Wednesday, March 27, 2013

New Doepfer A-157 Pictures / Dark Flow Announced

Doepfer posted their latest design and a bit more info on the upcoming A-157 (Mini Schaltwerk) Trigger Sequencer Subsystem modules on their website.
Hopefully the finished modules will be shown later at MusikMesse this year (10th-13th of May in Frankfurt, Germany)

A-157-1 Mini Schaltwerk design
The name 'Mini Schaltwerk' seems appropriate now, because it does look a lot like it's larger Schaltwerk brother.

" The LED/button matrix module A-157-1 is the core of the subsystem.
It is used to set or reset the trigger event on each of the 16 steps of each of the 8 rows.
The trigger output module A-157-2 outputs the 8 trigger signals and has an LED display for each trigger.
We will probably add a mute button or mute switch for each row that allows to turn the trigger output off/on independent for each row.
In the final version the modules A-157-1 and A-157-2 will be probably merged into one module only because both modules are essential for the subsystem.

The module A-157-1/2 (or the merged module that will contain both units) can be connected to a simple control module or a more sophisticated control module which is planned for the future (similar to the A-155 and A-154 conceptual design where the A-155 includes a simple control unit that can be replaced by the A-154 which offers a lot of additional functions).

At the beginning a simple control module A-157-3 similar to the A-155 control unit will be available.
It offers only the functions clock, start/stop and reset (both with manual controls and control inputs).
For this standard control unit the tempo (clock) is the same for all 8 rows, the direction is forward and the length of each row is 16.

We also plan a more complex control module A-157-4 that allows additional functions like 128 memories for trigger sequences, different clock/start/stop/reset for 2 or 4 groups of rows (e.g. common for rows 1-4 and 5-8, or in pairs), independent first/last step for each row, independent direction (forward/backward/pendulum/random) for each row, one-shot mode, LC display and so on.
But these ideas are very preliminary and we will have to find out which functions are essential."

Doepfer also mentions that there are also plans for an A-157 stand-alone version adapted to the design of Dark Energy and Dark Time with the same case dimensions and wooden side panels (provisional name "Dark Flow")

Release date: ~ fall 2013 (only A-157-1 ... 3, so far there is no release date available for the planned module A-157-4 and the stand-alone unit Dark Flow !)

7 comments:

  1. Very cool! I do my sequencing mainly in software but there's a lot to be said for the performance element of such hardware sequencers.

    Marc JX8P

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  2. so you posted this the day after
    i listed it on modular grid ?

    at least give me some credit
    submitted Tuesday March 26, 23:58 by FSK1138

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tsss....Don't be silly...
      I wrote this post based on info from the Doepfer website, right after it was mentioned in the Doepfer Usergroup.
      By the way...I hardly ever visit your page.

      Cheers! PP

      Delete
  3. ...it was on the Doepfer website for a while...
    i am not saying i am the- boss of Doepfer news-- just seems like eveyone --just noticed this--

    my original lising on modular grid was pulled months ago
    ..... anyway....
    i will still visit your page

    cheers



    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for your understanding, just a weird coincidence then, triggered by Doepfer's MusikMesse announcements.
    I always try to credit people where credit is due.

    Good luck with Modulargrid btw, i really hadn't checked it out in a very long time. I shall write a SiteTip blogpost about it next month, but what a weird way to bring it to my attention ;-)

    Happy Easter! PP

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  5. live video of the A-157-1

    http://youtu.be/gCeh_7UIcXs

    ReplyDelete