Buchla & Associates is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, notably synthesizers. The 200e Electronic Music Box is currently in production. The term synthesiser is also used to mean frequency synthesiser, an electronic system found in communications. ... The Buchla 200e is a modular analog synthesizer designed by electronic music pioneer Don Buchla and built by Buchla and Associates. ...

Buchla Music Easel

The original Buchla Music Box was the brainchild of composers Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick, and they hired electrical engineer Don Buchla to design and build it. First built in 1963, this Synthesizer was the first one that could be played by a typical musician. It was composed of several "modular" boxes that generated or modified a tone. Each box served a specific function: oscillation, filtering, delay, sample and hold, etc. This would have an effect on the pitch and timbre of the sound. The idea was to allow musicians and composers to create sounds suited to their own specifications. Previously, one had to utilize the musique concrete method of tape loops. 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 forms of electronic music we have today. Image File history File linksMetadata Easel_silver. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Easel_silver. ... Ramon Sender (born Oct 29, 1934 in Madrid, Spain) is a composer and the co-founder, with Morton Subotnick, of the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1961. ... Morton Subotnick (born April 13, 1933) is an American composer of electronic music, best known for his Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, Nonesuch, and composed on the Buchla modular synthesizer which he helped to design. ... Don Buchla (1937— ) is a pioneer in the field of music synthesizers, releasing his first units months after Robert Moogs first synthesizers. ... A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, or phase distortion. ... In music, a note is either a unit of fixed pitch that has been given a name, or the graphic representation of that pitch in a notation system (and sometimes its duration) or a specific instance of either, so one can speak of the second note of Happy Birthday to... Oscillation is the variation, typically in time, of some measure as seen, for example, in a swinging pendulum. ... An audio filter is a type of filter used for processing sound signals. ... Delay is: In sound effects, any of a class of effect that adds one or more delayed versions of the original signal, to create effects such as echo or flanger. ... In electronics, a sample and hold circuit is used to interface real-world, changing analogue signals to a subsequent system such as an analog-to-digital converter. ... Pitch is the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. ... In music, timbre, also timber (from Fr. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled Sound, Sound pressure and Sound pressure level, accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Musique concrète is the name given to a class of electronic music produced from editing together fragments of natural and industrial sounds. ... Tape loops are loops of prerecorded magnetic tape used to create repetitive, rhythmic musical patterns. ... Electronic music is a term for music created using electronic devices. ...

The Buchla Modular Synthesizer was commissioned specifically by Subotnick for use on his first major electronic work Silver Apples Of The Moon. He gave Don Buchla ideas and specifications for the boxes and what they should do. Along with Robert Moog's Moog synthesizer, it would go on the revolutionize the way music and sound is made. Sine, square, triangle, and sawtooth waveforms The modular synthesizer is a type of synthesizer consisting of separate modules which must be connected by wires to create a so-called patch. ... Dr. Robert Arthur Moog (pronounced // to rhyme with vogue, not //) (May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was a pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. ... The term Moog (pronounced /moʊg/ to rhyme with vogue, not /muːg/) synthesizer can refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for analog and digital music synthesisers. ...

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. He also has different naming conventions than most of the industry, for example, his sequencer is called an "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. Another module that sometimes gets critiqued for unique naming is the Source of Uncertainty (or SoU). 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 stepped voltage, all of this deliciously voltage controllable. The Source of Uncertainty goes well beyond a noise and random module in a typical synthesizer. The term synthesiser is also used to mean frequency synthesiser, an electronic system found in communications. ... There are many forms of noise with various frequency characteristics that are classified by color. Some have well-defined technical definitions, while others are colloquial or jokes. ... Low frequency oscillation, often abbreviated to LFO, is a term that predominantly refers to an audio technique specifically used in the production of electronic music. ...

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. While there had been previous synthesizer experiments, Moog and Buchla's major developments that made the synthesizer portable and flexible was that of using control voltage to manipulate the various elements of the circuits. Don Buchla (1937— ) is a pioneer in the field of music synthesizers, releasing his first units months after Robert Moogs first synthesizers. ... Dr. Robert Arthur Moog (pronounced // to rhyme with vogue, not //) (May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was a pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. ... A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, or phase distortion. ... Official language(s) None Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  Ranked 27th  - Total 54,520 sq mi (141,205 km²)  - Width 285 miles (455 km)  - Length 330 miles (530 km)  - % water 13. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... A synthesizer (or synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modelling synthesis, or phase distortion. ... Control Voltage, sometimes referred to as CV or CV/Gate is a method of controlling analog synthesizers and drum machines made prior to the use of MIDI for automated control. ...

Buchla instruments use a slightly different method of timbre generation than Moog's machines. Moogs use simple oscillators and rely heavily on filtering with 24db resonant low pass filters, while Buchlas are geared toward using complex oscillators using frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, dynamic waveshaping, and other forms of timbre modulation to come up with their variety of sounds. The Buchla low-pass gates contain vactrols, components that mate a light source with a sensor, to give them a very "natural" sound. The two different avenues of synthesis came to be known as "East Coast" (subtractive, like Moog), and "West Coast" (Buchla style) synthesis. The West Coast school also places more emphasis on control voltage generation and modification than the East Coast school. In music, timbre, also timber (from Fr. ... Moog is usually referring to one of the following two people: Robert Moog, a pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. ... Moog is usually referring to one of the following two people: Robert Moog, a pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. ... Frequency modulation (FM) is a form of modulation which represents information as variations in the instantaneous frequency of a carrier wave. ... [[Amplitude modulation]] (AM) is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a carrier wave wirelessly. ... Moog is usually referring to one of the following two people: Robert Moog, a pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. ...

External links

• Buchla & Associates homepage
• Buchla Model 100 page
• Buchla Model 200 page
• Buchla Current Model 200e page
• Electric Music Box Model 200 page (Flash Required)
• Buchla 100 Modular Synthesizer @ Synthmuseum.com
• Buchla instrument collection @ Audities.org