Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Doepfer A-150-8 Octal Manual/Voltage Controlled Programmable Switches Announced

Doepfer has just released some info on their new modules for NAMM 2017 (19-21 jan.)
Besides some vintage editions of existing modules, the A-135ABC VC Performance mixer modules, the A-110-6Trapezoid Thru Zero Quadrature VCO and a new A-100LC1 case (economically priced small housing with 48 HP width) there was also one other interesting new module announcement:

Module A-150-8 contains eight manually/voltage controlled switches. 
Each of the eight switches has a manual control button (Man.), a control voltage input (CV), a common Out / Input (O/I), and two In / Outputs (I/O1, I/O2). 
The switches are bi-directional, i.e. they can work in both directions, so can connect one input to either of two outputs, or either of two inputs to one output. 

A-150-8 Octal VC Switch prototype
Two LEDs show which in / output is active (ie. which is connected to the common out / input). 
In addition the LEDs are used for the programming of the module:
For each unit the operating mode can be selected: 
Toggle or Level controlled. In Toggle mode the rising edge of the CV input or operating the manual control button changes the state of the switch. In Level mode the switch state is defined by the voltage applied to the CV input (low voltage = I/O1, high voltage = I/O2) or by the state of the manual control button (not pressed = I/O1, pressed = I/O2). 
The modes are programmed very easily: Operating the Toggle/Level button of the program section displays the current state of each switch with the LEDs (left LED on = Toggle mode, right LED on = Level mode). 
Operating the manual control button of the switch in question changes the toggle/level mode.
In addition it's possible to define master/slave groups. In such a group the upper unit (= master) controls also the state of the following switches provided that they are defined as slaves. 
Master/slave programming is also very simple: Operating the Master/Slave button of the program section displays the current state of each switch with the LEDs (left LED on = Master, right LED on = Slave). 

Operating the manual control button of the switch in question changes the master/slave mode. 
When all 8 units are defined as master each switch is independent of each other. If for example the sequence is MSSSMSMS the control unit of the first switch also controls the switches 2, 3 and 4. The control unit of switch #5 also controls the switch #6, and the control unit of switch #7 also controls the switch #8.

Doepfer is also thinking about a small preset management with eight presets which store the states and modes of all switches. But they are not yet sure if this makes sense because the configuration of the switches is associated very closely to the patching of the sockets.

Date of Delivery: Spring 2017 
Price: ~ US$ 160.00 (Euro 150.00) 

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