help with Doepfer BBD?

So in my first month or two noodling with modular, there have been some ups and down and a learning curve, but the majority of my modules I've learned how to use effectively.

The exception is my Doepfer BBD. I cannot for the life of me get it to do ... anything, really.

I do have the manual, though I kind of glaze over when trying to read it, it's pretty dry. What I have done is tried the example patches they include at the end of the manual, and every time, the best result I can get it just an audio pass-thru ... no delay, no chorus, no noticeable effect at all, as far as I can tell.

I've resisted thinking there's something wrong with the module, since 99% of the time such thoughts are just due to me misunderstanding something, but at this point I'm beginning to wonder.

If someone has this module and had any similar trouble with it or has some pointers or there is something about it that's easy to misunderstand, please let me know. I got it used and I don't think I can return it, so if I can't get it to do something, it's probably destined to be a paperweight.

EDITED Jun 14th 2021, 04:00

which BBD? doepfer make a variety iirc...

I would set up the simplest possible patch

a vco into a vca into mixer - check that this makes sound (make sure that the volume is up etc)

then patch bbd in between the output of the vca and the mixer

make sure volume is up on correct channel and then play a single note with the vco - ideally very very short - as minimum delay time is 10ms - so make sure you have a noticeable delay time dialled in

make sure level on delay is not 0 - keep increasing this until you can hear the delay or have run out of travel in the knob

make sure that mix is past 12 o'clock - increase this if the previous step

another thing to do is to check the board components for signs of damage - burnt bits, bad smell, sticky residue - post pics (hi-res)

one other thing to note with doepfer modules - I have one that had the power cable on the wrong way (and not one that was just pull it out and switch it as it is connected to multiple boards) which would have been fine with unshrouded headers (which doepfer at least used to use) - but as I had shrouded ones I had to cut the key off the header to get it to fit - make sure that the red-stripe is correctly situated on both ends of the power cable

EDITED Jun 14th 2021, 13:49

which BBD? doepfer make a variety iirc...

-- JimHowell1970

the 128

see further edits, above, but that one will have a short delay time due to the number of stages

EDITED Jun 14th 2021, 13:50