Moog Music Forum

I just got a Doepfer Dark Time and the (2x)1-8 and 1-16 link modes work fine
but the Combi 1-8 mode doesn't. From what I read in the manual, with that
setting you should be able to get individual gate time settings with the 9 to 16
step knobs that correspond with the steps above (1-8) - when I set it to Combi
1-8 it doesn't play a sound. I'm trying to figure out if this is a lemon or not.
There isn't a ton of bare bones information out there for the Dark Time so I'm
at a loss. Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks -

Yes.... I am!

Give updating your firmware a go, this was is/was a known bug, apparently fixed and with added functionality with the latest FW beta
>> darktime_V1.20b_fw_c_121214

I haven't tried this particular FW update out, yet, but after current project I intend to.

Go here...
http://www.doepfer.de/Dark_Time_e.htm
scroll to bottom to 'additional notes and documents' > click on Latest firmware updates....
it's all explained from there

IMHO, the DT is a very cool bit-a-gear
Hope this helps....

the Dark Time has not interfaced very well with Moog
i think flag it and buy one of the dot com Q step sequencers and a bare bones case--you will be much happier

Okay, I couldn't resist, I just updated my FW..... because it was happening in 'combi' mode on my DT too

All is good, the Combi 1-8 link mode now works..... step knobs 9-16 will now set individual gate time for above steps 1-8
.....from unscrewing to update to screwing the bottom cover back on took less than 10mins

there's that whole attenuation thing too lol

Color me an idiot. My problem was, I was using the Gate 2 Out instead of the Gate 1 Out.
Not very intuitive since the second row is controlling the gate in 1-8 Combi link mode so
that made me (falsely) believe that the gate signal would be coming out of Gate 2 Out.

I bought a Dark Time a few months ago, along with a Dark Energy, and they work flawlessly together... However, I only just got my Voyager a couple of weeks ago, and when using MIDI Out on the DE to MIDI In on the Voyager, only notes from steps 9 to 16 are triggered, and then there are eight steps of silence. Could this be the firmware issues you were discussing?? I'm not hugely concerned by it because it's sort of a nice limitation, but I'm curious to see whether/how it can be fixed.
Also, sorry if I've hijacked this thread a bit.

eBerkhout wrote:when using MIDI Out on the DE to MIDI In on the Voyager, only notes from steps 9 to 16 are triggered, and then there are eight steps of silence

I presume you're talking about midi out of the Dark Time to the Voyager? and the eight steps of silence is are steps 1-8 (upper register)

my guess would be that your upper register is sending messages on a a different midi channel, or all your on/off/skip switches are set to "Off"
....if they're set to "On" then most probably going to be the midi channel settings so it will depend on which firmware version is installed

Page 17 (on one manual)
• To change the setting of the MIDI channel for the upper step register, please – press and hold the ”Function” and ”Start/Stop” keys simultaneously. – Select the desired MIDI channel by turning the Clock control. The number of step LEDs lit up
will indicate the channel-number (1 - 16).
• To change the setting of the MIDI channel for the lower step register, please – press and hold the ”Function” and ”Reset” keys simultaneously. – Select the desired MIDI channel by turning the Clock control. The number of step LEDs lit up
will indicate the channel number (1 - 16).

or.....

Page 16 (on the other manual)
• To change the setting of the MIDI channel for the upper step register, please – first press and hold the ”Function” key, then press ”Start/Stop” key while ”Function” is still held
down. – Select the desired MIDI channel by turning the Clock control. The number of step LEDs lit up
will indicate the channel-number (1 - 16).
• To change the setting of the MIDI channel for the lower step register, please – first press and hold the ”Function” key, then press ”Reset” key while ”Function” is still held down. – Select the desired MIDI channel by turning the Clock control. The number of step LEDs lit up
will indicate the channel number (1 - 16).


I have copied and paste the above directly from the manual for each firmware version

.....so atm the lower register is set to the channel the Voyager receives on, check that first, then adjust the upper registers lit up LED's to match

Hope this steps you through the process easily eBerkhout

I have had the DT since early 2012, I have not used it yet to control gate, but has worked very well. I have used it via cv on the Voyager and LP, and with midi on the voyager, LP or Minitaur. Having two separate sequences running is all kinds of creative fun.

The DT has a lot if power under the hood that is not evident at first glance. Would the more steps be welcome ? Sure, but it works fine as is. Would an extra row be nice? Yes, but again there s a lot you can do with what s there.

easy to hook up to the wrong output, we've all done it at east once and will do it again

Thanks so much, @Cej, I'll definitely have a look into it and let you know. Got a couple of shows coming up though so it'll be in a few days time. Thanks again!