via Reed:"Thought I'd throw another log on the fire regarding the Serge/Buchla debate [see comments of this post]. Here's a picture of my current home Buchla system, for bleeping without having to remain after hours at work. It features an embedded Serge panel, expertly tweaked by Mr. Verbos to accomodate the 0-15V Buchla range. It is a standard issue from the "red" series, comprised of a quantizer, shift register, dual transient generator, random source, smooth/stepped generator, cv mixer, dual slope generator and a vc-adsr. It provides a Swiss Army knife's worth of voltage processing. (Here's where the Serge fans get agitated that it's not being used to make sound).
On one hand, most of its functions can be accomplished (some may argue, more elegantly) with various Buchla modules. Sometimes you can pretend that when you're patching up a Serge "SSG," you're just avoiding tieing up half of a Buchla "SOU," a 257 Voltage Processor & a sample & hold. At other times it's fun to get sucked into the Serge mindset ("Whoa, everything's just something that goes up, down, or gets frozen in time, man"). Plus there are Serge quirks that yield unique results. The VC Rate on the Stepped generator comes to mind. Plus there are things that are simply fun & easy, like clock division with a slope generator.
Last time I saw Gary Chang he told me of his opposition to the "frankensynth" concept, meaning that the serious person should commit to one system & get down to music making. I tend to agree. Personally, nothing speaks more to my musical soul than Vietnam-era Buchla modules. But a souped-up Serge panel sure makes a robust plug-in, to use the parlance of our time.
There's a 259 on the shelf behind the Buchla in case I feel like getting trendy. An additional touch plate keyboard is out of frame. "
i think its a really neat idea. given the fact that a major part of the buchla asthetic is the use of wild control voltages, the serge stuff seemes like a logical step up into the air. from the pratical standpoint of having all the jacks of the serge accomidate the buchla cv ins (stock voltage levels aside), to the fact that more or less any serge module can be used to generate or at least modify control voltages, it's great.
ReplyDeletevery nice instrument, Reed!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great leisure system to me!
ReplyDeletebuchla system just always look so appealing. too bad there aren't other systems with narrow depth modules (Cwejman aside but there aren't any vactrols anywhere near). and no one else seems interested in making small controllers
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a 259 sitting on a shelf. :-(
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