Tags: Modular synthesisers

Notes: Buchla-inspired modular business in Korg's small and affordable Volca range. Amazingly creative and experimental synth power in a tiny little box. Highly recommended.

Supplier's notes:
A semi-modular analogue synthesizer that makes modular synthesis more accessible and understandable than ever before.
Creating new sounds that don't exist in the outside world is an unending dream which has continued since the birth of electronic musical instruments. This dream has evolved and expanded throughout the development of new and unique music production devices.

The popularity of modular synthesizers around the world has generated new excitement and interest in the so-called "West Coast style" of synthesis that deviates from traditional synthesis norms.
The compact body of this volca synth features eight modules and 50 patch points. While learning the basics of a modular synth, you can use popular features of the volca synthesizer line to control a unique and different flavour of analogue sounds.

Eight modules:
The volca modular is a semi-modular synthesizer consisting of independent analogue synth modules, digital effects, and a sequencer. Each of the modules has been carefully selected for its stand-alone completeness. The modules are internally connected so that sound can be produced even before connecting the included pin cables, and the routing is shown by white lines on the panel. Module connections via a pin cable take priority over the internal connections, bypassing them.

A fusion of West Coast style in a volca format:
Analog synthesizers in which a simple oscillator such as a saw wave or square wave is modified by a filter are referred to as "East Coast style" because of their origin from well-known American manufacturers. Synths of this style, as exemplified by the MS-20, have continued to evolve toward a goal of being used in many mainstream musical genres, thus being equipped with a keyboard for performance. Their sounds are notable for sharp filters and rich presence, and can be heard in many well-known songs.

Patching allows infinite possibilities:
volca modular's modules are connected via the included pin cables, allowing a diverse range of combinations. The unit's compact chassis provides 50 patch points. Inputs and outputs are color-coded for recognition at a glance, and the signals are also marked by symbols to indicate audio, control, gate or trigger. Normally, each signal is connected according to its use, but on the volca modular, signal levels are universally compatible between modules, allowing hidden possibilities to arise from patching that defies common sense. Twenty pin cables are included, and also included is a reference sheet explaining each patch point and providing basic examples of patching.

Sixteen-step sequencer that can automate parameters:
While the volca modular is a semi-modular synth, it is equipped with a full-fledged 16-step sequencer providing a wide range of functions, letting you enjoy automatic performance even when used stand-alone.

Using the 16 buttons familiar from the volca series, you can perform step input or use the buttons as a keyboard for realtime recording. The pattern chaining function plays back multiple sequence patterns in succession, allowing you to connect up to 16 sequences with up to 32, 64, or even 256 steps to create large-scale development.

Randomize function that can generate accidental ideas:
The sequencer of the volca modular lets you specify randomization for notes, active steps, and micro tuning. Irregular phrases, rhythms, and scaling that would be unlikely to come to mind can be generated by applying randomness, letting the volca be a source of unknown ideas.

Two new modes added for sequence playback:
Two new sequence modes have been added: bounce sequence mode which makes a round trip through the steps, and stochastic sequence mode which gradually proceeds while randomly moving forward and backward. Playing back a recorded sequence in a different form can add dramatic changes to your song or performance.

Musically advanced scales, keys, and micro tuning:
Although the volca modular is a West Coast style synthesizer, it also provides flexible support for music as a contemporary instrument. You can choose from 14 types of scale including equal temperament. Since you can also specify the tonic key from which these scales start, you can play these scales in any key.

Connectors that allow synchronized performance and external control:
With a sync jack that allows easy connection to a Korg groove machine, you can connect the volca modular to another volca series unit, a minilogue, monologue, or prologue, an electribe, or the SQ-1, and enjoy sessions with the sequencer synchronized to the playback.

Notes: Latest incarnation of Buchla's legendary modular synth. Massively creative with incredible sound and history stretching all the way back to the 1960s.

Supplier notes:
The evolution of the legendary modular analog synthesizer by Don Buchla. The Buchla Easel Command is the newly updated 208C in a standalone desktop form with MIDI and CV control.

Buchla's own Joel Davel led the charge to create a new version of the legendary Music Easel instrument with more modular flexibility and independence, while also providing the means to easily interface with more devices, such as the various DAWs like Ableton and MIDI controllers, including the very expressive Sensel Morph. It's still fully analog in its default configuration and provides the unique and exquisite Buchla experience with greater functionality at a lower cost.

Notes: A beautifully realised instrument drawing on West coast and East coast synthesis concepts to create something new and beguiling. Three oscillators, smooth filter and Buchla-style dynamics controller.

Supplier's Notes:
Taiga Paraphonic Modular Synthesizer

Taiga is a complete, modern, modular instrument that allows us to explore beyond the boundaries of a traditional analog synthesizer. The sound of Taiga can be attributed to three uniquely Pittsburgh innovations. A trio of huge analog oscillators, the unmistakably smooth sound of the Pittsburgh Filter, and the warmth of the unique Dynamics Controller. These enable you to not only create sounds that would be traditionally expected from an analog synthesizer, but also to explore new sonic textures and performance possibilities.

Taiga oscillators

Waveforms generated by the three Taiga oscillators stretch beyond the basic geometric shapes and sounds associated with analog synthesis. Taiga waveforms pass through up to three proprietary, cascading waveshapers designed to precisely manipulate their symmetry and harmonic content. In addition, each oscillator includes a robust six-stage wave folder to add even more complexity and depth to the diverse sonic palate of Taiga.

The Pittsburgh Filter

The Pittsburgh filter has defined the sound of Pittsburgh Modular from the moment it was introduced. A signature gummy and relaxed sound with no dead spots that has been tweaked to perfection. It offers a warm, smooth sweep through the full frequency range and a sweet resonance that does not roll off the low end. This generation of the Pittsburgh filter is specifically designed to ensure a remarkable interplay with Taiga's oscillators.

Pittsburgh Dynamics Controller

Pittsburgh's new Dynamics technology imparts Taiga with a uniquely organic depth and presence. By simultaneously managing both amplitude and harmonic content, the Pittsburgh Dynamics Controller expands beyond the one-dimensional VCA found in other synthesizers. It does this by utilizing new advancements from traditional low pass gates to add additional definition and dimension to the voice of Taiga.

When used in low pass gate mode, sounds shed harmonic content and become warmer as they decrease in volume. This mimics how sound waves react to their environment. Because of this connection, the Taiga sounds more natural or complex compared to other instruments.

Analogue Echoes

Echos is a beautifully dark analog delay tuned to enhance the source material by repeating it over and over. Echos utilize a pair of bucket brigade delay chips to produce a classic voltage-controllable analog delay effect that helps to place the sounds of Taiga in a simulated environment.

Open Architecture

Taiga has an internally defined signal path. Patch cables are not necessary to begin exploring. Attach a midi keyboard and plug the output into a speaker or DAW and Taiga is ready to go with a robust but familiar workflow. When your ideas grow beyond the pre-defined signal path, a 60 point patch bay opens up a fully modular instrument with access to an even deeper set of features and tools.

Complete Set of Modular Tools

Taiga includes a host of fully modular, analog, and digital synthesis tools to support and enhance its core functionality. Analog tools include a flexible dual mixer, a pair of plucky four-stage envelope generators, noise, and sample and hold. Digital tools cover external MIDI, arpeggiator, clock sync'd modulation tools, and a robust collection of random generators. The Taiga toolset is deep enough for any type of sonic exploration.

Taiga features and other info:

Paraphonic synthesizer with unique additive elements

Fully patchable - use Taiga's components as separate modules with external devices or reroute its internal patching.
Controllable via MIDI, CV, and integrated pseudo random sequencing mode
Clock-synced arpeggiator
3x Pittsburgh Modular Synthesizer developed 100% analog oscillators
Oscillator waveforms - sine, triangle, and saw - Waveforms can be combined
3x Pittsburgh Modular Synthesizer 6 stage wave folder/shaper circuit - folds inputted waves back onto themselves to increase harmonic content
Oscillators include frequency modulation (FM)
Noise generator - pitched somewhere between pure white and pink noise. Perfect for percussion or adding a bit of edge to a sound.
Variable state, multi-mode "Pittsburgh No-Dead-Spots" filter (lowpass, bandpass, highpass, modes can be combined)
Sample & Hold circuit
2x Analog ADSR / envelope generators
Pittsburgh dynamics section - an alternative to an envelope generator and a VCA, the dynamics controller is a Pittsburgh Modular invention that adds a dimension of control over a vactrol-less lowpass gate circuit, adding release time. (read more on this in the user guide)
Dual range analog LFO with square and triangle wave outputs.
LFO Range High: 2 Hz to 500 Hz Low: 41 seconds to 5 Hz
Dual Channel Mixer - 2 channel mixer and a 3 channel mixer joined together, capable of mixing both audio or control voltages.

Notes: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of this truly iconic synth, the 'modern' take on the classic Buchla Music Easel doesn't mess with a winning formula, paring the 208C sound source with 218e touch-sensitive keyboard.

Supplier's Notes:
The Buchla Music Easel was one of the first truly portable electronic music instruments. Fifty years ago, in 1973, only a few dozen were made. Unlike many iconic technologies, the influence was not grown through force of scale, but rather the force of the ideas. The Music Easel made available virtually every musical dimension: timbre, melody, rhythm, and time; how these dimensions intersected was no longer the court of acoustics and material, but signals and voltage. The 208 Stored Program Sound Source engendered "a new functional organization [with a] particularly rapid system of patching and program storage via plug-in cards."

Taking cues from the then-recent discipline of cybernetics, the 218 touch plate was for "real-time communication" to help realize the "potential vocabulary" of the Easel, rather than exploiting existing modes of musical virtuosity. The Stored Program Cards ensured rapid repeatability and repertoire on its own terms. The battery terminals made sure the music was as portable as any acoustic instrument. And the name let you know it was designed for art rather than science.

Buchla is ecstatic to revive the Music Easel for its third run in 50 years. Buchla first released the updated 208 Stored Program Sound Source, dubbed the Easel Command, with expanded MIDI and USB capability. Next came the update of the Easel Program Manager - a complete kit for storing and recalling sounds sources, even more rapidly than imagined in 1973. The new 218 Touch Activated Voltage Source provides the optimal input facility, as originally envisioned. It is now all together in a rugged case and the advanced EMBIO module that unifies all the audio and control inputs and outputs for integration with the rest of your musical world.

More than a retro novelty, the Music Easel still speaks to a future we strive for. A technology that invites conversation, not chats, and controls that engage expression, not work. There are many new worlds to explore in this instrument created at the crossroads of the jazz and computer ages. Designed as "an integrated assemblage of functions", rather than a collection of modules, the Music Easel's colour coding, comfortable access to controls, and solid patch connections allow for satisfying sessions of sonic discovery.

The Music Easel is available for pre-order starting June 16 at Buchla.com and your favourite Buchla Dealer. Delivery of the Music Easel (modern) is expected fall 2023.

Stored Program Sound Source Model 208C

The sound source of the Music Easel is the 208C, which includes a complex oscillator and a modulation oscillator (which can also serve as another voice), each with independent switchable waveforms, as well as a noise generator, allowing for rich and intricate sound design. The 208C also features a five-stage sequencer, envelope generator, pulser and modulation source - with switchable triggers - allowing for complex patterns and evolving textures. The dual low pass gate provides dynamic control over the tone and amplitude of the sound, as well as natural-sounding decay and sustain. The 208C has a number of modulation sources, including a random voltage generator, the envelope generator, modulation oscillator, and an envelope detector. These sources can be used to modulate various parameters via the extensive patchfield - creating movement, texture, and complexity. The 208C also includes a mixer section with spring reverb.

Touch Activated Voltage Source Model 218e (v3)

The first design appeared in the 1973 release of the Buchla Music Easel and named for the spacecraft that delivered astronauts to the moon. Providing the familiar piano key layout for this early mobile music machine, the additional controls and capabilities were an interface for exploring uncharted musical territory. With the new version 3, it's been elevated with a new foundation of stable, modern electronics with incredible sensitivity and accuracy - the lightest touch will produce triggers and control voltages. The adjustable sensor has the dynamic range and durability to handle your playing. The new texture not only improves the sensing, but provides a satisfying tactile experience. As always, pressure is an expressive output, adding an extra dimension to the control. MIDI outputs velocity and polyphony, as well as channel pressure, making the 218e a uniquely expressive controller. The 218e includes portamento and an arpeggiator, which can be driven by external inputs and are allowed to interact with the automated notes to make patterns more complex. Additional controls allow you to blend different patterns and randomness to easily change from the expected to the surprising. The classic preset voltage knobs offer several possible ways to shift your sounds into new territory. Not only can the knobs be used for quick access to voltages for your patch, they can control arpeggiation modes and octave shifting. Pads output pulses for additional control. The 218e also gives you a unique interface to playing your existing MIDI gear and soft synths. Each touch outputs note name, channel pressure, and velocity for every note, along with sustain controls from a pedal. Polyphonic MIDI mode lets you play chords. The touchstrip can act as a pitch bend control, or as a mod wheel for additional expressive control. Easily configured using the front panel controls, you can send notes and controls on any MIDI channel.

Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO)

Maintaining the spirit, sound, and process from the original, the new Music Easel adds a variety of new features. Buchla's latest renditions of the Stored Program Sound Source and Touch Activated Voltage Source are tied together with the Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO) module. This of course provides MIDI out (mini jack and USB) and CV out from the 218, MIDI in to the 208, and the audio out from the 208C. Additional creative control comes from the Audio Mixer, for integration with other Buchla modules and systems, and the CV conditioners and controls. The slew control can turn your sequencer into a wavy modulator, or soften up a square LFO. The attenuator and crossfader gives you the opportunity to find new levels and combinations of voltages from existing ones. The pulse converter offers new rhythms to trigger. And a simple LFO provides another valuable modulator when you just can't quite let yourself flip that Mod Osc switch from "high" to "low."

Notes: A complete system which really showcases Make Nose's experimental approach, the Resynthesizer features Make Noise classics like the Spectraphon and Morphagene and hands-on control via the PrssPnt, alll housed in a 4 Zone CV Bus Case.

Supplier's Notes:
The ReSynthesizer can trace its origins to Spring 2023, with Walker and Rodent putting together a collection of modules to announce and demonstrate the Soundhack Spectraphon at Superbooth '23. These modules would need to complement Spectraphon in a way that would show its true capabilities. As such, this specialized layout comprised a single-system overview of the last 8 years of Make Noise module designs.

After Superbooth, Walker and Peter continued to use a similar system configuration in videos for Make Noise's Youtube and Instagram Channels, prompting some folks to speculate if it was to be Make Noise's new 7U system. At that time there were no plans for a new system; in fact, this layout had been intended as temporary all along, but it was made a useful layout in almost all cases. (The layout even gained the popular unofficial moniker "System X" thanks to the speculative work of Cinematic Laboratory and others.) Choices like the unusual placement of the Morphagene, adjacent to Spectraphon, which was initially assumed would be mainly for a very specific use-case, quickly became second nature to patch. The Spectraphon and Morphagene work together to ReSynthesize raw materials into lush soundscapes, microsound manipulations, or wherever the path leads.

In early 2024, Make Noise announced DXG for the easy mixdown of mono or stereo signals, and PrssPnt to add physical touch interaction. With these pieces in place, the ReSynthesizer is born. Pairing the Spectraphon with the Morphagene and the core Make Noise CV generation suite, and housed in the powerful and portable 4 Zone CV Bus Case, the ReSynthesizer is an open design blackboard ready for experimentation and discovery.

Make Noise put this collection through its paces and have found it to hold up to any test thrown at it!

Specifications

Size: 7U
Total HP: 208 @ 3U, 104 @ 1U
Dimensions: 22.25" x 14" x 7.25" w/ lid

Notes: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of this truly iconic synth, the 'modern' take on the classic Buchla Music Easel doesn't mess with a winning formula, paring the 208C sound source with 218e touch-sensitive keyboard.

Supplier's Notes:
The Buchla Music Easel was one of the first truly portable electronic music instruments. Fifty years ago, in 1973, only a few dozen were made. Unlike many iconic technologies, the influence was not grown through force of scale, but rather the force of the ideas. The Music Easel made available virtually every musical dimension: timbre, melody, rhythm, and time; how these dimensions intersected was no longer the court of acoustics and material, but signals and voltage. The 208 Stored Program Sound Source engendered "a new functional organization [with a] particularly rapid system of patching and program storage via plug-in cards."

Taking cues from the then-recent discipline of cybernetics, the 218 touch plate was for "real-time communication" to help realize the "potential vocabulary" of the Easel, rather than exploiting existing modes of musical virtuosity. The Stored Program Cards ensured rapid repeatability and repertoire on its own terms. The battery terminals made sure the music was as portable as any acoustic instrument. And the name let you know it was designed for art rather than science.

Buchla is ecstatic to revive the Music Easel for its third run in 50 years. Buchla first released the updated 208 Stored Program Sound Source, dubbed the Easel Command, with expanded MIDI and USB capability. Next came the update of the Easel Program Manager - a complete kit for storing and recalling sounds sources, even more rapidly than imagined in 1973. The new 218 Touch Activated Voltage Source provides the optimal input facility, as originally envisioned. It is now all together in a rugged case and the advanced EMBIO module that unifies all the audio and control inputs and outputs for integration with the rest of your musical world.

More than a retro novelty, the Music Easel still speaks to a future we strive for. A technology that invites conversation, not chats, and controls that engage expression, not work. There are many new worlds to explore in this instrument created at the crossroads of the jazz and computer ages. Designed as "an integrated assemblage of functions", rather than a collection of modules, the Music Easel's colour coding, comfortable access to controls, and solid patch connections allow for satisfying sessions of sonic discovery.

The Music Easel (retro) is available for pre-order starting in June 16 at Buchla.com and your favorite Buchla Dealer with delivery expected in winter 2023.

Stored Program Sound Source Model 208C

The sound source of the Music Easel is the 208C, which includes a complex oscillator and a modulation oscillator (which can also serve as another voice), each with independent switchable waveforms, as well as a noise generator, allowing for rich and intricate sound design. The 208C also features a five-stage sequencer, envelope generator, pulser and modulation source - with switchable triggers - allowing for complex patterns and evolving textures. The dual low pass gate provides dynamic control over the tone and amplitude of the sound, as well as natural-sounding decay and sustain. The 208C has a number of modulation sources, including a random voltage generator, the envelope generator, modulation oscillator, and an envelope detector. These sources can be used to modulate various parameters via the extensive patchfield - creating movement, texture, and complexity. The 208C also includes a mixer section with spring reverb.

Touch Activated Voltage Source Model 218e (v3)

The first design appeared in the 1973 release of the Buchla Music Easel and named for the spacecraft that delivered astronauts to the moon. Providing the familiar piano key layout for this early mobile music machine, the additional controls and capabilities were an interface for exploring uncharted musical territory. With the new version 3, it's been elevated with a new foundation of stable, modern electronics with incredible sensitivity and accuracy - the lightest touch will produce triggers and control voltages. The adjustable sensor has the dynamic range and durability to handle your playing. The new texture not only improves the sensing, but provides a satisfying tactile experience. As always, pressure is an expressive output, adding an extra dimension to the control. MIDI outputs velocity and polyphony, as well as channel pressure, making the 218e a uniquely expressive controller. The 218e includes portamento and an arpeggiator, which can be driven by external inputs and are allowed to interact with the automated notes to make patterns more complex. Additional controls allow you to blend different patterns and randomness to easily change from the expected to the surprising. The classic preset voltage knobs offer several possible ways to shift your sounds into new territory. Not only can the knobs be used for quick access to voltages for your patch, they can control arpeggiation modes and octave shifting. Pads output pulses for additional control. The 218e also gives you a unique interface to playing your existing MIDI gear and soft synths. Each touch outputs note name, channel pressure, and velocity for every note, along with sustain controls from a pedal. Polyphonic MIDI mode lets you play chords. The touchstrip can act as a pitch bend control, or as a mod wheel for additional expressive control. Easily configured using the front panel controls, you can send notes and controls on any MIDI channel.

Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO)

Maintaining the spirit, sound, and process from the original, the new Music Easel adds a variety of new features. Buchla's latest renditions of the Stored Program Sound Source and Touch Activated Voltage Source are tied together with the Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO) module. This of course provides MIDI out (mini jack and USB) and CV out from the 218, MIDI in to the 208, and the audio out from the 208C. Additional creative control comes from the Audio Mixer, for integration with other Buchla modules and systems, and the CV conditioners and controls. The slew control can turn your sequencer into a wavy modulator, or soften up a square LFO. The attenuator and crossfader gives you the opportunity to find new levels and combinations of voltages from existing ones. The pulse converter offers new rhythms to trigger. And a simple LFO provides another valuable modulator when you just can't quite let yourself flip that Mod Osc switch from "high" to "low."