Ah! Enlightenment. ^_^

Seriously, though, many thanks! after i sent the email it did occur to me that it probably had something to do with power supplies. since those 2 110s are dedicated to the Energy i will definitely make the adjustment you describe. (and sometime i will try connecting the Energy to the big A100 just to see, though i have a feeling you're absolutely right about it.)

any thoughts about the other issue: the difference in the tuning between using the Time's MIDI vs. CV outputs it's not a big deal (it doesn't affect the usability at all for me), i'm just curious if it's intentional or a glitch. (maybe this is a question for Christian Assal )


Again, stupendous thanks!

--chris


(ps- total non sequitor, but thanks for turning me on to GusGus! "Over" is now stuck in my brain, and i just purchased "Arabian Horse" and recorded the audio from the live perfromances on youtube. beautiful and minimalist - love it!! and Earth... wow! ^_^ )



________________________________
From: " yahoo@... " < yahoo@... >
To: Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 13, 2011 1:31 AM
Subject: AW: 1 Dark Energy/Time/A110 tuning discrepancy


 

> hi all!
> just curious about possibly anomalous behavior i've noticed... in
> addition to my A100 rig, i also have another separate keyboard
> setup that includes a "micro-modular" system based on a Dark
> Time/Energy combo expanded with 2 mini-cases of modules,
> including 2 A110 oscillators (more portable than the 5 G6 racks
> ^_^ ). I have the Time controlling the Energy over MIDI, with the
> CV1 output of the Energy controlling the 110s. the problem is the
> tuning on the 110s is offset from the tuning on the Energy: with
> the Energy's VCO tuning knob at 12 o'clock (which is in tune with
> MIDI, i.e. root key is "C"), the 2 110s have to have their tuning
> pots turned almost fully clockwise to be in unison tune with the
> Energy. this is a consistent offset even when i change control to
> all 3 running from the CV out of the Time instead of the MIDI
> control (Time->CV->Energy & 110s instead of
> Time->MIDI->Energy->CV->110s), though that adds the additional
> separate phenomenon that root pitch on the Time is also off: i.e.
> root "C" is when the Time's knobs are at approximately 12 o'clock
> instead of full counter-clockwise as when i use MIDI (again this
> is a completely separate issue from the 110 tuning offset
> phenomenon - this also makes MIDI key control into the Time
> offset as well, i.e. i hit a "C" on the MIDI keyboard and the
> Time outputs CV for a lower "F#" or so). note: when the 110s were
> part of the big A100 their tuning consistency was fine (12
> o'clock=unison), so it's not the 110's fault.
> maybe the CV out calibration on the Energy is a little off and
> maybe the Time also
> just curious if anyone else has noticed such behavior, or if it's
> isolated to my particular units.
> i hope i made all that as clear as possible :-) as i said it's a
> couple totally separate issues:
> 1) tuning offset between Energy & 110s
> 2) tuning offset difference between Time MIDI out vs. Time CV out)
> that then interact to create a compounded dysfunction. thanks in
> advance for any comments or advice.
> Be Seeing You!
> --chris

The problem is probably caused by the simple power supply used in the A-100
miniature cases. The standard power supplies of the "big" cases is adjusted
to exactly +/- 12.00V. The power supply built into the A-100 miniature cases
uses simple voltage regulators (7812, 7912) that cannot be adjusted and have
some tolerances (typ. +/- 11.5 ... 12.5V). As the absolute pitch of the
A-110 is affected by the supply voltage this is probably the reason why the
tuning of the A-110 is a bit off the Dark Energy. If you own an A-100
standard case (A-100G6, A-100P6/P9, A-100LC6/LC9 or any monster case) you
may try this out. I'd expect that the A-110 is in tune with the Dark Energy
when it's powered by one of these cases.

But there is a simple solution: adjust the trimming potentiometer P6 (VCO
offset) on the A-110 board so that the A-110 is in tune with the Dark Energy
VCO (i.e. with the manual frequency controls at the front panels of both
units in center position). Details on our website:

www.doepfer.com > PRODUCTS > A-100 > Module Overview > A-110 > service
manual

If you only touch P6 nothing can go wrong. But do not change the position of
any other trimming potentiometer.

Best wishes
Dieter Doepfer




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]