diff --git a/src/lib/time/quantiser.cpp b/src/lib/time/quantiser.cpp
index cf384822b..10b5cc4e2 100644
--- a/src/lib/time/quantiser.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/time/quantiser.cpp
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ namespace lib {
 namespace time {
   
   
+  Quantiser::~Quantiser() { } // hint to emit the VTable here...
+  
+
   /** */
   QuTime::QuTime (TimeValue raw, Symbol gridID)
     : Time(raw)          /////////////////////////////////////////////////TODO fetch quantiser
@@ -49,10 +52,17 @@ namespace time {
   FixedFrameQuantiser::FixedFrameQuantiser (FSecs frames_per_second)
     : Quantiser()        /////////////////////////////////////////////////TODO we ought to do something
     { }
-
   
   
   
+  /** */
+  Time
+  FixedFrameQuantiser::align (TimeValue const& raw)
+  {
+    UNIMPLEMENTED ("simple demo quantisation to hard wired grid");
+  }
+  
+  
   
   LUMIERA_ERROR_DEFINE (UNKNOWN_GRID, "referring to an undefined grid or scale in value quantisation");
   
diff --git a/src/lib/time/quantiser.hpp b/src/lib/time/quantiser.hpp
index 84881141a..26ec82544 100644
--- a/src/lib/time/quantiser.hpp
+++ b/src/lib/time/quantiser.hpp
@@ -75,12 +75,17 @@ namespace time {
       typedef lib::PtrDerefIter<_SrcIter>  _Iter;
       
     public:
+      virtual ~Quantiser();  ///< this is an ABC
+      
+      
       template<class FMT>
       bool supports()  const;
       
       typedef _Iter iterator;
       iterator getSupportedFormats()  const;
       
+      virtual Time align (TimeValue const& raw)   =0;
+      
     };
   
   
@@ -98,8 +103,12 @@ namespace time {
     : public Quantiser
     {
       
+      
     public:
       FixedFrameQuantiser (FSecs frames_per_second);
+      
+      
+      Time align (TimeValue const& raw);
     };
   
   
diff --git a/tests/40components.tests b/tests/40components.tests
index 51b98cfb6..0055ce202 100644
--- a/tests/40components.tests
+++ b/tests/40components.tests
@@ -663,6 +663,11 @@ return: 0
 END
 
 
+PLANNED "Quantiser API basics" QuantiserBasics_test  <<END
+return: 0
+END
+
+
 PLANNED "Time formats and timecodes" TimeFormats_test  <<END
 return: 0
 END
diff --git a/tests/lib/time/quantiser-basics-test.cpp b/tests/lib/time/quantiser-basics-test.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0b4b6515e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/lib/time/quantiser-basics-test.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/*
+  QuantiserBasics(Test)  -  a demo quantiser to cover the basic quantiser API
+
+  Copyright (C)         Lumiera.org
+    2011,               Hermann Vosseler <Ichthyostega@web.de>
+
+  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+  modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
+  published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of
+  the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+  GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+* *****************************************************/
+
+
+#include "lib/test/run.hpp"
+//#include "lib/test/test-helper.hpp"
+//#include "lib/time/timequant.hpp"
+#include "lib/time/quantiser.hpp"
+//#include "lib/time/display.hpp"
+#include "lib/util.hpp"
+
+#include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
+//#include <boost/algorithm/string/join.hpp>
+#include <iostream>
+//#include <cstdlib>
+
+using boost::lexical_cast;
+using util::isnil;
+//using util::contains;
+//using std::rand;
+using std::cout;
+using std::endl;
+
+//using boost::algorithm::join;
+
+
+namespace lib {
+namespace time{
+namespace test{
+  
+  namespace {
+    
+    const uint MAX_FRAMES = 25*500;
+    const uint MAX_DIRT   = 50;
+    
+    const FSecs F25(1,25);
+    
+  }
+  
+  
+  
+  /********************************************************
+   * @test cover the basic Quantiser API.
+   * This test uses a special quantiser implementation
+   * with hard coded behaviour to demonstrate and verify
+   * the usage of a quantiser entity in isolation.
+   */
+  class QuantiserBasics_test : public Test
+    {
+    
+      virtual void
+      run (Arg) 
+        {
+          checkSimpleQuantisation ();
+        }
+      
+      
+      void
+      checkSimpleQuantisation ()
+        {
+          FixedFrameQuantiser fixQ(25);
+          
+          uint frames = (rand() % MAX_FRAMES);
+          FSecs dirt  = (F25 / (rand() % MAX_DIRT));
+          
+          Time rawTime = FSecs(frames, 25) + dirt;
+          CHECK (Time(    frames*F25) <= rawTime);
+          CHECK (Time((frames+1)*F25) >  rawTime);
+          
+          Time quantTime = fixQ.align (rawTime);
+          
+          CHECK (Time(frames*F25) == quantTime);
+        }
+    };
+  
+  
+  /** Register this test class... */
+  LAUNCHER (QuantiserBasics_test, "unit common");
+  
+  
+  
+}}} // namespace lib::time::test