Doepfer

Hi Joe

> It took me a day or two, but I was able to get a good understanding of 
> the A136 by patching it to a VCO and listening to the results, and 
> also by patching it to an A170 slew limiter and watching the -/+ LEDs.

You must have more patience than me! I made up a little module with a
centre-zero meter in it, and tried to follow what was happening by
watching the needle swing back and forth, but soon convinced myself
that I wasn't going to get the full story that way. Even after I got
the scope and could *see* what was happening, I couldn't equate what I
saw to the manual. Then I drew out the circuit (the first one I tried
in fact) and finally sussed it!

> There's no doubt that a sillyscope would be very useful, though. I'm 
> watching that thread carefully, because I haven't found a good, 
> inexpensive one that I like yet.

As I mentioned in that thread, I picked up a second-hand one - my
understanding and enjoyment of my A-100 then increased about tenfold!
I'm impressed that so many people manage without one, I know I
couldn't, but then I'm not musical, so don't have that to fall back on...

> I mentioned this hard clipping of DC voltages back in the "Module 
> Quirks" thread. I think the fact that its not mentioned in the A136 
> User's Manual is a very serious ommission. In addition, the 
> description of how the amplification pot operates is COMPLETELY 
> BACKWARDS, and the description of the +A and -A pots is erroneous as 
> well. 
> 
> I think that it would have been much easier for me to get an 
> understanding of the A136 if the User's Manual wasn't so poor. This is 
> definitely a case where Doepfer owes us a correction, and since the 
> problem can be fixed by updating the online documentation, there's 
> really no excuse.

I quite agree! When I discovered the 'backwards' problem more things
started making sense. I emailed a fairly long list of
mistakes/corrections to Dieter some while back - let's just hope they
get round to correcting some of them. I'll check out the 'Quirks'
thread when I get the chance - sounds useful!

Tim

[The views expressed above are entirely those of the writer and do not
represent the views, policy or understanding of any other person or
official body.]