Teenage Engineering OP-1 sequencing Buchla Music Easel

Published on Feb 9, 2018 Red Idiot

"Maybe I’m the only one interested, but here we go. To control the Buchla with the OP-1 with with external clock might seem like an easy thing to do, but for me it took a great deal of research.

To begin with, my BEMI Easel from 2015 has been really hard to control with external pitch cv. If I calibrate the 208 to work with the 218 keyboard it's no longer 1.2v/oct. The midi is crap and freezes easily. And besides that I want to control the two oscillators independently. To get the tuning right I amplify the 1v/oct signal through an AniModule Line_Amp Eurorack module and then calibrate the Buchla with the pitch cv slider.

The clock is coming from the computer to the OP-1 through a Kenton USB midi host. From the Kenton box i connect the OP-1 via usb. The midi out is going to a Kenton MCV4 to convert midi to CV. These boxes are hidden inside the Eurorack case. The pulse cv is then going into the pulse in of the Buchla. The pitch is going to each oscillator.

The OP-1 audio signal is going into the aux in of the Buchla, so I can switch between the sound of the Buchla oscillator and the OP-1. I use the arpeggiator of the OP-1 in this video.

Drums are samples coming from Logic (gotta love the Maestro).

I also use some Eurorack modules. The Buchla get’s an LFO on the timbre section from the Dixie II. The Disting mkIII switches the octave on the Buchla. Peaks converts the gate signal to trigger. The PCV1 converts 3,5 mm to banana plugs. Not used in the video is the Quantum Rainbow noise module.

The sound from the Buchla gets a touch of Soundtoys Echoboy Jr in the mix.

Sorry about the crappy camera work.
I’m happy to answer questions if anyone is struggling with similar challenges!"