The Electric Music Box: Exploring a Vintage Buchla 200 Modular System

video upload by Sarah Belle Reid

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In the spring of 2025, I spent a week at the Stony Brook University Electronic Music Studio, working closely with their original Buchla 200 Series modular synthesizer. Built in the early 1970s by pioneering instrument designer Donald Buchla & associates, this rare instrument is one of the few surviving and fully intact systems of its kind.

Due to its rarity, very few musicians have had the opportunity to interact with an original 200 system firsthand. I hope this video will help bridge that gap by sharing the instrument’s sound, design philosophy, and aesthetic intentions with a wider audience.

The video begins with a brief historical overview of the Buchla 200 Series and its role in the rapidly evolving landscape of 1970s electronic music. From there, I dive into a detailed walkthrough of the system, exploring each module with sound demonstrations and examples. We conclude with some reflections on the Buchla 200’s design philosophy, offering insights into the types of musical interaction the instrument was built to encourage (and why it continues to resonate with musicians and designers today).

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This video was created in collaboration with the Buchla Archives, an organization dedicated to the thorough and thoughtful documentation and preservation of Donald Buchla’s work."