West Coast sound design playground.
The Buchla Easel V is the first recreation of Don Buchla's iconic instrument that helped define experimental West Coast modular synthesis in the early '70s. Our enhancements translate to vastly expanded possibilities for sound design and avant-garde music.
Paint outsidethe lines
A vehicle for avant-garde expeditions. A totally different take on synthesis. Welcome to the West Coast.
Don Buchla is the father of the ‘West Coast’ approach to electronic music; rather than using synthesizers to imitate other instruments, one sees electricity itself as the instrument. This approach captivated Suzanne Ciani, Morton Subotnick, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails), Richard Devine, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, and many other cutting-edge composers. We modeled the Music Easel, Buchla’s suitcase-style modular system, at the component level, then added powerful modulation and sequencing extras to reinvigorate the Buchla spirit.
Briefcase Full of Inspiration
A turn here, a patch there. In the Easel, simple adjustments tend to create sonic surprises that are sure to generate new musical ideas.
Soundscape Sandbox
Complex oscillators. AM and FM synthesis. Percussive filter/gate combos. Ways to modulate nearly every parameter. You won’t run out of territory to explore anytime soon.
The Synthesizer Plays You
Like the Buchla hardware that inspired it, Easel V offers unique possibilities for complex, evolving passages and generative music.
Master In Minutes
The Easel’s logical layout means you’ll be creating sounds in no time. Its sheer depth means you’ll still enjoy creating them years later.
Don Buchla:the Nikola Tesla of synth designers
While most synth makers pursued commercial musical uses, Buchla felt electronics should empower us to rethink composition from the ground up and free us from stale traditions.
In fact, for a long time he refused to add a piano-style keyboard to most of his modular systems before the Easel. But the most adventurous sonic explorers wanted a portable instrument they could play whenever and wherever inspiration struck — like a painter’s easel.
In 1965, Buchla was commissioned to build an electronic instrument for the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Electronic oscillators so far had been clunky affairs that could not be played or modulated in real time, just adjusted with a single pitch dial
Main Features
- A component-level model of the Buchla Music Easel
- Complex and Modulation oscillators, dual Low Pass Gates, output section with spring reverb modelling
- Modulation sources perfecly reproduced : 5-step Sequencer, Envelope Generator, Pulser
- Semi-modular architecture, color-coded routing and cables
- Enhanced functionalities, synchronizable Pulser and Clock, Oscillators quantization
- Left Hand modulation sources to create multi-point envelopes and LFOs. Add randomness and smoothing to the modulation
- Right Hand step-sequencer module
- Gravity XY modulation source. Control the sound with the movement of a projectile flying among planets and worm holes!
- 10 effects, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Overdrive, Delay, ...
- Control on the Vactrol modelling for fast, medium or slow response
- Up to 4 voices of polyphony
- 256 factory presets
