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).

Quick Tip XIII : Improvised Multiples

The bigger your Eurorack gets, the more often you need longer cables.
In case you don't have enough long cables, i would advice you to put an A-180(-2) Multiples module somewhere in the middle of your system so you can extend your cable-reach from there.

A-164-1 as
improvised
Multiple

If you don't have enough multiple modules, you can also look if you have other options.

A-165 Trigger
Modifier Inputs

You should know that some Doepfer modules have multiple in- or outputs that are interconnected in a way that they can act as multiples as well...

You can recognize these in/outputs by the connected line between the mini-jacks.
The A-175 Voltage Inverter  and A-165 Trigger Modifier  are nice examples,  both have two separate channels, so also two multiples.
The A-164-1 Manual Gate module can even be used as 3 separate multiples.
The 2 outputs on the A-119 External Input module are connected together too, as well as the audio inputs on the A-126 Voltage Controlled Frequency Shifter.

A few more Doepfer modules also have this option, let me know in the comments if you find other modules that have this possibility.

This 'trick' works for CV signals and for audio but I should mention that if you use these modules as an improvised Multiple, most of the times you cannot use the module's original functions at the same time.

Doepfer Pre-MusikMesse 2013 Announcements

Dieter Doepfer made a few announcements today about the upcoming new modules and about the MusikMesse 2013, that will be held from the 10th to the 13th of April 2013 in Frankfurt, Germany.

I'm looking most forward to the new A-157 Mini Schaltwerk prototypes, i cant wait until the are finished.:
Doepfer stated that they " ...will hopefully show the "large" version of the trigger sequencer A-157/miniature Schaltwerk (8 rows with 16 steps each).
The 8x16 button/LED board is ready but I cannot guarantee that the controller board will be also ready for the Musikmesse."

One of the earlier
A-190-5 prototypes

They will also show the prototype of the new version of the A-190-5 Polyphonic USB/Midi-to-CV/Gate Interface (with LCD) and the A-190-8 USB/Midi-to-Sync Interface at the Musikmesse in Frankfurt.

These modules will be available about summer 2013. 

The other news:

The small version of the multiple A-180 is available in April 2013 (2 HP only, name: A-180-2)

The module A-171-2 (licensed copy of the Serge/CGS VCS) will be available about end of April or early in May 2013.
(It will be interesting to see how the Serge's new deal with TipTop works out - expect a surge of Serge for your Eurorack this year /PP)

A-171-2 Serge
Slew Limiter
prototype

The re-designed A-130 (linear VCA) is now delivered with a precision VCA circuit (SSM2164) instead of the CA3080).
The new A-130 is DC-coupled.

The re-designed A-131 (exponential VCA) is now delivered also with an improved VCA circuit (high end THAT VCA circuit instead of the CA3080).
The new A-131 is also DC-coupled.

The A-135 will be available from about May 2013 in a revised version with DC coupling of the signals and single outputs, i.e. it can be used also as 4 separate linear VCAs with manual gain, CV in with attenuator and signal in with attenuator.
Because of the DC coupling it can be used also for modulation signal processing (i.e. voltage controlled mixing of control signals).

So, a lot of updates, can't wait to see the first pictures of the A-157 combo coming from MusikMesse.
Are you going to MusikMesse this year and want to contribute pictures to PatchPierre.Net?
Feel free to contact me via the comments, email or Twitter, thanks in advance!

New Doepfer Announcements

Doepfer released preliminary information about two new modules.

The A-190-8 is a MIDI/USB to Sync interface.
Basically this module divides the incoming MIDI or USB clock messages into smaller steps.
You could see it as a modular version of the MSY2 MIDI-to-SYNC Converter that was announced in December last year, but with multiple simultaneous outputs and added USB support.
Funny that i already posted my idea for a module like this in late 2010 (Read that blogpost HERE)

A-190-8 Prototype 1

The main application of the module is the control of clocked A-100 modules like sequencers, sequencer controllers, trigger divider, trigger sequencer and similar units, but also to trigger/reset LFO's, envelope generators and more.

The A-190-8 will have 10 available outputs which are not yet fixed. 

Preliminary info can be found HERE, and if the users think other combinations of clocks or start/stop/reset outputs would be better, Doepfer can change that because the outputs are generated by the firmware of the processor.

Read some of the user suggestions at the Doepfer Yahoo Usergroup.

Doepfer left out the usual DIN SYNC socket because to create that you only need clock and start/stop on two pins of the DIN socket. 

If there are sufficient inquiries Doepfer may offer a special cable with two 3.5 jack plugs on one side and a DIN plug on the other. 

(For example to synchronize a TB-303)

A-180 Multiples and
a 2 HP blindplate,
the size of
the new A-180-2

For early in 2013 also a slim version of the A-180 Multiples module is planned.

This will be called A-180-2 and will be half the size of a regular A-180.

Because of the only 2 HP width nuts cannot be used to mount the pc board by means of the socket nuts at the front panel. 

Instead of that the PC board is mounted by screws and spacers at the front panel.(pic)

Personally i don't think i want one of those in my system because of how a nut-less module looks, but i can imagine there are people who applaud space-saving modules like this.

There were also a few other announcements/updates:
In December the A-192-2 (Dual CV/Gate-to-USB/Midi interface) will be available and even the hardware of the Polyphonic CV/Gate interface A-190-5 is ready.
"Christian (Assall) is about to program the firmware. But it takes longer than expected  and so the A-190-5 will be available early in 2013."

Special thanks to Bakis Sirros in the Doepfer Usergroup for sharing parts of this info.
Bakis can be found via multiple ways, support him and his band(s) to help the Greece economy a bit:

www.parallel-worlds-music.com
www.facebook.com/pages/Parallel-Worlds/192093934136476
www.myspace.com/interconnectedmusic
www.myspace.com/memorygeist
www.DiN.org.uk
www.vu-us.com