hello pierre,

> Finally, I was checking out the wiard noise ring sound clips the

other day.

> I have never been too interested in randomising modules, but this

one seems

> to be able to create these pretty cool sounding tones. I noticed

that the

> the a149-1 has similar outputs - n+1 and 2^n states - and so was

wondering

> whether it was possible for the a149-1 to make tones as well...

the wiard noise ring and the a149/1
are quite different and they were
designed for different purposes.

both have outputs for 2^n and n+1 states,
both use a shift register, but the rest
cannot be compared.

the wiard noise ring is clocked by
an internal oscillator, it is not
possible to clock it with an external
gate signal. the minimum frequency
of the internal clock is 1 hz, which
is not really slow. the maximum frequency
is 10 khz, so the module is more
suitable to run in the audio range.
you can control the randomness and how
often changes occour. therefore the
noise ring is very usable as a chaos
oscillator, as it can produce real tones
at certain settings, besides all the
different noise shapes. it won't give
you slow control voltages for your vco's
or vcf's and it won't run "in sync"
with your sequencer or with your
keyboard-playing. in contrast it can
provide modulations, noises and rough
tones which are unavailable elsewhere
and it is a great inspirational source
for experimentalists.

the a149/1 random voltage module has
to be clocked by an external gate
or trigger pulse, therefore it
can run "in sync" with a sequencer.
the module outputs quantized and
stored voltages. you can control the
number of possible states or the
distribution of high/low values.
this makes the a149/1 much more suitable
for generating control voltages, for
instance to control your vco's or vcf's.
clocked at audio frequency, it will
outout a noise signal only, but no tones.
the a149/1 is great for those who want
a more musical control over the
random voltages.

best wishes

ingo