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Thread: Don Buchla RIP

  1. #1

    Don Buchla RIP

    :-(

    His devices are amazing.
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  2. #2
    Member rcarlberg's Avatar
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    Ah man, that sucks.

  3. #3
    Missed the news, 'til Moog Music sent out a really awesome tribute this evening.

    Never owned a genuine Buchla but much of my Eurorack setup attempts to emulate the same concepts.

  4. #4
    Parrots Ripped My Flesh Dave (in MA)'s Avatar
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    :-( I just watched I Dream of Wires last week.

  5. #5
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    I had the fortunate chance to use a Buchla modular whilst in college during the late 1970's for the EMP classes . . .

    RIP to a pioneer !!!

  6. #6
    Marklar Jimmy Giant's Avatar
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    TRUELY a pioneer. Always sad to see one of the old gods pass.
    Great inventions Don. RIP.
    JG

    "MARKLAR!"

  7. #7
    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    RIP
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  8. #8
    Member lak611's Avatar
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    RIP and thanks for the innovations. You truly were a genius.

    Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
    Laura

  9. #9
    RIP!
    Macht das ohr auf!

    COSMIC EYE RECORDS

  10. #10

  11. #11
    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    Another pioneer escaped us. Rest In Peace. This makes me want to read Analog Days again.


  12. #12
    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    More information on the documentary ^^ which is still in progress: http://www.clarityfilms.org/buchla/

    Here's I Monster's Buchla-tribute from their recent albumBright Sparks:

    https://imonster.bandcamp.com/track/...the-buchla-box

  13. #13
    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    A personal remembrance of Don Buchla by percussionist Gino Robair.
    http://www.keyboardmag.com/artists/1...embrance/59786
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  14. #14
    Member dropforge's Avatar
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    Ah, crap...why is there no mention of this anywhere else? RIP.

  15. #15


    Created on the “Electric Music Box,” the Buchla 200 modular series (which came in a cool-looking cabinet with curved end pieces).
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  16. #16
    This also just landed within the last week or so, two excellent players, different generations, jamming together on Buchla gear:

    https://kaitlynaureliasmith.bandcamp...vol-13-sunergy
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  17. #17
    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    Pauline Oliveros-Alien Bog(1967).Buchla Box 100 and tape delay.
    Last edited by walt; 09-19-2016 at 05:45 AM.
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  18. #18
    Not to mention this, some of the most beautiful music produced on the Buchla, and some of the most beautiful electronic music, ever:

    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  19. #19
    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by walt View Post
    Pauline Oliveros-Alien Bog(1967).Buchla Box 100 and tape delay.
    I studied electronic music under Pauline Oliveros at UCSD in the '70s, and learned on a multi-panel Buchla setup much like the one in that cover photo. R.I.P. Don Buchla!
    Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
    https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
    http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post

    Created on the “Electric Music Box,” the Buchla 200 modular series (which came in a cool-looking cabinet with curved end pieces).
    All of Subotnick's classic late 60's/early 70's albums, starting with Silver Apples Of The Moon, were done on Buchla gear. As far as I know, he still uses a small Buchla synth, with a laptop, when performing today. I always thought it was Don's idea to do away with the conventional organ style keyboard, but apparently, that was a stipulation of Subotnick's because he felt that he'd continue making music that sounded the same as he did at the piano if the instrument had a "black and white keyboard". Of course, over the years, Don continued to design all kinds of innovative musician/instrument interfaces, so clearly "new types of controllers" were something that stayed on his mind for a long time.

    Apparently, it was Subotnick and Ramon Sender who first commissioned Don to build the prototypes that led up to the 100 series "Electric Music Boxes" (Don apparently disliked the word synthesizer, because of the implications of the word).

    Pauline Oliveros used series 100 Electric Music Box when she was working at the Mills College Tape Music Center. I read in the liner notes of her Reverberations boxset that she didn't like working with the Buchla as much as the old Hewlett Packard oscillators she had been using for the last few years. It seems she felt the Buchla wasn't as organic as the old test oscillators. Having said that, I think she made some great music with the Buchla.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    All of Subotnick's classic late 60's/early 70's albums, starting with Silver Apples Of The Moon, were done on Buchla gear. As far as I know, he still uses a small Buchla synth, with a laptop, when performing today. I always thought it was Don's idea to do away with the conventional organ style keyboard, but apparently, that was a stipulation of Subotnick's because he felt that he'd continue making music that sounded the same as he did at the piano if the instrument had a "black and white keyboard". Of course, over the years, Don continued to design all kinds of innovative musician/instrument interfaces, so clearly "new types of controllers" were something that stayed on his mind for a long time.
    I think that's almost it...I think that Subotnick was opposed to having a piano-style keyboard because he wanted the instruments to allow ANYONE to make music, not just those who understood and/or were trained on a piano.

    For me, Subotnick was practically synonymous with Buchla for the longest time...the sound of Silver Apples *was* the Buchla. It's only been in the past few years that I've discovered other musicians who did amazing (and amazingly different) stuff with his devices, like Charles Cohen, Suzanne Ciani, Alessandro Cortini, and others.
    If you're actually reading this then chances are you already have my last album but if NOT and you're curious:
    https://battema.bandcamp.com/

    Also, Ephemeral Sun: it's a thing and we like making things that might be your thing: https://ephemeralsun.bandcamp.com

  22. #22
    Boo! walt's Avatar
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    Warner Jepson(i think he's still living) is a visual artist and composer who did wonderful music using the early Buchla Box(s) in San Francisco in the late 60's.This video has Jepson talking about his life in art and music; skip, (if you want) to the 13:30 mark and he starts talking about his entry into the world of synthesizers, particularly the Buchla and The San Francisco Tape Center.

    The other link has samples of some of his Buchla music.

    His 2cd release Totentanz And Other Electronic Works 1958-1973 is quite good.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TFE98n1JMY
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvNp7dVTl8U
    Last edited by walt; 09-20-2016 at 08:35 AM.
    "please do not understand me too quickly"-andre gide

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    Pauline Oliveros used series 100 Electric Music Box when she was working at the Mills College Tape Music Center. I read in the liner notes of her Reverberations boxset that she didn't like working with the Buchla as much as the old Hewlett Packard oscillators she had been using for the last few years. It seems she felt the Buchla wasn't as organic as the old test oscillators. Having said that, I think she made some great music with the Buchla.
    I have yet to hear everything she’s done, but my favorite piece of hers is still I of IV, which is performed on those HP audio oscillators [apparently] controlled by a Hammond organ keyboard. Like her friend and sometimes collaborator Alvin Lucier, she seemed somewhat obsessed in “heterodyning.” The oscillators were actually set to frequencies outside the range of human hearing, the sounds you hear are the interference patterns produced by the relation between the different frequencies produced. It just sounds like floating in outer space to me.
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

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