Doepfer Dark Energy

So I didn't find any thread dedicated to this hard synth and thought I would create one as I've been thinking about buying it for a long time but never had the balls the money to do it.

From my perspective it looks like a veeeeery sexy synth. It has a lot of knobs, you can connect it with itself using little sexy cables. I really imagine it becoming my best friend when I eventually get it. And I guess if I like it I'd be able to expand it with some other modules from Doepfer when I'll be able to invest a little bit more. The only thing which annoyed me is that I read or heard once it's not that good for bass, but I'm not sure how much this information is valuable.

So I just wanted to know what the lucky owners of this little thing think about it, what they do with it etc... Don't hide anything!

thank you

I think there is a thread or three about the dark energy. I bought one about 2 years ago, and although I'm a huge fan of analogue stuff and really thought this synth would be amazing, I'm afraid to say I was disappointed. I never found the tone of the thing usable really...never fitted into any of my tracks well (which I thought surprising given the aesthetic I go for - generally the whole analogue braindance kind of sound). it just never sat that well in my mix, seemed to sound disjointed and separate from everything else and almost out of tune slightly (all this in a bad way). I've got plenty of experience with various analogue and digital synths and without wanting to sound like an arrogant cunt, this wasn't down to me not knowing what I was doing. I found myself hardly using the thing in the end and ended up selling it... don't want to put you off, sure other people have had a better time with it, but that's my honest experience.

I always quite liked mine for sound effects rather than being a lead instrument in a mix. Could really get some cool stuff out of it by using the Linear FM on the filter in combo with other modulations. The best thing I did when I bought the DE was purchased a Doepfer Multiple and an Intellijel µAtt to go with it. Both are passive Eurorack modules, so you can just set them beside your Dark Energy and have attenuation to otherwise unattenuated inputs and also (unless you have stackcables) sending signals to multiple sources.

Of course this leads you down the long, dark path of modular acquisition. After getting rid of a lot of my other gear to fund more modular stuff after a while I found it was best for me to just stick with having lots of drum machines and synths rather than one big modular as far as being productive musically goes. So keep that in mind when deciding on buying a Dark Energy, do you want an analogue synthesizer, or a gateway into modular synthesizers?

Hmm. Definitely a love/hate relationship with mine. Lot's of tweakability, but yes it can sometime sound strange in a mix. I felt it could do bass pretty well, but it's no Moog.

Haven't used it in about 5 months and not really feeling like I will soon. I'm actually looking at replacing it with one of those Pittsburgh Modular Cell 48 System 1s.

Never got the MIDI to work 100% properly either and sometimes when sending it CV it would be an octave above the notes I was feeling it. Strange. Didn't mind this really as it made for some cool sounds, but still weird.

Not a fan of the sound. Reminds me of "massive"

In that it is sharp, doesn't blend well with the majority of music

Is probably good for weird sounds, possibly. Don't know though

That's just the feeling I've always got from it

Honestly I may be way off. I just know that I considered getting one many times and always decided against it because of those reasons

i'd say you pretty much made the right choice vamos..i nver found it to "blend" well either. i much prefer my (cheaper and poorly made) MFB SynthLite II which says a lot about the actual usability of the dark energy for anything particularly useful. i guess it's ok for weird sounds and effects though... i also had weird MIDI implementation issues like pixelives.

+1 for mfberlin. It doesn't look as sexy and impressive though.

I think a good way to go, and probably the way I'm heading is to sell the thing and get one of these little cases and make a custom mini mod that won't break the bank.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PITTSBURGH-MODULAR-SYNTHESIZERS-CELL-48-CASE-48HP-EURORACK-MODULAR-DESKTOP-/231124243119?pt=Keyboards_MIDI&hash=item35d01412af

thanks for your replies. I didn't expect so negative feedback!... I like to make noisy sounds and that's what I ended up to do the most with my Monotribe, but for my next synth I'd like to go for something more versatile and the price sounds then a little bit too high.

I'm very interested in modular synths but that might not be the best thing to go for right now as I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with the hardware I already own, I didn't find a very satisfying way to fit all of it together in an handy workflow, and adding a modular synth at this particular moment could make me feel even more confused. Well I guess I'll just keep re-organizing my stuff as I'm doing these days, play a little bit with the new setup and then see the best way to extend it.

If some of you have tracks with some Dark Energy action don't hesitate to post them here, I'd still be curious to hear how it sounds into a mix!

here's some of my old tracks featuring the DE - the DE is making most of the bass and acidy type noises...

BCM - Keith Lucas.mp3Fetching info...

BCM - Wizard Snipehazer.mp3Fetching info...

bcm - six mer.mp3Fetching info...

i quite like it, but the sweet spots are veeeeeery small, and even minor adjustments usually destroy some ok patch.

most analogey sounds in this track are the de

thanks for your examples. Nice tracks !

As for the sound of the Dark Energy, I guess I'll wait to see if I can try one in real one day to have my personal opinion, thank for your thoughts anyway.