BUCHLA SYNTHETIZER

Buchla

Buchla & Associates, Inc. is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, notably synthesizers and unique MIDI controllers. The 200e Electric Music Box and Lightning III are currently in production.

History

Buchla Music Box (1963)

The original Buchla Music Box was the brainchild of Don Buchla and came from a commission by composers Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick. First built in 1963, this synthesizer was composed of several "modules" that generated or modified a music event. Each box served a specific function: oscillator, filter, sample and hold, etc. This would have an effect on the pitch, timbre, amplitude and spatial location of the sound. The idea was to allow musicians and composers to create sounds suited to their own specifications. Previously, one had to utilize either discrete audio generators such as test oscillators or via musique concrète, recorded sounds from natural sources. Although it was a fresh and exciting idea and an excellent way to get new sounds, this was very time-consuming and arduous. The Buchla Box allowed musicians to bend and manipulate sound all in one device. This would lead to the many kinds of electronic instruments available today.

Buchla 100 series (1963)

The Buchla 100 series Modular Electronic Music System[2] was commissioned specifically by Subotnick in 1963 for use on his first major electronic work Silver Apples Of The Moon. He gave Don Buchla ideas and specifications for what the instrument should do. It was also used on Buffy Sainte Marie's influential 1969 album, Illuminations. Along with Robert Moog's Moog synthesizer, it would go on to revolutionize the way music and sound is made.

Buchla 200 series (1970)

The Buchla 200 series Electric Music Box[3] replaced the previous model in 1970 and represented a significant advance in technology. Almost every parameter can be controlled from an external control voltage.

Computer controlled instruments

Buchla 300, 500, Touché (mid 1970s)

In the mid 1970s, Don Buchla began experimenting with digital designs and computer controlled systems. The results were the 500 series[4] and the 300 series,[5] both of which paired the new technology with existing 200 series modules to create hybrid analog/digital systems. The Touché[6] was also the result of this research, and was also his final attempt to market a "mainstream" Buchla synth[citation needed].

Buchla 400, 700, and MIDAS (1980s)

Also in 1980s, Buchla released the 400 series[7] and the 700 series[8] software controlled instruments operated by MIDAS, a Forth language for musical instruments, and also equipped MIDI.

Buchla's unique synthesizer designs

Earliest analog sequencers (array of knobs on the bottom) on Buchla 100

Buchla 250e Arbitrary Function Generator

Buchla tends to not refer to his instruments as synthesizers, as he feels that name gives the impression of imitating existing sounds/instruments. His intent is to make instruments for creating new sounds. This convention is evidenced by the omission of a standard musical keyboard on his early instruments, which instead used a series of touch plates which were not necessarily tied to equal-tempered tuning. He also has different naming conventions than most of the industry: for example, one of his modules is called a "Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator." These differences run deeper than nomenclature though. The Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator (or MARF) goes well beyond what a typical sequencer is capable of performing and is capable of acting as an envelope generator, LFO, CV selector, voltage quantizer[disambiguation needed] or tracking generator. Another module that sometimes gets cited for its uniqueness is the Source of Uncertainty. The Source of Uncertainty provides many different flavors of randomness, from noise of different colors, to a LFO-like fluctuating random voltage, and a couple forms of triggered static random voltages, all under voltage control. The Source of Uncertainty goes well beyond a noise and random module in a typical synthesizer.

Buchla Music Easel

It is also important to note that Don Buchla and Robert Moog simultaneously invented the modular synthesizer in 1963, Moog in New York and Buchla in San Francisco. This is an apparent example of multiple discovery. While there had been previous synthesizer experiments, Moog's and Buchla's major development that made the synthesizer portable and flexible was that of using control voltage to manipulate the various elements of the circuits.

Buchla's instruments, such as the Music Easel (pictured),[1] use a different method of timbre generation than Moog synthesizers. Moog units use oscillators with basic function generator type waveshapes and rely heavily on filtering with 24dB resonant low-pass filters, while Buchlas are geared toward complex oscillators using frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, and dynamic waveshaping to produce other forms of timbre modulation. Many of Don Buchla's designs, including the Low-Pass Gates (later called Dynamic Managers) contain vactrols, photoresistive opto-isolator employed as voltage-controlled potentiometers, which contribute to a very "natural" Buchla sound.

MIDI controllers (late 1980s)

Buchla Thunder, Buchla Lightning, Marimba Lumina

By the late 1980s, Don Buchla had stopped creating instruments and shifted his focus to alternate MIDI controllers. His controller designs have included the Thunder, Lightning, and Marimba Lumina.

Oberheim OB-Mx (1995)

In 1995, he was brought on to the team that designed the Oberheim OB-Mx,[12] the so called "Ober-Moog", in the 11th hour to help make it a working instrument. A hybrid analog/digital design, the OB-MX uses many of the lessons learned when researching for the 300 and 500 systems.

Buchla 200e series (2004)

Finally, in 2004, Don Buchla returned to designing full blown modular electronic instruments with the 200e, a hybrid system using digital microprocessors that uses the same size modules and signals as the 100 and 200 series systems. The 200e modules convert all signals to analog at the panel, appearing to the user like an analog system, with patch cables. Systems can be built using a combination of 100, 200 and 200e modules. The 200e modules connect through a digital communications buss, allowing the system to store the settings of the knobs and switches.