I agree with Florian that your question was not clear.  It would be helpful to know what your entire setup (in regards to this sequencer patch) entails.  

IF YOUR A-154/155 IS NOT RUNNING, and you believe it should be working, flip the switch at the lower right of the A-154 labeled Manual On/Off to OFF.  

Here's an example of what I usually do:  If syncing to midi, I use a spare channel (or steal the gate pattern from a used 16th note pattern) from an MAQ16/3 sequencer patched into the A-154 Ext Clock input.  When the DAW is not running, the A-155 is not running.  This is simply because there is no clock present to advance the sequence position, and NOT because the A-154/155 is in STOP mode.  The A-154/155 powers on into START mode, so it is simply waiting for a clock pulse.  You should never need to press START unless you have pressed STOP before sending clock data.  When I start the DAW, this starts the MAQ which in turn "starts" the A-154/155 by driving the clock input.  I do press RESET at the beginning of the song, prior to starting the DAW, just to make sure it starts from step 1... and once your clock signal is connected (but not yet running) it is safe to press START manually just in case you accidentally pressed STOP while setting up.  

   If you want to make the A-155 start and stop while the DAW or continuous clock runs (during a song where other elements continue to play), you can use any gate signal or high/low voltage source to do so (like joystick, LFO, clock divider, etc) and the sequencer should continue from the last position it was in, unless you press RESET during this pause.  However, since there are two separate control inputs, to use ONE source to start AND stop the device, you'll need to also invert the control signal and send normal to one control and inverted to the other. Only a momentary high voltage is required to start or stop (or reset), it is not necessary to hold STOP. 

   I don't suggest you buy an MAQ for this purpose, so I'll assume you have a Midi/CVGate convertor that you are trying to use.  This may have some or all of the following connections: Clock out, Reset Out, Gate out. If a Gate out, you can program a gate pattern to advance the A-154/155 clock.  If a Clock out, patch the clock out to the Ext Clock In on the A-154.  The A-155 should start with the midi sequencer (unless you pressed STOP on the A-154 at some point, of course).  If you have a Reset Out, this can be used to reset the A-154/155 when you start the midi sequencer or to send a start message to be safe, in case you accidentally pressed stop while setting up your patch.  

Hope this helps.  Feel free to ask any more questions. 

Nick

On Nov 10, 2014, at 5:53 AM, "Florian Anwander fanwander@... [Doepfer_a100]" < Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

 

Hmmm, may be one of us does not understand. I try to explain my thoughts:

If you want to control the start/stop buttons externally, there is the
usually the fact, that you also have some external device (for example a
drum machine) to which you want to sync the sequencer to: the sequencer
is the slave, and the external device is the master. If you press start
on the master, it shall control the startbutton of the sequencer too.

But if there is no such external device, means: if the sequencer runs
with its own tempo, and external start is usually not required, then
simply press the start button on the sequencer.

So: what is your requirement to start the sequencer not via the start
button

Am 10.11.2014 11:03, schrieb Neil Kagan blinkenlicht@...
[Doepfer_a100]:
>
> That's my question! I'm asking what other A-154 owners have used,
> ideally I'd like to use existing doepfer modules to toggle stop/start. I
> tried last night using the voltage controlled switch but it didn't g