Doepfer A-125 Reviews

Average phaser

In reality it is hard to get good sound from it, not sure why. Maybe it is not very clean?

a really controlable phaser

Over the years I've used a lot of pedal phasers and I have never got just the sound that I wanted or the control that I wanted. This module fulfilled my dreams!

When I first slotted this into my system I spent ages with one hand on the shift control manually changing the effect! I now frequently use joystick or theremin as performance control of the phase shift.

Every other phaser I ever had had low frequency modulation and all that you could adjust was the speed and depth. Now I can precisely control the effect to peak at a crescendo in the music. But then there is more... using other voltages to control the shift. My favourite is sample and hold but I also like using an envelope to control it. And of course you can use an LFO but the beauty being you can achieve a huge range of speed and shape of the modulation in the eurorack system (inconjunction with the A-143-4 quad VCLFO you can make changing and evolving modulations to great effect).

Seriously considering a second one if I can squeeze it into my case!

Great phase shifter

Great little module, does as it says on the tin. Works great being linked up to an lfo on the cv and crank the resonance up for some lovely phase sweeps. Good quality as with all other Doepfer products.

Great module

I really like this module. I'm fairly new to modular synths (though have normal type keyboard/modules). The phaser adds a nice effect to a set up. Easy to use, and usual doefper quality. Its relatively cheap, and is a good addition if you have a vco,vcf and lfo etc...Nice sweeping phase effects when conected to an lfo source. Yep, very pleased.

Phased

I have had this Phaser for about 4 months and I use it quite often.

It gives sounds a nice character when used statically i.e. with no CV source plugged into the CV input - it has helped me make more convincing snare drum sounds when used like this and also gives bass sounds a lot more presence.

The shift knob has a very large range. For a classic modulated phasing type of effect I usually move the knob around to find a fairly short portion of this knob's range that sounds good then I set it at the centre of the range I have chosen and apply a CV source to the CV input to modulate it by the desired (usually small) amount. This modulated type of use will give you the swooshy spaced out effect we expect from a phaser. I can not quite get it to sound like my Small Stone but it make a good variety of phasing effects.

When a very fast LFO is used as the CV source, the output level gets very high at certain frequencies and will probably cause clipping in a mixer or preamp if you are not prepared for it (the frequencies at which this happens are much higher than normal phaser modulation frequencies).

I wanted to make sounds where the CV input is connected to a sample and hold or sequencer so that every 4 or 8 notes the phase would change to a different level but as the CV steps to the next level - the step causes the output of the phaser to peak sharply causing a pop which ruins the effect that I wanted. I have got around this in the studio by recording short sections of a track with the phase set at a different static setting for each section.

I really like having this phaser in my modular synthesizer, it opens up a lot of possibilities because if its versatility and only costs about the same as an average guitar pedal phaser. I would definately buy it again if I somehow lost it.

I think Doepfer should have A100 synth modules and A200 effects modules. If Doepfer read this they can have that idea for free.