Dark Time

[Brian G]

My Doepfer Dark time arrived today. Examples to follow in the next few days. So far though VERY cool, lots of interesting things it can do.

[EMwhite]

Can it core a apple? (just kidding). I've scanned the manual and have been on and off interested in picking up an 'analog' sequencer. Interest to hear what you have to say / produce with regard to live playing, that is performance features like halving the # of steps or transposing while the sequence is playing, etc.

The Dopefer Maq looks great but I don't think it's the best for tweaking real-time due to needing to go to interface for step skipping, sequence length, etc. (at least that's how it appears).

The Synth.com stuff is faithful analog but somewhat one dimensional unless you team it up with all sorts of additional modules. Dark Time seems somewhere in the middle, so yes, whatever you can put together would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Brian G]

The Apple core feature maybe in the next firmware update
I only had time to play with it a bit tonight but it is very easy ( I think) to adjust things in real time performance. I ran some video of me messing around with it I'll post later, then some more detailed video in the weeks to come.

I'll look through the fine manual later , since you've read it on line you know they make a comment about that .

Cool thing is you can set it up as a 16 step sequence or two separate eight step sequences or an eight step sequence with the other eight steps adjusting gate time for each step...very cool. The Skip, jump and off switches let you do all kinds of fun patterns. Having an octave switch for each row is also pretty cool. Having up/down/random selectable for each row is also a cool feature.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVMeLxIwZQQ

[Niko]

I'm using my DarkTime since end of last year and I'm very happy with it. The very intuitive operation in real time makes a lot of fun to me. And it is highly compatible to my Voyager too (via MIDI and/or via analog CV and gate).
However there is a serious risk to erode my financial constitution significantly because this little box conditioned my brain towards purchasing an A100 modular too. And no end in sight...

[fyvewytches]

I've never really seen the point of the DarkTime myself, for just a bit more more you can get the way more powerful MAQ 16/3.

Ok, the MAQ doesn't look as good

@ EMwhite - yes the features are accessible through the interface but it is very easy and fast. No probs for realtime playing / experimenting.

[xmit]

+1 on the Dark Time here too - I use on to seq my Old School & it's great - I particularly like clocking it from the Voyager's LFO for tempo-sync'd action.... Excellent features for the cash IMHO.

Agree with Niko though : it's a bit of a drug ! I since added the little Dark Energy too ( which is amazing bang for buck ) & this integrates nicely with the Old School, VX-351, CP-251 & Dark Time to give me a simple semi-modular set-up...I too can see myself adding some Doepfer A-100 modules into the action at some point too....

[unfiltered37]

Anyone tried the Regelwerk? It has the midi faders and supposedly analog sequencing, thought it might be cool for sequencing model D. I can get one for a couple hundred, should I do it?

[c7sus]

If you can get a Regalwerk for a couple hundred bucks you should jump on it. If you don't like it you can always turn it later. They have been going for more like the $500 range on Ebay.

[kidgloves2]

I would like to see Moog's take on the Dark Time.

[Niko]

Post by kidgloves2 » Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:42 am

I would like to see Moog's take on the Dark Time.

yes, why not. But it is essential to avoid any copy of an existing product. It's the same with music. Although I have a high respect for cover bands I see a philosophical deficit in doing something another one did before. Furthermore it is bad for our environment because the copier produces CO2 by breathing during the copy action just for the result to have something which was available already before. And it accelerates the process towards to our thermodynamic dead.

For me it is hard to understand why people loves the simultanious dance performances of Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Michael Flatley and his Lord of the Dance - or the marching german army. What is wrong with a single, individual event compare to a multiplication which avoids the view of bad intends (because billions of flies can't be mistaken in eating sh... )

[Omaroo]

I've just bought one - the blue LED version.

Here's a quick video of it driving both my SP and a soft drum kit running under Logic 9 on my Mac Mini after just a few minutes getting acquainted. It's a really, really nice bit of kit. Can't wait to figure it out properly.

Not musical, just a bit of fun (i'm a synth lover, not a musician):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCdCL2jlat4

Three minutes' work - simple-as. As I mentioned, not particularly musical, but great fun getting to know the machine nevertheless:

http://www.omaroo.com/music/DoepferDark ... atty_1.mp3

[Brian G]

Welcome to the DT Club . Fun box to work with, you'll find all kinds of cool things it can do as get to know it.

Enjoy

[Omaroo]

Cheers Brian

A very cool little box of tricks indeed. I've never had any kind of analog sequencer before, and I'm loving the immediacy of its control.

[Brian G]

Here's another demo on the Dark Time, Working on a more in depth tour over the next few weeks. Having too much funb just playing with it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EIK_P1NO3w

[bunnyman]

Here's a demo of the MAQ 16/3 controlling a Voyager. Row 1 > pitch, row 2 > filter cutoff, row 3 > step time. Rows 1 & 3 are random, row 2 is set to pendulum (back and forth). All 3 rows are 16 steps. What I really love about the MAQ is that it's MIDI & analog. You can have it spit out CCs, patch/channel changes, etc from the MIDI, but each row also has CV/gate outs.

http://soundcloud.com/bunnyman-1/maq-16-3-moog

-a bunny