Don Buchla

External video
Oral History, Don Buchla reflects about his interactions with Theramin. Interview date January 16, 2011, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library

Donald Buchla (born April 17, 1937) is an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesizers, releasing his first units shortly after Robert Moog's first synthesizers. However, his instrument was arguably designed before Moog's.[1]

Don Buchla and Buchla 200e
(2006 NAMM Show)

Biography

Buchla was born in South Gate, California, and studied physics, physiology, and music.

Buchla Series 100 (1963/1966–1969)

Buchla formed his electronic music equipment company, Buchla and Associates, in 1962 in Berkeley, California. Buchla was commissioned by avant garde music composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender, both of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, to create an electronic instrument for live performance. Under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation Buchla completed his first modular synthesizer in 1963. The result was the Buchla Series 100, which he began selling in 1966. Buchla's synthesizers experimented in control interfaces, such as touch-sensitive plates. In 1969 the Series 100 was sold to CBS, who soon after dropped the line, not seeing the synthesizer market as a profitable area.[2]

Buchla 200 (1970–1985)

In 1970 the Buchla 200 series Electric Music Box was released and was manufactured until 1985. Buchla created the Buchla Series 500, the first digitally controlled analog synthesizer, in 1971. Shortly after, the Buchla Series 300 was released, which combined the Series 200 with microprocessors. The Music Easel, a small, portable, all-in-one synthesizer was released in 1972. The Buchla 400, with a video display, was released in 1982. In 1987, Buchla released the fully MIDI enabled Buchla 700.[3]

Buchla 200e (2004–)

Beginning in the 1990s, Buchla began designing alternative MIDI controllers, such as the Thunder, Lightning, and Marimba Lumina. With the recent resurgence of interest in analog synthesizers Buchla has released a revamped 200 series called the 200e.

NIME-05, the 5th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, held in Vancouver, Canada, featured a keynote lecture by Don Buchla as well as a sizable exhibition of many of the instruments he and his team have created over the years.

His son Ezra Buchla was a member of experimental bands The Mae Shi and Gowns, and has recorded viola on Chelsea Wolfe's albums Abyss, Pain Is Beauty, and Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs. He has also toured as a member of Chelsea Wolfe and Carla Bozulich's band Evangelista.

  1. ^ "Buchla Ken Kesey". MATRIXSYNTH. 
  2. ^ "The Music Easel". Buchla & Associates. 
  3. ^ "Collection Checklist". Cantos Music Foundation. 
  4. ^ "Introducing the Moog PianoBar". Moog Music. 

References

  1. ↑ "Don Buchla - Passing The Acid Test". Red Bull Music Academy. 2007.
  2. ↑ Mark Vail. "Buchla Series 200". Keyboard magazine (Nov. 2005).
  3. ↑ "Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments - Historical Overview". Buchla and Associates.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Don Buchla, Buchla synthesizers and Buchla and Associates.
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