Doepfer A-189-1 Voltage Controlled Bit Modifier / Bit Cruncher

This is an interesting module if you are into distortion, low-fi and all kind of weird effects.

It has two CV inputs: one for a parameter (e.g. number of bits, delay length) of the selected function, the other for sampling rate. The Bit cruncher offers 16 different functions which can be selected via switch. As a sound source, I’m using three A-110 VCOs through an A-108 VCF and then through an A-132-3 VCA. Everything is driven by a sequencer. VCA output is sent into the Bit Cruncer, which is modulated by two slow triangle LFOs.

For each Bit Cruncher function, I’m starting around the highest sampling rate, after ca. 30 seconds we can hear what happens with the lowest sampling rate. The LFO which modulates the function’s parameter is a bit faster, so you should hear a lot of combinations of both modulations:

Here we go:

  1. bit crushing:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function_01.mp3
  2. AND:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function02.mp3
  3. OR:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function03.mp3
  4. XOR:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function04.mp3
  5. bit shift right:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function05.mp3
  6. bit shift left:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function06.mp3
  7. multiplication:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function07.mp3
  8. compare and complement:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function08.mp3
  9. compare and absolute:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function09.mp3
  10. addition:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function10.mp3
  11. addition with BC swap:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function11.mp3
  12. short delay 1 with dynamic normalization:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function12.mp3
  13. short delay 2:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function13.mp3
  14. short delay 3:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function14.mp3
  15. short delay 4:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function15.mp3
  16. four stafes FIR filter:
    http://www.andreaskrebs.de/assets/media/A-189-1_function16.mp3

Technical details can be found on Doepfer’s homepage:

http://www.doepfer.de/a1891.htm

Have fun,
Andreas