DOEPFER Dark Energy User Manual

7
Introduction
Dark EnerGy
DOEPFER
Assoonasthepoweradaptorisconnected,DarkEnergyispoweredon.TheLEDsinbothLFOsections
shouldnowlightupandtogglebetweenredandgreen.TheLEDonthebackpanelshouldashforapprox.
2 seconds and light up permanently.
First contact:
Turnthevolumecontrolofyouramp/mixerfullyOFF,BEFOREpoweringitup.Turnupvolumecontrolof
yourmixer/ampslowlyandplayanoteonyourkeyboard.Youshouldnowhearastatictone.Choosea
comfortablevolume.Andnow–LadiesandGentlemen,haveawarmwelcometoDarkEnergy!
Thecurrentlygeneratedsounddependsonthesettingofallknobsandswitches.Itwillbemosteasyto
createmusicallyusefulpatches,ifyoustartatthisbasicsettingand„compose“yoursoundsstepbystep
from that point on.
WewillnowtakeabrieflookatDarkEnergy‘ssoundgenerationandsoundmanipulationmodules.
Adetaileddescriptionofallfunctionsfollowslateron.
Nowthatyoubroughtallknobsandswitchesintotheirbasicsettings,youwillhearasimpleandstatictone.
Theoscillatorgeneratesasimplesquarewave,thatisaudibleattheaudiooutput,yetwithoutbeingmanipu-
latedinanyway.NowmovetheVCOtuneknobandtheoctaveswitch.Youcancontrolthetuningandthe
pitchrange of the tone.
AssoonasyoucrankuptheFMknob,youwillnoticean„automatic“changeintuning:LFO1isselectedas
amodulationsourceandit‘scontrolvoltagegeneratesaperiodicchangeintuning,resp.VCOfrequency.
NowturntheLFO1Freq.knob.Youwillhearachangeinthemodulationspeedresp.LFO1frequency.
Nowlet‘stakeabrieflookattheltersection(VCF):Turnit‘sFrq.knobslowlycounterclockwise.Youwill
hearthesoundbecommingmoreandmore„dull“untilitgetsinaudible.NowturntheFreq.knobin12
o‘clockpositionandcrankuptheXMknobslowly.Youwillhearaperiodicmodulationofthetimbre,done
byLFO2.Again,youcanalterthemodulationspeedwiththeLFO2Freq.knob.Playacoupleofnotesand
changethesettingsoftheenvelopesection.Youwilnoticeachangeintheloudnesscontourofthenotes.If
youswitchtheSourceswitchesintheVCOandVCFsectionintotheADSRposition(theknobsFMandXM
havetobecrankedupatleastto10o‘clockposition),theenvelopewillcontrolnotonlyloudnessbutalso
pitchandtimbre.
Please note:
DarkEnergy‘sparametersmostlyinteractwitheachother.Thatmeans,thereareoftenmorethanjustone
waytoachieveaspecicresult.Inotherwords:Toenableacertainparametertogenerateawantedresult,
itmightbynecessarytosetotherparametersintoaspecicsetting.Thismightbeabitconfusingfromtime
totime.Anexample:IftheADSR‘ssustainknobissettoit‘smaximum,turningthedecayknobwillnothave
anyinuencetothesound.AlltheADSRcontrolswillnothaveanyinuencetothetimbreofthesound,as
longastheSourceswitchoftheVCFsectionissettoLFO2.ThesamegoesfortheSourceswitchinthe
VCAsection.TomakeuseofDarkEnerg‘sfullsonicpotential,itisimportandtounderstandtheseinterac-
tionofparameters.Pleasedonotgetworried–exploresystematicallyeachparameterandit‘sinteraction
withothers.Youcannotdoanythingwrong.
Ifanaloguesoundsynthesisistotallyknowtoyou,pleaserefertothesection„BasicsofSoundgeneration“
in this manual.

DOEPFER Dark Energy Specifications

General

LFO	1 LFO with triangle and square waveforms
Envelope	1 ADSR Envelope Generator
Connectivity	MIDI In, CV/Gate In/Out
Type	Analog Synthesizer
Oscillator	1 VCO with sawtooth, pulse, and triangle waveforms
Filter	24 dB low-pass filter
Audio Output	1 mono audio output
Power Supply	External Power Supply