hello bryan,

the wiard noise ring and the a149/1
are quite different and they were
designed for different purposes.

both have outputs for 2^n and n+1 states,
both use a shift register, but the rest
cannot be compared.

the wiard noise ring is clocked by
an internal oscillator, it is not
possible to clock it with an external
gate signal. the minimum frequency
of the internal clock is 1 hz, which
is not really slow. the maximum frequency
is 10 khz, so the module is more
suitable to run in the audio range.
you can control the randomness and how
often changes occour. therefore the
noise ring is very usable as a chaos
oscillator, as it can produce real tones
at certain settings, besides all the
different noise shapes. it won't give
you really slow control voltages for your
vco's or vcf's and it won't run "in sync"
with your sequencer or with your
keyboard-playing. in contrast it can
provide modulations, noises and rough
tones which are unavailable elsewhere
and it is a great inspirational source
for experimentalists.

the a149/1 random voltage module has
to be clocked by an external gate
or trigger pulse, therefore it
can run "in sync" with a sequencer.
the module outputs quantized and
stored voltages. you can control the
number of possible states or the
distribution of high/low values.
this makes the a149/1 much more suitable
for generating control voltages, for
instance to control your vco's or vcf's.
clocked at audio frequency, it will
output a noise signal only, but no tones.
the a149/1 is great for those who want
a more musical control over the
random voltages.

best wishes

ingo



--- In Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com , "Bryan E Cornell" <bcor@l...>
wrote:

> I'm wondering if the a-149-1 (Quantized/Stored Random Voltages) is

very similar to the Wiard Noise Ring. It appears to be similar, but
it switches between a high, a low and a medium state while the Wiard
unit switches from a high and a low state.

>
> Does anybody have both of these units or experience with both of

them I'm on the prowl for the stranger Doepfer units and want to
know if the 149-1 would add anything significant to my system.

>
> Bryan
>
> Bryan Cornell
> Reference Librarian
> Recorded Sound Reference Center
> Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division
> Library of Congress, Washington, DC 20540-4698
> Phone: (202) 707-7833
> Fax: (202) 707-8464
> email: bcor@l...
> Usual disclaimers apply.