Thursday, May 03, 2012

Doepfer M.A.U.S.I.

The Doepfer MAUSI (MIDI-Analog / SYNC Interface) was released in 1995 (around the same time as the A-100 system) and was a MIDI-to-CV and MIDI-to-SYNC interface to control analog vintage synthesizers, bass lines and/or drum machines via MIDI.

Doepfer MAUSI front

It was a small, half 19-inch sized grey box, and until a few weeks ago, i never realized why the Doepfer MAUSI looked so familiar to me.
An email from Dieter Doepfer confirmed that not only on the outside, but also internally this module is for 95% the same as the A-190 MIDI-to-CV/Gate/Sync Interface.
One of the small differences between these two modules is that the MAUSI had a DIN SYNC output, and the A-190 has a clock and a reset output.
Doepfer explained to me: " In modular systems the RESET feature was more popular than the Start/Stop of
the DIN SYNC, but after all it's nearly the same (just the opposite levels: Start/Stop of DIN SYNC goes high at the Start and low at the Stop, RESET goes low at the Start and high at the Stop)"

Doepfer MAUSI backside
MAUSI allowed you to control synthesizers via either V/octave (Moog, Roland, Sequential, A-100) or Hz/V characteristics (Korg, Yamaha).
Beside that, you could also switch between gate/trigger (+5...+12V) or switched trigger control (S-Trigger).

Around 400 MAUSI's were made from September 1995 until April 2000
MAUSI included an external power supply for 230V AC.
For other mains voltages the power supply had to be purchased separately by the customer. (7...12V DC/500mA with 2.1 or 2.5mm connector required).

Find more info in the English User's Guide of MAUSI.

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