Sunday 24 March 2019

Buchla Synth Timeline

A brief timeline of the Buchla Synthesizer

1937 ------------------- Don Buchla born in Southgate California

1959 ------------ Don Buchla received a degree in physics (University of California, Berkeley)

1962 ------------------Don became involved with the San Francisco Tape Music Center

1964 ------------------------ design of the 100 series Modular Electronic Music System started

1965 ----------------- The first 100 series is delivered to the SFTMC
                          (San Francisco Tape Music Center). The SFTMC eventually became
                          Mills College.

1967 --------------------- "Silver Apples Of The Moon"  released (Morton Subotnick)

1968/69 ----------- the Series 100 was sold to CBS Musical Instruments

1969 ------------------- Buffy Sainte Marie's album, Illuminations 

1970 -------------------------------------------  the 200 series Electric Music Box

1971 ------------------ 237/238  keyboard created (the first polyphonic modular controller keyboard)

1972 ------------- the 500 series, hybrid digitally controlled analog synthesizer announced.
                               It was designed over previous years.

1973 ------------------------- Buchla Music Easel

1976 ----------- the Series 300 (Don combined the Series 200 with microprocessors).
                    This was actually started in the Autumn of 1975, but 76 was when the
                    work was really done. 
                           
1978-1980 ------------------------------------------------ Touché

1978/9 -----------------  Sili-Con Cello (This was a performance based piece, not a product).

1982 ------------------------ Buchla 400

1986 ---------------------------------------------- the Buchla 700 with MIDI

1989 ---------------------------------------------------- Thunder controller

1991 --------------------------------------- Lightning controller

1995 ------------------ Oberheim OB-Mx

1996 ------------------------------------------------- Lightning II controller

1999 -------------------------  Marimba Lumina (gold edition)

2000 --------------------------------------------------- Marimba Lumina 3.5 (silver)

2002 ---------------------------- Marimba Lumina 2.5

2002 ------------------------------------- Piano Bar (Manufactured by Moog)

2002 ------------------------------------------- Barber Pole modules released.

2004 ---------------------- 200e series

2012 ------------------------------- BEMI formed

2013 ------------------------------------------- BEMI re-introduced the Music Easel.

2014 ------------------------ Don is forced out by BEMI

2014/5 ---------------------------------------------- 252e

2016 -------------------- Don Buchla passes at the age of 79 on September 14.

2017 ----------------------------------- BEMI released the Easel AUX Expander

2018 --------------- Buchla USA formed - BEMI takes on a partner & rebrands as Buchla USA



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Buchla 100 series

This synth was commissioned by Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender in 1963 and funded by a $500 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The earliest modules have no company name on the front panel, or are labeled "San Francisco Tape Music Center." The 100 series company was sold to CBS in 1969. These later modules are labelled CBS musical instruments.

The original instrument was installed at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1965 and moved to Mills College in 1966.

Buchla 200 series

The Buchla 200 series Electric Music Box replaced the 100 series in 1970. This was a huge advance in technology with greater use of CVs (control voltages)

Buchla 500 series


The first hybrid synthesizer. A computer was now added to to a analog synthesizer aid the process of
music creation

Buchla 300 series (1976)

This system employed digitally controlled 200 modules.
It included a computer 
It's a Digital/Analogue Hybrid Music system . It used Patch IV software for routing control signals and inputting program data. The software was initially developed for 8080 & Z80 based machines

Touche (1978 - 1980)

Used a traditional 61 note keyboard. It was a hybrid digital computer married with analog circuitry.
8 voice polyphonic synth with 3 oscillators per voice.
It was controlled using a computer running FOIL (Far Out Instrument Language).
Apparently only four of these were ever made

400 Series (1982)

No patch chords!
6 voices of Digital oscillators.
Uses the MIDAS computer language to program the oscillators, filters, amps etc
Designed for film scoring ?

700 series (1987)

The first MIDI Buchla device. It also had CV/Gate, SMPTE, and two RS232 ports.
Almost all the controls are touch plate (apart from 5 pots).
12 voices with 4 digital oscillators per voice.... that's 48 oscillators
 6 modifiers per voice.
15 envelopes per voice. Each envelope can have up to 96 breakpoints.
It ran MIDAS VII software

Thunder (1989)

The first assignable MIDI controller based on ergonomics.
The human hand placement was foremost in its design.
Nothing like a standard keyboard.

Lightning 1991

It has two wands or sticks that are sensed by the main unit.

Marimba Lunina 1999

The mallets have radio transmitters in them.




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++++ the dates and info are as accurate as I can find ++++
++++ If there are any mistakes or omissions please shoot me and email +++++

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