4 Sale: Buchla Music Easel
ralph muha
This is a vintage (circa 1974) analog synth (with preset program cards)
that should be of interest to collectors, historians or experimentors.
It features two (!!) voltage-controlled oscillators, one with a waveform
mix that goes from sine to square, triangle or pulse and a timbre
control that provides waveshaping distortion on the sine wave. The
other oscillator can be used as both a secondary sound source (sine,
triangle, square) and either an AM or FM modulator for the main
oscillator. Both oscillators have coarse and fine pitch adjustment, a
patchable CV input and a separate, switchable keyboard CV input (3
volts/octave, the Buchla standard).
The output of these oscillators are routed into two voltage-controlled
gates, which are combination VCA's and VCLPF's that may be used
separately, in series or in parallel (in parallel mode, high frequencies
are attenuated faster than low frequencies resulting in a very natural
sounding acoustic decay). The output of the gates (which are mixed
out-of-phase to allow for phasing effects) go thru a small spring reverb
to both line level outputs and a headphone monitor jack with separate
volume control.
The keyboard unit is a laquered circuit board with etched capacitive
sensor keys. It generates trigger and control voltage outputs as has
switchable preset voltages, octave shifts and voltage controlled
portamento. Internally, all output voltage levels are individually
adjustable by trimmer pots. Other control sources include a five stage
(!!) sequential voltage and trigger source, a random voltage source, an
ASR (attack sustain release) envelope and a simple ramp generator.
These last four can be triggered by the keyboard, the ramp generator or
the sequencer.
All parameters (including switch settings) are voltage controlled. The
front panel provides partial access to these inputs. Control voltage
connections are patched with standard banana style patchcords and plugs.
Trigger sources and audio routing are switch selectable.
Full access to the instruments control inputs is provided by the
programming cards. These are small printed circuit boards that plug into
a edge connector on the front panel; a switch selects front panel
control, program card control or both. Control connections are
programmed by soldering resistors onto the card. There is also a general
purpose area at the top of the card that provides +-15V to allow custom
circuitry (eg, a computer interface) to be added.
The instrument comes in an foam lined aluminum suitcase (16"x24"x6"),
with an assortment of patch cords and plugs, the original manual, 12
program cards and an assortment of resistors.
Asking price: $500/BO.
Please reply by email to rm...@tiac.net.
ralph