Arturia Buchla Easel V Comparison with Buchla 208P

Published on Jun 4, 2018 Tritone Guitars

"Heath Aldrich and Dave Anderson compare and discuss the Arturia Buchla Easel V with Heath's physical Buchla 208P. Video production by Jesse Bader"

I'm familiar with Roman Filippov's 208r clone, but not the 208p. I did a quick search and found the following: (Update: turns out the 208p is essentially a clone of the clone. Some info added further below)

Buchla 208p Music Easel First Sketches

Published on Mar 19, 2018 Heath Aldrich

Update regarding the 208p: "Papz put his version out earlier this year, and it has all the fixes implemented from Roman's 208. http://www.portabellabz.be/208pcb.html. I recommend this version of you want to build one."
You can find a few posts featuring Portabellabz in the archives here.

Playlist:

1. Buchla 208p Music Easel First Sketch

This is DIY Buchla 208 Music Easel that I built. It took me over 50 hours, and it still isn't perfect, but it is perfect for me. This synth has such a rich sound, and is so easy to change the voice of the patch, that it is hard to not be inspired by playing with it. I have always wanted one, and am so happy I had the chance to build one.

This is a idea that I have been working with since I started calibrating this beast. It is far from complete, but I like where it is going. All sounds were recorded direct from the 208p, no external processing, no external effects. Just a boy and his toy.

2. Buchla 208p Music Easel Stoner Metal Sketch

I have always joked about doing a stoner metal synth band. There is just something about it that sounds at odds with itself. When you really think about it, stoner metal is totally at home on a modular synth, seeing as what made these things famous in the 60's was taking a couple hits of that Sunshine Daydream and tripping for days to atonal noise. Hell, there was even a fabled "red panel" Buchla 100 model that was coated in LSD... I was born in the wrong decade.

This patch was made using my Arturia Drumbrute (which I love), my 208p, and my Boss Space Echo pedal. I had pressure controlling the pulser, random controlling the mod index and the timbre, and the rest is history.

3. Buchla 208p Music Easel Rainy Day Sketch

Today has been a blue day. I am missing a awesome trip with my wife and her family because our sick cat had to start a new medication this weekend. I spent most of the morning fixing my 208p, the major downside of building a Buchla, the troubleshooting. After 2 days of it being down, I finally found the short, and we were back in business. I really wanted to record this before I forgot it, I wish I had a little more time to practice with it, but, that isn't what this channel for. This is a channel all about documenting growth and future ideas for my upcoming projects.

4. All Paths Lead Back To Here - Buchla 208p Music Easel Sketch

Every time I sit down to work on some music, I accidentally write the same song every time. I did this a few years back with my band, The Mansion Incident, where I basically wrote all the songs based off from the same A Minor pattern. I really loved how that worked, as the sound of each song flowed well into each other, giving it that "album" feel.

This pattern I have been rewriting every time I sit down with my modular synth, ever since I built my first sequencer. I played a dreampop version of this the first time I played my modular synth out. After I finished building the Buchla 208p, I have followed the same path back to that fated pattern, and have done several versions of it. I have been inspired by the movie/book Annihilation, which is all about an alien entity absorbing and mutating nature, but also working in repetitive patterns. So instead of trying to do a clean, pretty version of my pattern, I chose to do a pattern deeper within the entity, where at first glance, it is unrecognizable, but further inspection reveals the core of the pattern.

The random output was modulating the modulation index, and a inverted envelope was modulating the timbre of the complex oscillator. LPG1&2 were in filter mode, and being activated by the regular envelope while a baseline drone plays behind everything. The output was ran into my mixer that had a Boss Space Echo saturating my mix, and filling the space. The pattern was played on the Buchla 218e, but could easily be done on the standard 218. I had preset pads CV running only to the Modulation Oscillator, and I had pad 1 tuned to -1 octave from the Complex Oscillator, and then I had pad 2 tuned 1/5 above that. I had the keyboard controlling both oscillators, so they would play in tune together, but could then be split by one of the pads.

Listen to this one with headphones, or a nicer speaker, it will make more sense. Let me know what you think, or ask any questions if you got them.

5. Lifecycle Buchla 208p Music Easel Sketch

Admittedly, this sort of thing is not my style. Sometimes I even hate it, but, dammit, my buddy Dante dared me to try something new, so I guess I am headed into territory I rarely travel.

This patch is weird AF, and has 3 or 4 distinct parts, that took me a bit to fall into the groove, but once it does, I actually quite enjoy the outcome. I think I will work on this some more, and see if I can't dial it in some more.

6. Horror Movie Drone Buchla Music Easel Sketch

I love making horror movie music, but have never done it professionally. As thought experiments, I love chasing after vibes, and creepy is one that I am very attracted to. I love horror movies, and the soundtrack is as important as the cinematography to give the viewers a worthwhile experience.

I sold my high end Fender Vibro King guitar amp today, which sucks, but I never use it because it is too loud, so it is better off being used for gear I will actually use. I got the TC Ditto X4 as part of the trade, and I wanted to make something spooky with its reverse effect. I set up a drone, and added a creepy random sequence on the second loop, and reversed it all on the pedal. I then played a simple, but dramatic melody on top of it. After I got done recording it, I realized I forgot to turn on the Space Echo, so all that vibe was coming from the 208p, and the Ditto X4.

And, yes, I am wearing a Perfume Genius shirt and a Slayer hoodie, wanna fight about it?