Booktip II - Vintage Synthesizers by Mark Vail

Another interesting read; 
The subtitle of this book: “Groundbreaking instruments and pioneering designers of electronic music synthesizers” explains a lot about the content...

This neat 300-page book, written in 1993 by Mark Vail, one of the writers of Keyboard magazine, is a very complete overview of 30 years of synthesizer history - from 1962 until 1992.
The book is full with background-stories and funny anecdotes by designers and early users and it is loaded with nice (mostly black and white) pictures.

The buying guide, the giant glossary and the comprehensive index in the back of the book make this book an unmissable read for anyone interested in (analog) synthesizers, sequencers and drum machines.

ISBN: 0-87930-275-5
More info at http://www.markvail.com/

Noise (Picture)

"Noise is a random or quasi-random sound made up of many frequencies, perceived by the ear as hiss"




*from "Vintage Synthesizers" by Mark Vail (1993)

A-164-1 Manual Gate

I love hands-on control over my Doepfer A-100 Sytem:
I simply love my Ribbon Controller, the Joystick, Wheels and Theremin Modules, and this one is also one of my favorites.

Perfect for manual ( one-shot ) triggers is the A-164-1 Manual Gate Module.

This module has 3 seperate trigger-buttons that generate a 12V voltage at their respective Gate outputs when pushed. On release no voltage is sent.

All 3 Buttons have double outputs for even more flexability and functionality, and Gate/Button 1 can also be controlled by an external signal ( e.g. the rectangle output of an LFO ),  what makes button 1 act like a momentary on/off switch. This can add some nice ( rhythmic ) effect to your patch.

I prefer to use this module as a manual trigger for self-made one-shot sounds like cowbell sounds or other weird electronic (drum-) sounds. ( Pjoewwww)
In these patches i mainly use the buttons to trigger one or more ASDR's or envelope generators

Another interesting application for this module is extreme filtering...
Because the output of each  Gate is 12 V, feeding this voltage into a CV input of a filter ( or it's resonance control ) will lead to an abrubt ( and full! ) opening and closing of the filter at the push of a button.

As with almost all A-100 Modules, possibillities are limitless.
Leave a comment if you have more interesting and/or creative use for this module.

Doepfer MAQ16/3 and Doepfer A-100 - A Dynamic Duo

If i could only advice one external controller for the Doepfer A-100 system it would definitely be the Doepfer MAQ16/3 MIDI/Analog Sequencer.

This versatile sequencer has 3 rows of 16 knobs, and outputs a CV (for pitch) and a Gate (trigger) signal for each row. It also has a MIDI input for synchronizing, and a MIDI output to connect any sound generating MIDI device.

The ease of use of this sequencer is incredible, in just a few minutes you have different (bass-) lines wobbling through each-other...

Different running modes are available for each row, such as Forward/ Backward/ Random/ Pendulum and many more, so the possibillities are almost limitless. Other parameters that can be altered in the sequencer are First/Last step, Gate time, Tempo, and almost any other MIDI event type.

My only personal negative point that i would like to mention is the limit of 30 sequence memory spaces, way too little in my opinion, and i know it is more than what sequencers could store long time ago, but hey... can't this be upgraded to 99 memories ( please!? )

There are many alternatives for the MAQ16/3, the A-155 Analog/Trigger Sequencer is Doepfers own dedicated in-system sequencer module that can be extended with the A-154 Enhanced Sequencer Controller, but still doesn't have the full funcionality of the MAQ.

(Analog) sequencers of other brands are also quite popular, some in a eurorack module form-factor, others in the shape of desktop controllers...
What's your favorite? Feel free to leave a comment below!

Best Friends Forever V

The Best Friends Forever section on this blog is a selection of modules that always stay connected, even when i create new patches.

This combination is not much different from my earlier BFF posts, only thing is that here the modules are already connected internally, and not externally with patch-cords.

The two modules, A-160 Clock Divider and A-161 Clock Sequencer are unmissable for rhythmic purposes and for syncing with MIDI or a ( voltage controlled ) LFO.

The Divider is syncronized via the Trigger and Reset Inputs, this module divides the frequencies in steps from /2, /4, /8, /16, /32 and /64, resulting in very usable trigger signals.

The synced Clock Sequencer is a very simple sequencer with 8 steps, the speed of the steps is controlled by the input of the Divider. In fact this combination of modules is an impressive sequencer on it's own.

The outputs of both modules can be used to control any clock, trigger or gate input.
For example, you can use them to trigger envelope generators, resets and (voltage controlled) switches.
It is also possible to use the A-161's trigger outputs to reset the A-160, check out the video below for the basic functions of these modules.

Video: A-160 Demo


Thanks to @Hawklord2112 for the kind permission to use this video

Quick Tip II - Frequency Displacement ( Picture )

"If, instead of patching the outputs from the analysis section to their  'proper' respective outputs in the synthesis section, you swap them about instead, interesting frequency displacements occur in the vocoder output"

* from the A-129/1/2 Modular Vocoder Manual

Missing A-100 Manuals

One of Doepfer's other great services is their Manuals Download Page.
It is a fine resource for all A-100 users because the manuals are full of patch-examples, interesting tips and insights.
So far i downloaded and printed all the manuals that are available.

The manuals of the modules that I own are kept in my selfmade binder,
I keep the others in a seperate binder, but always close to my setup...

What i would like to see is that Doepfer will continue publishing these manuals.
The manuals of their latest modules are sadly not yet available on their page. I do understand that it is quite a bit of work, and that manuals cannot always be released on exactly the same release-date as the module itself, but even some of the modules released in 2008 still don't have a manual :-(

I hope Doepfer just forgot about the manuals and that they are working on it. I also hope i'm not the only one missing them, even the manuals for the less complex modules can be very useful...

Click 'read more' for a list of missing A-100 manuals of released modules ( September 2011 )