hello all

I'm new to the group and looking to find out as much as I can about the A-100 system from people who have experience with it. The A-100 is one of my two contenders for a potential modular system along with the Dotcom, and I'm torn between them. In Doepfer's favor are its small size (I live in a small apartment which I share, so not a lot of room, plus I'd like to possibly use live) and the many many modules available for not too much.

Otoh, I'm coming from the more old-school Moog-inspired direction and prefer to play my synths via keyboard rather than sequencers and such--I like the hands-on performing approach rather than just programming. I suppose the kind of music I'm interested in is more in the '70s prog/space vein and no so much the modern techno/industrial/noise stuff. I really love the amount of flexibility that Doepfer offers and would like to use the modular format to experiment, but so far I've only heard the A-100 used for music that is largely not really to my liking--harsh, metallic, atonal stuff or endlessly repeating loops. So I guess my first question for the group is how suitable the Doepfer is for more tonal, melodic, or atmospheric music and effects, and whether there are any sound samples demonstrating these.

I've heard mention many times of Doepfer having a "dirty" quality on the one hand, others describing it as a cold, sterile sound. What exactly is meant by this I get the impression that the VCOs are somewhat unstable pitch-wise, but are the waveforms also dirty Also, I hear that the A-120 is a lousy filter for a quote-unquote Moog-style unit, and that the A-108 is a closer copy. Although I'm not necessarily a die-hard Moog purist, sound quality is definitely important to me; fat is good.

I'll probably be asking more questions in the near future, so please bear with me. Thanks for your input, folks.

cheers,

Billy S.

ps--I hope it's not like heresy or something for me to mention the Dotcom system around here; as I said, I haven't actually started on the modular path yet and I'm trying to decide which system is best for me. Definitely Doepfer has some serious appeal.