Doepfer A-156 Vintage Edition

I have the Doepfer A-149 module which generates stored and quantised random voltages. This is great, but soon I found myself looking for a module which would take the output of the A-149 and restrict it to play notes from recognisable scales, such as major and minor ones. I also wanted to create arpeggios which included only notes from certain chords. Research showed that I needed to get a control voltage quantiser, which would select from the random collages only those values that would play notes from chords or scales I had selected.

I bought the A-156 Dual Quantiser after I had checked out much more expensive versions from other manufacturers. The A-156 does not have all the 'bells and whistles' of its more expensive competitors, such as programmable scales and memories. however these devices are at least twice as expensive as the A-156, and I was not looking for extra functionality. A key feature of the A-156 is that it is a dual quantiser - in effect two devices in one. However, the second quantiser defaults to generating semi-tone scales only. This can be changed by changing the position of a jumper on the main circuit board. After that, both quantisers offer the same features, such as notes from a chosen scale or arpeggio playing a certain chord.

The A-156 also includes trigger outputs, which will send a gate signal each time a new note value is generated. This is very useful for 'shaping' the sound, such as triggering a low pass gate to open each time a note is created by the A-156 and played by a VCO.

Are there any shortcomings? Not really. For the price this module performs incredibly well, and it easy to operate. My one suggestion is that the jumper that links or separates the two quantisers, should be replaced by a 2-way switch on the module's front panel.

Great module, highly recommended.

I've been put off buying a quantiser for some time, I'm not really sure why, just one of those things.
I guess it's because I didn't really understand what it did fully. I mean, I know what a quantiser does in a drum machine or sequencer, but this is different in that not only can you get it to spit out cv notes in relation to a trigger you send it, but you can get it to only spit out cv notes that are in a certain key if that's what you want.
And it's so so easy to use that before you know it you'll be creating things on a modular you've never been able to do before without lots of added equipment and a shed load of modules.

A little tip: There's a tiny jumper on the reverse that when moved (see Doepfers website for details) it will make the controls of the bottom quantifier also control the top quantifier.

I really don't know what I was worried about by putting off buying this. It's a doddle to use and works brilliantly.

Being new to modular synthesis, I didn't realise how essential a quantiser was when dealing with analogue sequencers until I purchased this.

Having two separate quantisers in a single module is great and really ups the flexibility. As all Eurorack owners know, when space is limited, having modules that perform multiple tasks in a small space is a godsend!

Was particularly impressed with the scale functions in the secondary quantiser that make it a breeze to get usable, melodic results.

The transpose CV in is something I need to delve a little deeper into, but you can use this to great effect to transpose a sequence up or down in pitch using an external keyboard.

A great little module!