DoepferA-111-5 Mini Synthesizer Voice

Doepfer A-111-5

Doepfer's A-111-5 is a fantastic all-in-one Eurorack modular synth voice with all the basic synthesizer building blocks, based on the much-loved Dark Energy. It's perfect as a first module, or as a way to easily expand your system with another complete voice. Featuring a VCO, VCF, VCA, ADSR envelope, and two LFOs, it provides a comprehensive set of synthesizer functions. Many of the common connections from ADSR and LFOs are hardwired behind the panel, and routed by use of switches, eliminating the need for patch cables for these common modulation routings.

The VCO is a three-waveform oscillator with triangle, rising sawtooth, and pulse waveforms. The frequency of the oscillator can be modulated from external sources via the CV input, or internally from the envelope or LFO 1. The pulse width features manual control and external pulse width modulation, which can be set to the LFO2, ADSR envelope, or off. A three-position waveform selection switch chooses between the sawtooth and triangle waveforms to pass into the filter, or turns them both off. By default, the pulse waveform is routed to the filter but turning the pulse width all the way down effectively silences the pulse waveform from the mix going to the VCF.

The VCF is a 24dB/oct low pass filter with an approximate 12 octaves of frequency range. At high settings, the resonance causes the filter to self oscillate and is available for use as an additional sine wave oscillator. The filter can be set to track the CV input going to the oscillator with half and full tracking available by switch. An additional audio signal can be brought in from external sources and is summed with the oscillator at the VCF. For extra harmonic interest and overtones, the triangle wave from the VCO is routed into the linear FM input, an unusual but useful modulation routing. The VCA section features an initial level control to set the initial gain of the audio output. The amplitude can be modulated by external CV, LFO1, ADSR, or switched off which silences the output.

The two LFOs each have three position frequency ranges with low, medium, and high settings, with the LFO reaching into the low audio range at the high setting. Select between triangle and pulse waveforms, or turn the LFO off to interrupt its modulation, useful as a performance tool for bringing in and out LFO modulation. The envelope generator is an ADSR envelope with manual controls for each of the stages. A three-position switch selects the ADSR range, and it can be triggered by external gate signals at the ADSR gate input.

This fully featured module provides a killer synth voice that plays along great with your other gear. Add a sequencer or MIDI to CV converter to it and you have a powerful music making combination that rewards exploration.

A-111-5 Features

• Monophonic synthesizer voice
• Includes VCO, VCF, VCA, ADSR envelope, and two LFOs
• Internal modulation routing with three-position switches
• VCO with triangle, sawtooth, and pulse waveforms
• Octave switch and tune controls
• Pulse width control that goes down to 0% pulse width, silencing the pulse waveform
• 24dB/oct low pass filter
• Resonance goes into self oscillation
• Exponential and linear FM with triangle wave from the VCO normalled into the LFM
• VCA with initial control
• ADSR with range switch
• Two LFOs with three frequency ranges and two waveforms
• Audio input
• LFO1 and ADSR outputs
• Modular version of Doepfer's Dark Energy