Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something to knowledge base
Content stats: 0 posts, 0 articles, 1 media, 0 notes
Members stats: 0 subscribers, 0 contributors, 0 moderators, 0 supporters
Subscribers
Supporters
Contributors
Moderators
Don Buchla
Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American instrument designer and engineer. He was co-inventor of the voltage controlled modular synthesizer along with Robert Moog, the two working independently in the early 1960s.
Buchla was born in South Gate, California, on April 17, 1937, and grew up in California and New Jersey. He studied physics, physiology, and music at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1959 as a physics major.
Buchla formed his electronic music equipment company, Buchla and Associates, in 1962 in Berkeley, California. He was commissioned by composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender, both of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, to create an electronic instrument for live performance. Buchla began designing his first modules for the Tape Music Center in 1963.[citation needed]
With partial funding from a $500 Rockefeller Foundation grant made to the Tape Music Center, Buchla assembled his modules into the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System (later known as the Series 100) in 1965, which he began selling commercially in 1966. Buchla's synthesizers experimented in control interfaces, such as touch-sensitive plates. In 1969 the Series 100 was briefly sold to CBS Musical Instruments, who soon after dropped the line, not seeing the synthesizer market as a profitable area.
The year 1970 saw the release of the Buchla 200 series Electric Music Box, which was manufactured until 1985.[citation needed] Buchla created the Buchla Series 500, the first digitally controlled analog synthesizer, in 1971.
Shortly after, the Buchla Series 300 was released, which combined the 200 series with microprocessors. The Music Easel, a portable semi-modular synthesizer, was released in 1972. The Buchla 400, with a video display, was released in 1982. In 1987, Buchla released the fully MIDI-enabled Buchla 700.
Beginning in the 1990s, Buchla began designing alternative MIDI controllers, such as the Thunder, Lightning, and Marimba Lumina. With the resurgence of interest in analog synthesizers in the 1990s and 2000s, Buchla designed and released the 200e hybrid modular system.
In 2005, the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference in Vancouver featured a keynote lecture by Buchla and a retrospective exhibition of his instruments.
Don Buchla
Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American instrument designer and engineer. He was co-inventor of the voltage controlled modular synthesizer along with Robert Moog, the two working independently in the early 1960s.
Buchla was born in South Gate, California, on April 17, 1937, and grew up in California and New Jersey. He studied physics, physiology, and music at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating in 1959 as a physics major.
Buchla formed his electronic music equipment company, Buchla and Associates, in 1962 in Berkeley, California. He was commissioned by composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender, both of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, to create an electronic instrument for live performance. Buchla began designing his first modules for the Tape Music Center in 1963.[citation needed]
With partial funding from a $500 Rockefeller Foundation grant made to the Tape Music Center, Buchla assembled his modules into the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System (later known as the Series 100) in 1965, which he began selling commercially in 1966. Buchla's synthesizers experimented in control interfaces, such as touch-sensitive plates. In 1969 the Series 100 was briefly sold to CBS Musical Instruments, who soon after dropped the line, not seeing the synthesizer market as a profitable area.
The year 1970 saw the release of the Buchla 200 series Electric Music Box, which was manufactured until 1985.[citation needed] Buchla created the Buchla Series 500, the first digitally controlled analog synthesizer, in 1971.
Shortly after, the Buchla Series 300 was released, which combined the 200 series with microprocessors. The Music Easel, a portable semi-modular synthesizer, was released in 1972. The Buchla 400, with a video display, was released in 1982. In 1987, Buchla released the fully MIDI-enabled Buchla 700.
Beginning in the 1990s, Buchla began designing alternative MIDI controllers, such as the Thunder, Lightning, and Marimba Lumina. With the resurgence of interest in analog synthesizers in the 1990s and 2000s, Buchla designed and released the 200e hybrid modular system.
In 2005, the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference in Vancouver featured a keynote lecture by Buchla and a retrospective exhibition of his instruments.
Recent media
Recent media