and is planned for summer 2013

The price will be around 125.00 Euro, price and planned release date (August 2013) are still without obligation !

Source: Doepfer Website

Quick Tip XII : A-149-1/2 Connection

Since i recently own an A-149-1/2 Quantized/Stored Random Voltages combination i thought it would be a good idea to spend a few blogposts on it.
Sadly something in my mixing-desk popped yesterday, so i can't make any demo's of it right now (or even listen to loud music...) I hope fixing it will not take too long... or cost too much :-(

This first post is very basic, but i have seen the question on how to connect these two modules pop up on forums several times.
This can also be found in the A-149-2 Manual (PDF), but i guess this post (and picture) will provide all the info you need.

The A-149-2 must be placed directly next to the A-149-1 module (I prefer it on the right side as it seems more logic to me)

A-149 connection - A-149-2 on top, A-149-1 below that
The inter-connecting ribbon is the right one,
the ones on the left should be connected to the busboard

The special connecting ribbon cable is equipped with 10 pin female connectors on both ends.
Join the two modules with the supplied 10-way ribbon cable.
Make sure that the ribbon cable is not twisted, and that the colour-coded section is oriented the same on both modules.

One of the female connectors is already connected in the factory to the pin header labelled "JP2 TO A-149-1 EXPANSION CONNECTOR" on the A-149-2 pc board.
The second female connector of this cable is used to establish the connection between A-149-2 and A-149-1.
This female connector is put on the pin header labelled "JP5 EXPANSION" on the main board of the module A-149-1.
For both modules the cable has to be the same polarity (i.e. red wire to bottom for both modules).

Pay attention not to damage any of the parts on the boards.

Random Video: Eurorack Techno: Stress Testing Doepfer's A-132-4 VCA by Skrapadelix

I found this one on YouTube, a very nice subtle techno track by skrapadelix showing off his A-132-4 VCAs and more...
Enjoy!

Video: Eurorack Techno: Stress Testing Doepfer's A-132-4 VCA

" I just got a new VCA (well 4 of them actually) in the shape of the Doepfer A-132-4.I'm really impressed with the size (6hp), value for money and the sound - snappy, loud and clean. Here's a test patch with bass, percussion, hats and stab each routed through a separate VCA - and no matter how hot the levels get, the A-132-4 takes it all like a champ.

Patch details:
Kick drum: Analogue Solutions DB99
Bass: Cyclebox II sequenced by A-149 into VCA channel 1
Percussion: Piston Honda sequenced from A-160/A-161/A-138c into VCA channel 2
hats: A-118 into VCA channel 3
Stab: Flame Talking Synth into Pittsburgh delay into A-124 Wasp filter into VCA channel 4
The whole mix routed through the TipTop Audio Z5000 cv'd by the A-143-1.
As usual everything done in the wooden box in realtime with nothing else added..."

Uploaded by skrapadelix

Doepfer Gifts - Full Disclosure

Doepfer mug-shot

Back in January i received an e-mail from Dieter Doepfer himself in reply to a few questions that i had in preparation for a new blogpost.

Doepfer customer service has always been good, and Dieter always tries to personally answer his emails the same day. 

He is always willing to help me out with my retro-product-questions.
Besides the answers to my questions, he also had another nice announcement.

" Hello Pierre,
that's really a nice collection of our history products. 

When I have the time I could scan all the old documents I still have.
I think this will help you to continue the excellent work.
As you agreed that we link to your page I'm willing to offer some compensation for your job.
Publishing these details will also help us because sometimes customers ask for something like that.
Let me know if you are interested e.g. in a free A-100 module or similar."

Thank you, Dieter

...and last week, my package finally arrived.

They sent me a beautiful black-and-white Doepfer mug and an A-149-1/2 Quantized/Stored Random Voltages combination,  great modules that were high on my wishlist.

Doepfer mug and A-149-1/2 combo

I am very thankful for these gifts, and i see it as a recognition for (over) three years of blogging about modular synthesizers here at PatchPierre.Net.

I also feel that i have to mention these gifts from Doepfer here, as some kind of disclosure.

I will (of course) write one or more blogposts about my new modules, and i will keep on bringing you all the Doepfer news in the future.

Not much will change by these gifts, but i will stay the Doepfer fanboi that i always have been...

Random Video: Like Forbidden Planet by Yoric Spick

I liked this new video on YouTube.
Sadly it hasn't got much info, but what I see is a nice Eurorack module, controlled by a wooden custom-made (DIY?) controller box with faders, buttons and a joystick.
The video is shot on a mobile phone in portrait-mode and the video isn't very sharp, but I like the sound-effects that are created...

Video: Like Forbidden Planet

" Jeu aux joysticks et faders inspiré par les techniques du GRM. "

" Play with joysticks and faders inspired by the techniques of GRM

Uploaded by yoric spick