Here’s the one and only Facebook app you’ll ever hear me get enthusiastic about. You know the Facebook apps, of course – this overhyped “platform” generally involves time-wasting, spam-like “Someone you barely know just sent you a cupcake” emails. But I like this one:

Analog Synths

Thanks to CDM’s Liz for being so generous:

And personally, all email should work this way:

I’m waiting for Star Trek’s replicator technology to become reality so we can send around real synths. Anyone? Want to win a Nobel Prize?

If you want to catch up with Buchla’s various innovations, I suspect you’ll need to drink a lot of Red Bull. So it’s fitting that Red Bull, sponsors of the Red Bull Music Academy international educational programs, are interviewing Buchla for their series on musical innovators. Sit back in your recliner, because they’ve got two full hours of Buchla reflecting on music technology:

Red Bull Music Academy Interview

Via the excellent ambient/electronica blog Disquiet

Earlier this week:

Vintage Buchla Easel Action, and Inspiration for Modern Tangible Interfaces

Photo by fr1zz, via Flickr.

CHARLES COHEN AT THE BUCHLA MUSIC EASEL from ALEX on Vimeo.

Alex writes:

This colorful video features sound artist Charles Cohen improvising on a 1970’s Buchla Music Easel. This extremely rare instrument is one of Don Buchla’s 200 series. Buchla (a pioneer of audio synthesis) only manufactured 14 of these units. The entire film was edited from an hour-long set of free improvisation, with audio was taken directly from Charles’ mixing board.

All of the photography and editing was produced by Alex Tyson, a sound and video artist from Pennsylvania. The film was shot in 16:9 720p High Definition format, with only a 35mm LensBaby 3GPL.

Mmmmm… LensBaby. Yeah, this is motional porn as well as musical. (Update – looks like Tom at Music Thing is enjoying as well.)

For more Buchla improv action on a newer generation of hardware, check out Richard Lainhart on his Buchla 200e and Continuum setup, playing at our Handmade Music event hosted with Make Magazine and Etsy Labs. (Side note: if you’re using YouTube for documentation, don’t miss the latest tips for getting better quality — with help from Richard — over on Create Digital Motion. Got some clips myself I’ll be uploading with that information in hand.)

That’s not Richard’s video as he was busy playing; his vids — employing those YouTube tricks — are available on Richard’s YouTube channel.

For many, the notion of producing sound by patching spaghetti-like nests of cords in hardware is a historical curiosity. Even among those who appreciate this hardware for what it is, conventional wisdom says such instruments aren’t really modern. (Don’t even ask the various universities who gave up on using and maintaining the gear entirely, relegating them to dusty closets — or much worse.) Modular synths are under pressure in 2007 to compete with lots of new technologies. Is it worth making music with them?

Composer/musician Richard Lainhart has taken up what is perhaps the most modern of modular analog synths — the Buchla 200e — not because of historic interest, but because “I’ve come to miss the immediacy and organic sound of analog modular synthesizers.” He’s not planning to lock himself in a room and make archaic, hours-long compositions with it, either; he chose it because its patch memory is “ideal for live performance.” And, as a person trained as a composer myself, that seems like the ultimate test of an instrument — if you can actually play it live.

Even if you’re not ready to shell out the money required to buy your own 200e (they cost about as much as a pickup truck), if you have any interest in synthesis at all, it’s worth joining Richard on his explorations. Get started by checking out the Introduction video for a look at his rig and how he uses it, then check out expressive applications like the video entitled “Chorale.” It’s immediately inspiring as a way of thinking about sound and performance. I certainly can’t afford this setup myself, but then that’s not the point. Once you see an exciting performance, you’ll find a way to do something of your own on what you can afford; that’s part of the grand tradition of music.

This happens to be an excellent demonstration of the potential of the Haken Continuum Fingerboard controller, as well.

We’ll be watching, Richard.

O-Town Media: Buchla

Recently:
Buchla 200e + Haken Continuum Photo Teaser: Modern Classics?
Haken Continuum Fingerboard, Alternative Music Controller, in Action

Electronic musicians are used to getting their gear on the cheap, and there’s something beautiful about that. But that doesn’t take away from some of the short-run, brilliant instruments out there. Topping the list: Buchla’s 200e, which continues the stories tradition of the Buchla modular synths, and the Haken Continuum Fingerboard, which provides continuous control far exceeding the accuracy and expressiveness of almost any controller out there. Our friend Richard Lainhart just took deliver of his 200e, and captures it moving into the studio with the Haken.

18 unit modular + Haken Continuum + quad sound — it’s a beautiful thing.

I singled out the Buchla modulars as an underrated synth. They might also be on the “misunderstood” list. Conventional wisdom goes that the Moog Modular synth became more popular because it was more friendly to musicians. The design of the Buchla itself, though, is often equally exceptional in comparison to the Moog Modulars. In fact, what’s remarkable about these two modulars is that they each evolved in parallel, on opposite coasts, sometimes with similar ideas — and both are incredibly sophisticated sound production instruments. Looking at the Buchla is a reminder that none of the design decisions on the Moog were inevitable, and visa versa. I spent a couple of years in the studio at Sarah Lawrence College looking at the two side by side, so I had plenty of time to reflect on this (especially since I screwed up my patches half the time).

One bit of conventional wisdom that is true is that Don Buchla favored alternatives to the standard piano/organ-style keyboard added early to the Moog — though even for those working on the Moog, this was a controversial issue. That makes the Continuum the perfect modern controller for a Buchla. What’s interesting to me — keeping in mind, I love keyboards and always will — is that the world has gradually come full circle. Maybe in the 60s, people weren’t quite ready to absorb new sounds and new controllers (though Keith Emerson sure loved his ribbon controller). Now, in the age of Wii, that has unquestionably changed.

Stay tuned; I hope to catch up with Richard and take a closer look at these instruments. There’s plenty to be learned there, even for those of us who might not be able to afford this combination.

Thanks, Richard!

“This Week in Synths” by Matrix is on a short holiday; in the meantime, you can page through the archived stories. In its place, it’s worth considering two “top xx lists” for synths. Sonic State has done a Top 20 Greatest Synths List, featuring a quite nice video and rather high-end production values. The list itself is perhaps better read as a Top 20 Most Popular Synths, though, so you’ll be gratified to know our friend Matrixsynth responded with a list of the Most Underrated Synths.

Top 20 Greatest Synths at Sonic State, complete with extensive information, links, top-notch videos … good stuff.

Most Underrated Synths at Matrixsynth, complete with more of the obscure instruments we love.

As terrific as the list at Sonic State is, presumably because it’s based on voting, it skews in a certain direction. The omission of modular Moog and Buchlas, the lack of important moments in synthesis (like Yamaha first commercializing physical modeling), and the general emphasis on ROMplers tilts the list in a certain direction. There’s a decent argument for the keyboards that made the list, but I am curious what CDMers would compile.

Hard to argue with the #1 spot, though. See what you think:

1. Moog Minimoog. (Warning: pronunciation in the video rhymes with the sound cows make, instead of properly rhyming with “brogue.”)
2. ARP Odyssey
3. Sequential Circuits Prophet 5
4. Yamaha DX7
5. Korg M1
6. Roland D50
7. Korg MS20
8. Roland JV-1080
9. Access Virus
10. ARP 2600. (Interesting bit of trivia: Sonic State’s readers are right that there’s an ARP 2500, not 2600, in Close Encounters, though the 2600 is often erroneously connected to the film. But something I didn’t know — Wikipedia says in the entry on the film that “Phil Dodds, a tech from ARP Instruments Inc., is the man playing the keyboard.”)
11. Oberheim OB8
12. Roland Juno 60
13. Mellotron (Hey, do tapes count?)
14. Yamaha CS-80
15. Roland Jupiter 8
16. E-MU PROteus 1
17. Clavia Nord Lead
18. VCS3
19. Roland SH-101
20. ARP Solina

Of course, part of the reason lists have become so popular online is because they’re easy to argue with. And this list illustrates, as much as ‘boards like the Minimoog get love, how other synths just never do.

So for those unloved synths, here are Matrix’s picks (in no particular order):

1. Oberheim Matrix-6
2. Rhodes/ARP Chroma
3. Elka Synthex
4. Korg Mono/Poly
5. Crumar Performer
6. Roland JX-3P
7. Sequential Circuits MAX
8. Casio HT-700
9. Yamaha FS1R
10. Akai vx600
11. EML 101
12. Kawai SX-240
13. Alesis Andromeda
14. Sequential Six-Trak
15. Akai AX-60
16. Korg M-500 Micropreset
17. Waldorf Microwave 1
18. Yamaha VL70m
19. Korg DS8
20. Ensoniq EPS16+
21. SCI Multitrack
22. Korg DSS-1 and Technics WSA-1

You’ll have to go actually read up just to remember which these are, huh?

I’m happy Matrix included the Yamaha VL70m, for introducing physical modeling to a mass-market. While not much of a success at the time, it did win some critical acclaim for pushing synths in a different direction. And now, years later, we’ve seen the success of Korg’s OASYS-PCI system and more recent OASYS synth flagship, Apple’s Sculpture, the whole product line from Applied Acoustics, and various other waveguide modeling implementations (some commercial, some DIY). I think it’s a synthesis technique we’ll see more of in the future.

Maybe modulars aren’t supposed to be included, but my #1 Underrated Synth of All Time is the legendary Buchla 100. It has suffered from the assumption that Moog’s modular was the superior design. I think the real reason, aside from Moog’s well-deserved reputation in design, is that Moog managed to sell to more popular artists — and went on to innovate in keyboards. Now that the history of synthesis in the 60s has been written with Moog as the hero, it’s too easy to overlook the various design innovations in the Buchla. In fact, put the two side by side, and you’re struck by the fact that nothing that the Moog does is necessarily self-evident — you realize that every design feature we now take for granted was up for grabs, and each design winds up looking more ingenious. The fact that Don Buchla and Bob Moog were each developing modular systems in relative isolation is all the more impressive. All due respect for the new Buchla 200e, though, the day I have money and room for a modular, I’d like a Buchla 100 series.

Also, UK readers are surely unhappy about the fact that EMS isn’t on the list, right?

Anyway, I list these here partly because I’d love your nominations for greatest synths of all time.

And this being a software site, I certainly wouldn’t exclude software. Which soft synths deserve to stand alongside some of the greatest hardware of all time? Reaktor? Sculpture? Reaon’s Malström? Koblo?

A little bit of Buchla synth history via Peter Grenader of Plan b. That giant modular in the background is the Buchla 500, the rarest of the rare in the modular synth world. It is possible there were only three ever in existence. “The following flckr stream [link] was from CalArts studio B-304 taken in the fall of 1976 featuring Barry Schrader, Morton Subotnick and John Payne and a whole lotta Buchla 500. John as you may remember came up a couple of months ago on Matrixsynth in the posting regarding Mort’s use of the 300 at Ircam [link]. He went on in later years to become the Assistant Dean of the CIA School of Music and founder of it’s Music Tech department. Photo b_304.2 has a good view of the entire studio, save the three other JBL’s which are out of frame (it was a quad studio – there was one in each corner).

There are two more 500’s that I know off – at Evergreen and another somewhere in Europe (pardon the senior moment, i don’t remember where exactly). This is not to say there aren’t others…I’m just not aware of any. The one in the photo here was the first – the development system Don constructed while on staff at CalArts. I do know the 500 was adondoned quickly and resurfaced as the 300 series which included direct routing of computer control the various modules (259 VCO and 292C Gate for example) -and- the digital VCOs.”

“The box screwed into the side of the main cabinet is a speaker selector which if I remember correctly wasn’t on line. Another bit of trivia – this was taken about the time of Mort’s Game Room project that Gary Chang, Jill Frazer, Darrell Johansen, Sue Harvey and I worked on. The room next to 304 (other side of the wall which is shown behind the Buchla) was 305. It had a large 100 system (three cabinets) and for the Game Room we cut a hole in the base of that wall to run audio cables out from the tape machines to play quad audio snippets into the game area. This also took signals directly from the game board in 305 where signals were decoded and sent to the various controllers (audio, film, Buchla-controlled OCR light dimmers, etc.).

Against the other wall – opposite the one behind the 500 – was studi oB-303, which was pretty much a duplicate of this one sans the computer control – so it was a 200 studio, not a 500 studio. It also had the huge JBL monitors which were hung form the ceiling on metal brackets made by Chas Smith (which are still in place today). There’s a photo of 303 at Barry’s Schrader’s website: link

Most people preferred working in 303, mainly because the 258’s were easier to get to. On the 500 system they were all on the top row, which was a pain for most. The upside – studio time was easy to book in 304 for this reason I spent a lot of the early mornings here – tarting usually at 4AM and going until classes began around 9.”

Click here for the rest of the shots. You can find more in the comments of this Matrixsynth post.

buchla 200e rock n roll

The above is a video of the new Buchla modular, the 200e.
The demo is by Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails.

ARP 2500 Noodle

Click here for an mp3 of the ARP 2500, another of the rarest of the rare in the modular synth world. A little bit of trivia: the ARP 2500 was the synth used to communicate with the aliens in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It was played in the movie by head ARP engineer Phillip Dodds.

The demo was sent my way via ben who had the following to say:

“I thought you might like to hear a little “ARP 2500 NOODLE” i did yesterday [actually its nearly 7 mins long]. It’s an arp going through an ibanez AD-80 delay pedal. It’s in mono. The arp is set up to play a simple sequence [notice it is 10 steps long] and I tweak the pitch etc as it goes. I also tweak the delay repeat/time/blend knobs. Note that this is an analog delay pedal from the 70s, using the amazing Panasonic MN3005 bucket brigade delay circuit”

ARP 2600 Repair

Ever wonder what it might look like at a techs office repairing a vintage analog synth? The above is a video of Fredrik Segerfalk’s ARP 2600 being repaired. “This is how a tech should do it. Fix the stuff and keep you amused. This is one of many videos I got from my tech when he fixed my ARP 2600″

Have a great weekend everyone!
For more daily synth-related content check out Matrixsynth.

Suzanne Ciani, the synthesis pioneer, multi-Grammy nominee, and composer of everything from New Age music to classic 70s jingles and sound effects (including the distinctive synthesized Coke-unbottling sound), explains the fundamentals of acoustics and synthesis in terms children could understand:

A Prophet figures prominently, but other than that it’s almost an all-Buchla show. She’s a virtuoso at patching a Buchla patch. And between her and the host, I guarantee you’ll be extremely calm within the first few seconds.

As you know, the Frankfurt Musicmesse opened on Wednesday the 28th. There were quite a few exciting announcements including the Nord Wave, Arturia Origen Keyboard, the Dexter and of course the biggest announcement in my opinion, the Solaris hardware synth by John Bowen Synth Designs. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the interview by James here. Aside from the major announcements there was quite a bit more worth checking out in the synth world including this gorgeous MacBeth M5N, a white version of the M5 with a few updates including snappier envelopes, greater signal to noise ratios for the filters, and more. You can find links to more Messepics here, many courtesy of sequencer.de, a great synth site based in Germany. Some of the synth related gadgets include the Tiefenrausch monophonic analog synth, the Anyware Instruments ClockBox, the SteckBox (an EMS style pin matrix with light risters), and more.

Rarities Set Loose

Fairlight Series IIIx

A Fairlight Series IIIx and MFX is up for auction with a whopping Buy It Now of $11,900 US.

Some details:
“Offered for sale is a very rare fully functional vintage rack-mount Fairlight CMI III computerised musical instrument workstation in excellent condition. Also fitted is Fairlight MFX2 capability, which adds a 24 track direct to disc recorder / editor. The system is a late model, and as such has the latest and best in technical innovations, whilst still retaining the classic legendary sound of the CMI.

The system has 16 voices, 16 Mbytes RAM, colour graphics card, digital sampler and 24 output router. It also comes with the later MFX alpha-numeric keyboard, and a proper weighted action music keyboard. A 15” LCD screen (not the one illustrated) is included. There are two 4 Gbyte hard discs, one empty for disc recording, and one full of the following libraries:

Complete Fairlight library, Prosonus Strings, Brass, Percussion, Sound
Genesis strings, plus many libraries collected over the last 20 years
dealing with top producers and musicians. These include libraries from: Pet
Shop Boys, Trevor Horn, Hans Zimmer, Frankie goes to Hollywood, Art of Noise
and many, many others. The complete Fairlight IIX library is also included.”

Yamaha FX-1

Next up, a Yamaha FX-1 for auction. The Yamaha FX-1 was an FM based Yamaha Electone behemoth with motorized sliders. Think DX7/DX1 on steroids. There are very few of these known to exist. There is one known model in the UK according to this Sound on Sound article and until this auction, only one that I was aware of in the US, owned by a dying breed, a one man club act from the 60s, Jimmy [BTW, Jimmy's story is pretty fascinating].

Via the SOS article:
“Lest you think that (other than the DX1) all FM synthesizers were small, neat affairs, let me tell you about the FX1. This was a huge three-manual beast very much in the mould of the GX1, but based entirely on FM synthesis. If you’ve never heard of it, I’m not surprised. Costing £36,000 in 1986, there’s only one working example in the UK, and not many more elsewhere.”

MOOG Model 12

Finally, a MOOG Model 12 modular recently went for $5100 US. The unit was sold as is from The University of Wyoming. You can see the auction here. I also backed it up on Matrixsynth for when it disapears. The price may seem high considering what you can get from current modular synth manufacturers, however this is part of history. You can barely make it out, but there’s a handle at the very top of the modular and latches to the site. The modular is was built into is own carrying case.

The Non-MOOG Modular

Below is a video of some MOOG modulars manufactured by Don Martin. If you remember from the March 16 Week In Synths, Don Martin owned the Moog name in the US after MOOG music went under. He released a Model E Minimoog commonly referred to as the Donimoog. In addition to the Mini, he also release a number of MOOG modules. Cary Roberts posted the following video on AH along with more pics you can find here. You can find a list of the Don Martin MOOG modules here. BTW, word is they actually sounded good. Note: unfortunately there is no audio in this video, but I prefer it a bit more to just the static shots.

Tie-Fighter Cockpit and Willy Wonka’s Music Box

Finally I leave you with two Buchla videos:

Buchla 700

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Video by Electric Parade.

The Buchla Music Easel

Note the Music Easel video is from the Analog Heaven Midwest synth gathering. You can find more videos from the event here.

BTW, credit for the Tie-Fighter analogy goes to Wingo Shackleford via the comments of this post.

For daily synth-related posts check out Matrixsynth.

First up. “Yamaha One” via polaranta, of Syntezatory.prv.pl. Need I say more? At least once a month polaranta comes up with some of the most ridiculously imaginative and usually quite funny shots. Nice hi-tops. Yamaha CS20M pictured.

Under the Side Panel. What you are looking at is the uncovered side of a Korg 900ps. This image was sent into the Analog Heaven mailing list by punkDISCO, who discovered it on his Korg. If you look at the red circular stamps you will see what looks like a date, 52.8.26. The 52 appears to be the year “Showa 52″(Emperor Era). The year represents 1977: 1926 + Showa(52) – 1 = 77.


John Entwistle’s (of The Who), Steiner Parker EVI up for auction. Link. The EVI is a wind based analog synth. The circuitry is an analog synth and you play it with the clarinet looking device. These are extremely rare, vintage analog. You can find more info on the EVI in general via this post.

Buchla 2003 rock n roll
And finally I leave you with the always controversial Buchla 200e. Why controversial? A good base system can run you upwards of $20k. You can get a lot of modular and/or other synths for that wad of cash. A common theme among some readers of Matrixsynth has been its analogy to a $20k electronic banjo due the pluckiness of many 200e demos. But not this one.

BTW, Doktor Future coined the banjo analogy. Odd little bit of synth history, but when you are into synths, anything synth can be interesting. For everything synth, check out more posts on MATRIXSYNTH.

Cheers,
matrix

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