Doepfer

This may be the only mod which will take you less time to do 
than it will to read this letter.  I could have *sworn* i had already 
posted this...i actually remember typing it, but possibly old age 
has effected my memory along with my sexual stamina.

Anyway, if i have posted this and for osme reason I just can't find 
it, please forgive the aged of the list. 

You can convert one (or both if you care to) of the A-114 Ring 
Modulators to DC coupling with a single solder bridge.  Takes 
about a second.  It will give you DC coupling capability - in short, 
the Y input wil now accept DC voltages, making your A-114 a 
VCA (footnote required - see below). At very least it does also 
give timbral differences from the AC coupled half (you get both 
the X and Y sum frequencies I believe with DC coupled 
multipliers).  Totally worth the one minute it'll take to do it. 

Here's how!

1) Take your unit out.  No, not THAT unit...the A-114.

2) You'll notice two capacitors on the board in which the long 
dimension of their case is parallel to the faceplate.  One is for 
the top half, one is for the bottom.  All you have to do is bridge the 
two contacts of that cap and you're done.  You don't even have to 
remove the component.  It doesn't get any easier than that, babe.  
You can do this with just a solder bridge or by running a 
component lead across the two contacts and soldering that in 
place.  I happen to be rich in cut component leads around here, 
so i opted to do it that way.  One less to sweep up at the end of 
the day.

The differences between the AC and DC rings are significant.  I  
keep one as is and mod'd the other.  There's room on the 
faceplate to add a switch so that it could be selectable between 
the two states, but with two rings in one module it doesn't seem 
practical to do that.

(footnote:  The DC response of the DC coupled Y input is 
inverted (180 degrees out of phase with the input)  In short, if you 
were using this as a VCA, the greater the voltage put into the Y 
input, the more attenuation at the output (output gets softer).  
Usually it's the other way around.  No big deal, the sonic 
characteristic of the DC Ring is still worth it.  If you wanted to get 
fancy, you *could* add an inverting op amp or discrete transister 
inverter bwteen the Y input and the cap to put the control 
response back into phase - that's up to you.)

Try this one - you'll like it.  And again if for some reason I have 
already posted this and just kind find it....be kind to the ancient 
(and stupid) among us, namely me.

- P