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Thread

A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

2015-08-11 by Zoë Blade

Hi all!

So, first off, I bought one of these recently and wow, it's fantastic! It turns the synth into such an expressive performance instrument! Even just this, an oscillator and a VCA sounds lovely, never mind once you add a filter, divider, etc... :)

I led a small workshop on Saturday, getting people into synths, and it seemed everyone preferred the ribbon controller to the keyboard. (They even preferred to control the Roland 100m with this than its own keyboard.) It's simple to set up -- it's velocity sensitive and has aftertouch right out of the box, to the extent you don't even need any envelope generators -- plus it looks a bit like a violin fingerboard or guitar fretboard (especially once you put on little circular stickers down the side to show where the notes go), and it's just plain fun.

Seriously, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this to people. I got it for playing string and pad parts on with lots of portamento, but I think I'm going to be using it for a lot more. It's great!

OK, so on to the issue I've been having with this particular unit: it seems to intermittently think a note's being played when it isn't, forcing the gates to stay open when they shouldn't. (Yes, I checked the position hold switch is off, changed the threshold to rule that out, even unplugged the ribbon controller itself and switched it off and on again, no dice.) It first did this just before a talk I gave in which I was trying to demo with it, ack! It seems to break for about, say, half an hour at a time, then work again, then break again, then work again... at least, that's what it was doing on Saturday when I was getting some people into modular synths. It was fine before then, in my studio, although I've only used it a few times so far.

Is there any part of the circuit that's likely to fail in this particular way? Is it something the trimpot might help with? My partner's a dab hand at soldering, so we're happy to try to fix it ourselves. It seemed like it might be a short circuit of some kind, but we had a quick look at the circuit board and everything looks fine.

Anyway, don't let that put anyone off. This is a fantastic, totally underrated module. (Like the vocoder modules.) As far as controllers go, this talks to the synth on its own terms, in its own native language, in a way that polyphonic-looking, non-portamento-enabled, strict-semitones-only, sometimes-not-even-velocity-sensitive keyboards tend not to. It just feels *right*. It's expressive pads, strings, fretless basses and slide guitars, all rolled into one.

Thanks,
Zoë.

AW: [Doepfer_a100] A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

2015-08-11 by yahoo@doepfer.de

Did you use the position gate or the pressure gate?

For the pressure gate there is a trimming potentiometer for the lower threshold of the threshold control. That's the only trimming
potentiometer.

From the thoery the module may also pick up noise via the cable leading from the manual to the module. That way it may recognize a
touch. But I have never heard from anyone about such a problem. You may try a short cable to reduce such possible interferences.

Best wishes
Dieter Doepfer

Show quoted textHide quoted text

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com]
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 11. August 2015 13:01
> An: Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com
> Betreff: [Doepfer_a100] A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller
>
>
> Hi all!
>
> So, first off, I bought one of these recently and wow, it's fantastic!  It turns the synth into such an expressive
> performance instrument!  Even just this, an oscillator and a VCA sounds lovely, never mind once you add a filter,
> divider, etc... :)
>
> I led a small workshop on Saturday, getting people into synths, and it seemed everyone preferred the ribbon controller to
> the keyboard.  (They even preferred to control the Roland 100m with this than its own keyboard.)  It's simple to set up
> -- it's velocity sensitive and has aftertouch right out of the box, to the extent you don't even need any envelope
> generators -- plus it looks a bit like a violin fingerboard or guitar fretboard (especially once you put on little
> circular stickers down the side to show where the notes go), and it's just plain fun.
>
> Seriously, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this to people.  I got it for playing string and pad parts on with lots of
> portamento, but I think I'm going to be using it for a lot more.  It's great!
>
>
>
> OK, so on to the issue I've been having with this particular unit: it seems to intermittently think a note's being played
> when it isn't, forcing the gates to stay open when they shouldn't.  (Yes, I checked the position hold switch is off,
> changed the threshold to rule that out, even unplugged the ribbon controller itself and switched it off and on again, no
> dice.)  It first did this just before a talk I gave in which I was trying to demo with it, ack!  It seems to break for
> about, say, half an hour at a time, then work again, then break again, then work again... at least, that's what it was
> doing on Saturday when I was getting some people into modular synths.  It was fine before then, in my studio, although
> I've only used it a few times so far.
>
> Is there any part of the circuit that's likely to fail in this particular way?  Is it something the trimpot might help
> with?  My partner's a dab hand at soldering, so we're happy to try to fix it ourselves.  It seemed like it might be a
> short circuit of some kind, but we had a quick look at the circuit board and everything looks fine.
>
> Anyway, don't let that put anyone off.  This is a fantastic, totally underrated module.  (Like the vocoder modules.)  As
> far as controllers go, this talks to the synth on its own terms, in its own native language, in a way that
> polyphonic-looking, non-portamento-enabled, strict-semitones-only, sometimes-not-even-velocity-sensitive keyboards tend
> not to.  It just feels *right*.  It's expressive pads, strings, fretless basses and slide guitars, all rolled into one.
>
> Thanks,
> Zoë.
>
> ------------------------------------
> Posted by: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Zo=EB_Blade?= <zoe@bytenoise.co.uk>
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo Groups Links
>
>
>

Re: [Doepfer_a100] A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

2015-08-11 by christian ienni

YES, wholeheartedly seconded! i have both the 198 for the a100 and an R2M for the midi rig and they are both fantastically amazing superduper awesomeness wrapped in exponentiated stupendousness..... or all the relevant technical reasons Zoë gives below....  ;-)

btw the R2M in combo with a Regelwerk and my old Ensoniq VFX-SD (poly-pressure!) makes that arturia cs80 plugin actually come alive a bit.
there's also a great shot, i think right at the beginning, of that "Totally Wired" documetary of Andreas having great fun with a 198 running it along his forehead and stuff!
(ps: i've never encountered this particular problem with either of my units before, so like Dieter said it's probably one of those "odd particular random intermittent fault" things. the fact that it works fine when it's home safe in your studio but only misbehaves out in the world... maybe it just has a touch of social anxiety?)

Show quoted textHide quoted text

      From: "Zoë Blade zoe@bytenoise.co.uk [Doepfer_a100]" <Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com>
 To: Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com 
 Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 4:01 AM
 Subject: [Doepfer_a100] A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

    Hi all!

So, first off, I bought one of these recently and wow, it's fantastic! It turns the synth into such an expressive performance instrument! Even just this, an oscillator and a VCA sounds lovely, never mind once you add a filter, divider, etc... :)

I led a small workshop on Saturday, getting people into synths, and it seemed everyone preferred the ribbon controller to the keyboard. (They even preferred to control the Roland 100m with this than its own keyboard.) It's simple to set up -- it's velocity sensitive and has aftertouch right out of the box, to the extent you don't even need any envelope generators -- plus it looks a bit like a violin fingerboard or guitar fretboard (especially once you put on little circular stickers down the side to show where the notes go), and it's just plain fun.

Seriously, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this to people. I got it for playing string and pad parts on with lots of portamento, but I think I'm going to be using it for a lot more. It's great!

OK, so on to the issue I've been having with this particular unit: it seems to intermittently think a note's being played when it isn't, forcing the gates to stay open when they shouldn't. (Yes, I checked the position hold switch is off, changed the threshold to rule that out, even unplugged the ribbon controller itself and switched it off and on again, no dice.) It first did this just before a talk I gave in which I was trying to demo with it, ack! It seems to break for about, say, half an hour at a time, then work again, then break again, then work again... at least, that's what it was doing on Saturday when I was getting some people into modular synths. It was fine before then, in my studio, although I've only used it a few times so far.

Is there any part of the circuit that's likely to fail in this particular way? Is it something the trimpot might help with? My partner's a dab hand at soldering, so we're happy to try to fix it ourselves. It seemed like it might be a short circuit of some kind, but we had a quick look at the circuit board and everything looks fine.

Anyway, don't let that put anyone off. This is a fantastic, totally underrated module. (Like the vocoder modules.) As far as controllers go, this talks to the synth on its own terms, in its own native language, in a way that polyphonic-looking, non-portamento-enabled, strict-semitones-only, sometimes-not-even-velocity-sensitive keyboards tend not to. It just feels *right*. It's expressive pads, strings, fretless basses and slide guitars, all rolled into one.

Thanks,
Zoë.  #yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874 -- #yiv0426930874ygrp-mkp {border:1px solid #d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:10px 0;padding:0 10px;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-mkp hr {border:1px solid #d8d8d8;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-mkp #yiv0426930874hd {color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:700;line-height:122%;margin:10px 0;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-mkp #yiv0426930874ads {margin-bottom:10px;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-mkp .yiv0426930874ad {padding:0 0;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-mkp .yiv0426930874ad p {margin:0;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-mkp .yiv0426930874ad a {color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-sponsor #yiv0426930874ygrp-lc {font-family:Arial;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-sponsor #yiv0426930874ygrp-lc #yiv0426930874hd {margin:10px 0px;font-weight:700;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;}#yiv0426930874 #yiv0426930874ygrp-sponsor #yiv0426930874ygrp-lc .yiv0426930874ad {margin-bottom:10px;padding:0 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Re: [Doepfer_a100] A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

2015-08-11 by Zoë Blade

Hi hi!

Doepfer wrote:

> Did you use the position gate or the pressure gate?
> 
> For the pressure gate there is a trimming potentiometer for the lower threshold of the threshold control. That's the only trimming
> potentiometer.
> 
> From the thoery the module may also pick up noise via the cable leading from the manual to the module. That way it may recognize a
> touch. But I have never heard from anyone about such a problem. You may try a short cable to reduce such possible interferences.

It's still got this problem at the moment.  Flicking the switch and changing the scales and threshold all have no effect on the gates at all, both LEDs stay on, even if I unplug the ribbon controller cable from the module.  This is why I think it's not the manual or cable causing the issue, but the module itself.

Thanks for the explanation of the trimming potentiometer.  It doesn't sound like that's the problem then, as it's both the position and pressure that are giving false positives.  Unless it somehow affects both?

Christian Ienni wrote:

> the fact that it works fine when it's home safe in your studio but only misbehaves out in the world... maybe it just has a touch of social anxiety?

Heh, I fear it might have gotten a bit too excited on the journey to the university for the synth patching workshop, though I can't see anything wrong with it and it was a smooth ride.  Plus all the other A-100 modules I brought along seem fine.  (Indeed, they seemed to be working much better than the other synths we got to play with, that the uni provided: two VCS3s and 100ms, nice.)

Is there anything I should try to fix this?

Thanks,
Zoë.

Re: [Doepfer_a100] A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

2015-08-11 by christian ienni

hey hey!  :-)
>Hi hi!>> the fact that it works fine when it's home safe in your studio but only misbehaves out in the world... maybe it just has a touch of social anxiety?
>Heh, I fear it might have gotten a bit too excited on the journey to the university for the synth patching workshopOHBOYOHBOYOHBOYAREWEGOINGFORARIDE?!OHBOYOHBOYOHBOY!!!!!!!!!!*PANT*PANT*PANT*PANT*PANT*>Is there anything I should try to fix this?
well, reversing the polarity of the neutron flow usually works for me... unless the catalyser blows, in which case you're stranded... (and don't *even* get me started on what totally useless snake-oil crap those so-called "flux capacitors" are, sheesh...)    ;-)

    
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Re: A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

2015-08-12 by mark@umcorps.com

Nail. Head. Hit.

Mark (umcorps)

AW: [Doepfer_a100] A-198 Trautonium / ribbon controller

2015-08-12 by yahoo@doepfer.de

> Thanks for the explanation of the trimming potentiometer.  It doesn't sound like that's the problem then, as it's both
> the position and pressure that are giving false positives.  Unless it somehow affects both?

That's really strange and I cannot remember that we ever had this issue. The easiest thing you could try out is to replace the
TL084. It's a standard low cost and easy to find circuit. If that does not solve the problem the module has been sent in for repair.

Best wishes
Dieter Doepfer