"Below you'll find a press kit for a historic 2LP/2CD from The Electric Weasel Ensemble, a touring group of electro-acoustic musicians including Donald Buchla and Allan Strange.
Why is this group so important, you ask? Because they were playing Donald Buchla's instruments straight off his workbench and these instruments have gone on to help define the modern modular synthesizer era and business. Thankfully, the music is incredible, too."
Press release follows:
The Electric Weasel Ensemble Strange/Buchla/Ruppenthal/Morse 2LP/2CD
EPK
Release date: Nov 27, 2026
Shifting continuously between minimalistic patterns, intricate soundscapes, and evolving textures of overlapping electronic sonorities, The Electric Weasel Ensemble presents a missing link in the history of electronic music. It is a series of previously-unreleased live recordings from a little-known but trailblazing ensemble of improvisers—equipped with a unique embrace of invented instruments and distinctly 1970s avant-garde sensibilities. This historic music is available on both double LP and double CD.
Founded in 1974 by composer Allen Strange and now-celebrated instrument designer Donald Buchla, The Electric Weasel Ensemble explored new directions in live performance with electronics, using Buchla’s sophisticated and unusual instruments as a launching pad.
Maintained for decades by Ensemble member Stephen Ruppenthal, these recordings include some of the best-preserved examples of Allen Strange’s pioneering compositions: graphically-notated directed improvisations for electronic and electronically processed acoustic instruments. They also offer rare insight into the radical sonic aesthetic that Buchla’s inventions enabled in the Bay Area music scene.
Focused on performance and DIY music distribution, the Electric Weasel Ensemble never widely released their music. Transferred from the original quarter-inch reels at Imprec, mastered for vinyl by Tom Eaton at Sounds and Substance, and pressed at Optimal in Germany, this record is a glimpse into the raw creativity and inventiveness that fueled the early decades of electronic music performance.
Who is the Electric Weasel Ensemble?
How do you build a new type of music from the ground up? The Electric Weasel Ensemble continually orbited this very question: inventing new instruments and, through collective play, learning to communicate in their unfamiliar, emergent languages.
The Weasels operated along the fringes of Northern California’s 1970s music scene, drawing equally from avant-garde and electronic composition, free improvisation, cybernetics, and the Bay Area’s psychedelic-fueled, countercultural spirit. A group of self-proclaimed “music outlaws,” their eclectic, anything-goes approach eschewed traditional notions of harmony, melody, form, and virtuosity—informed by their evolving relationships with new technology.
Her life journey has been remarkable. At the end of the fifties, she studied in Paris with musique concrète pioneers Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, whom she also assisted, notably for the premiere of L'Apocalypse de Jean. During the sixties she began composing with primitive electronics (feedback and asynchronous tape loops), but found little recognition for her research in France.
In New York in the early seventies, she found understanding and emulation, exploring emerging minimalism with James Tenney, Charlemagne Palestine, Phillip Glass, John Gibson, and Steve Reich. Her absolute allegiance to electronic sounds began during this period. Since then she has composed on the best synthesizers of the time: Buchla, Moog, Serge, and then ARP, which would become her fetish instrument. She collaborated with Robert Ashley, who sang on Les Chants de Milarepa. She has composed about two dozen works, which she has presented and continues to present at numerous prestigious venues and festivals in the United States and Europe.
In 2004, upon Kasper Toeplitz´s request, she started instrumental compositions for one or more performers, with whom she works in a close collaboration during the compositional process. This work gets quickly focused on pure acoustic sounds, in an incredibly delicate timbral way, which extends, without aesthetic rupture, her electronic work. Notably between 2004 and 2009, she completed a cycle in three parts 'Naldjorlak', for Charles Curtis on cello, Carol Robinson and Bruno Martinez on basset horns. She has now stopped her electronic work."
Emmanuel Holterbach (Translation Leslie Stuck)"
The following is a collection of some of her works:
"In Buddhism, the number 9 signifies spiritual completion, ultimate enlightenment, and the highest level of consciousness (the ninth consciousness, or Buddha nature). It represents the culmination of the path to Nirvana, the 9 virtues of the Buddha, and is often associated with auspiciousness, progress, and the 9 states of delusion (nine worlds)."
Some history on Eliane Radigue via Wikipidia:
"Radigue was born in a modest family of merchants and raised in Paris at Les Halles.[5] She later married the French-born American artist Arman with whom she lived in Nice while raising their three children, before returning to Paris in 1967. She had studied piano and was already composing before hearing a broadcast by the founder of musique concrète Pierre Schaeffer. She soon met him, and in the early '50s became his student, working periodically at the Studio d'Essai during visits to Paris. In the early 1960s, she was assistant to Pierre Henry, creating some of the sounds which appeared in his works.[6] As her own work matured, Schaeffer and Henry felt that her use of microphone feedback and long tape loops (as heard in Vice-Versa and Feedback Works 1969-1970) was moving away from their ideals, though her practice was still related to their methods.
Radigue's death was announced on February 24, 2026. Her cause of death was not stated.[7][8]
"An homage to Morton Subotnick, a living legend and pioneer of electronic music💫
This piece was composed using a Buchla CV/MIDI hybrid setup with the @keenassociationmoscow 220 controller, @mangoestrecords Morphagene, Magnetic Freak - Gaussian, and my own audio samples via MIDI👌🏽
"Composer Morton Subotnick once said that the sonic palette of a synthesizer is determined not by the number of components it contains but the ways in which they can modulate each other. Modulation allows us to take static sounds and add movement to them – to create expressive motion like vibrato and tremolo, or to create new and novel textures. In this lesson we explore the basics of modulation, using Low Frequency Oscillators (LFOs) and envelopes to modulate pitch, timbre, and amplitude, and harnessing the power of randomness to add unpredictable elements to our sounds.
Written, hosted, filmed, and produced by our team of electronic musical instrument experts, this new seven-part educational video series makes learning the fundamentals of synthesis accessible, engaging, and inspiring for anyone curious about science, music, and how the two worlds converge. We set out to create a series that brings you as much technical knowledge as it does entertainment and joy as you watch each episode!
We invite you to follow along with us at home with a printable worksheet corresponding to the contents of each weekly episode. https://inmusic.to/bdhnff3m
Creator, writer, and host: Chris Miller
Director and editor: Paul Shaver
Producers: Max Ravitz and Chris Miller
Director of Photography: Paul Shaver
Music: Max Ravitz and Gunnar Haslam
Graphics and Animations: Ryan Ford
Special thanks to Ana Rome
Filmed on location at Schneidersladen Apotheke, Berlin"
"LA67 100 Series Modular synthesizer, inspired by Buchla 100 system from 1965, one of the first available modular synthesizers.
In a beautiful wooden case, complete with power supply and power cable to connect the controller skiff to the main cabinet, this 100 Series instrument is ready to go.
With the legendary Dual Sine Sawtooth Genermayor Model 158 the sound is simply amazing. Other modules include Control Voltage Processor Model 156, Dual Square Wave Generator 144, Bandoass Filter Model 194, Six Channel Mixer Model 106, 4x Dual Voltage Controlled Gate Model 110, 2x Dual Attack Generator Model 180, Timing Pulse Generator Model 140, Sequential Voltage Source Model 123, Dual Integrator Model 155, Envelope Detector Model 130, and Touch Controlled Voltage Source Model 116.
This type of system was originally concepted by Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender, and Don Buchla for the San Francisco Tape Music center in 1963, and the original model is still in use at Mills College, with many other similar models in use at universities and high-end studios around the world, used by artists such Chemical Brothers, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, Alessandro Cortini, and held in the archive of the Library of Congress.
This LA67 version was carefully assembled and is in great shape and working flawlessly.
Includes custom padded cover.
Can ship or local pickup in NYC."LA67 100 Series Modular synthesizer, inspired by Buchla 100 system from 1965, one of the first available modular synthesizers.
In a beautiful wooden case, complete with power supply and power cable to connect the controller skiff to the main cabinet, this 100 Series instrument is ready to go.
With the legendary Dual Sine Sawtooth Genermayor Model 158 the sound is simply amazing. Other modules include Control Voltage Processor Model 156, Dual Square Wave Generator 144, Bandoass Filter Model 194, Six Channel Mixer Model 106, 4x Dual Voltage Controlled Gate Model 110, 2x Dual Attack Generator Model 180, Timing Pulse Generator Model 140, Sequential Voltage Source Model 123, Dual Integrator Model 155, Envelope Detector Model 130, and Touch Controlled Voltage Source Model 116.
This type of system was originally concepted by Morton Subotnick, Ramon Sender, and Don Buchla for the San Francisco Tape Music center in 1963, and the original model is still in use at Mills College, with many other similar models in use at universities and high-end studios around the world, used by artists such Chemical Brothers, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, Alessandro Cortini, and held in the archive of the Library of Congress.
This LA67 version was carefully assembled and is in great shape and working flawlessly.
"Composer and electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick offers some background and insights into his work with the famed Buchla 100, which he used to create the genre-defining album "Silver Apples of the Moon." Recently restored, Subotnick's original Buchla 100 will be on display and some of its many possible sounds demonstrated by the members of the MEMS Project. The Buchla 100 was restored as part of a broader "knowledge exchange and innovation funding" project funded by University College London. This was a collaboration between Andrew Northrop (film and media technician at the Slade School of Fine Art), the Library of Congress and the MEMS Project (Chip Flynn and Mark Milanovich). This project saw the repair of the Buchla 100 as an opportunity to extensively research and document the unique and historic equipment, with high resolution photographs of each module and a short documentary created as part of its output. The repair was carried out in March of 2024.
"A few months ago, Hainbach recycled the full circle of 1950's being pioneered by people like Mort Subotnick and then miniaturized by people like Don Buchla in the 1960's, then rediscovered by people like Hainbach (and many others I am not familiar with) in the 2020's and then miniaturized into 20 HP by Joran from Jorananalogue in 2024. Hello COLLIDE 4, what took you so long?
I've been intrigued with Hainbach's journey into the vintage and classic scrapheaps of sound but the risk of shock, the smell, weight and size of all this gear made it easy to resist or even explore. I absolutely loved his Totem project making the best drones I ever heard. But this particular rabbit hole was easy to resist. 20 HP is not.
The COLLIDE 4 brings a lot of unfamiliar concepts to the table of sound design, like a Lock-in Amp, a Hilbert Transform Network and a Quadrature VCO. Just when you thought you were getting the hang of eurorack, again you realize you know nothing. It also features a filter, an envelope follower and a phase/frequency shifter. It's all originally designed to detect and possibly isolate little sounds in a soup of very faint noise, so the first thing people do is to crank it up and wonder if it can make normal music. Yes it can, and it saturates like nothing else. Just don't buy it BECAUSE you want to make normal music.
My favorite use case is to explore very faint sounds, like the raw output from a Piezo, an electric guitar or a sensitive electromagnetic sniffer. Theres a whole new world out there for you to discover."
This one is in via Andrew Northrop of the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London (UCL).
"My name is Andrew - I work as a technician in the UK and I was recently involved in the restoration of the Buchla 100 synthesizer held at the Library of Congress (this was the system used by Morton Subotnick to compose Silver Apples of the Moon and other records) alongside the MEMS Project.
"Excerpt from Jill Fraser, Peter Grenader and Lance Hill's panel discussion at the Los Angeles premier of Wavemaker Media's documentary SUBOTNICK: Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer at the Philosophical Research Society on April 17th, 2024.
The discussion begins talking about Mort Subotnick's use of control tracks on A Sky of Cloudless Sulfer, a process that he developed."
"This video is a historical, technical, and musical deep dive into the Buchla 100 Series Modular System at the Mills College Center for Contemporary Music. This instrument was the first voltage controllable modular synthesizer built by Don Buchla—it was delivered to the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the mid-1960s.
In this video we’ll start with a brief historical overview of the Buchla 100 Series Modular System and the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Then, we’ll unpack everything that’s inside the instrument module by module. Finally, I’ll share some of the quirks of this particular instrument, and lots of patch examples to illustrate its unique voice and character.
As I was getting to know this instrument, I tried to keep in mind the circumstances surrounding its development—the people who contributed to it, the time in which it emerged, and the state of electronic music at the time of its invention. These thoughts greatly inspired my approach to working with the instrument and are present throughout this video.
It’s a rare opportunity to be able to work with a historical instrument like this one. I have always been super inspired by Buchla’s work in general, but like many people have had few opportunities to work with his original instruments. Instead, much of my experience has been through newer instruments inspired by his designs. Being able to work closely with this instrument was an incredibly inspiring and clarifying experience that allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of Buchla’s own creative and technical development, as well as the multitude of music, modern modules, and instruments that have been inspired by his work.
Special thank you to Mills College for letting us spend a week in the electronic music studio working with the Buchla 100; to The Buchla Archives and Ryan Gaston for helping to put this video together; and also to all of the amazing folks in my Patreon community for your support in helping to bring educational projects like this one to life!
Learn more / join the waitlist for Learning Sound and Synthesis, my online modular synthesis and sound design class: https://www.soundandsynthesis.com
Join my Patreon community for behind-the-scenes content, unreleased music, and extended tutorials: sarahbellereid
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Historical Overview: Buchla 100 + the San Francisco Tape Music Center
7:38 Mills Buchla 100 System Overview
14:27 Timbre in the Mills Buchla 100
18:29 Chaos in the Mills Buchla 100
21:52 Voltage Control Quirks
25:00 Sequencing Tactics: Triggered Segments
30:40 Sequencing Tactics: Extended Sequences
32:06 More Patches + Sounds
32:36 Ring Modulated Reverb Patch
34:40 Keyboard Chaos Patch
36:55 Gated Voice Patch
38:29 Wonky Drum Machine Patch
38:57 Triggered Gestures Patch
39:14 Transposed FM Sequence Patch
39:48 Bell Tones Patch
40:27 Touch Controlled Ratchet Patch
41:00 Sequenced Melodic Patch
Sarah Belle Reid is a performer-composer, active in the fields of electroacoustic trumpet performance, intermedia arts, music technology, and improvisation.
"In the Spring of 2024, Reid spent a week at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, where she worked closely with their original Buchla 100 modular synthesizer system. This specific instrument’s historical significance can’t be overstated. It was the very first voltage controllable modular synthesizer that the now-famous artist, inventor, and electronic musical instrument designer Donald Buchla built in the mid 1960s—indeed, one of the very first modular synthesizers altogether. In its time, this specific system has been used by countless inspiring and influential musicians, such as Pauline Oliveros, Morton Subotnick, Suzanne Ciani, Warner Jepson, and others.
The video begins with a brief historical overview of the Buchla 100 Series Modular System and the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Then, Reid unpacks everything that’s inside the instrument module by module, with sound demos and examples. Finally, she shares some of the unique quirks of the Mills Buchla 100 instrument, and patch examples of how the instrument can be used to create a wide range of music and sounds."
"An update on the fabulous Synth East show for you. Friday night has sold out, Saturday is getting close and don't forget the Sunday workshops!
Synth East is a festival of synths and modular in Norwich from Friday the 23rd of February to Sunday the 25th. Brought to you by the Norwich Arts Centre, Electronic Sound Magazine and Molten Modular.
Tickets are available for each event separately. There's a discount if you order the Saturday Expo and evening gig at the same time. https://norwichartscentre.co.uk/searc...
Friday: Subotnick documentary, Adam Buxton interviews Steve Davis and music from Luke Sanger. SOLD OUT!"
"Synth East is a festival of synths and modular in Norwich from Friday the 23rd of February to Sunday the 25th. Brought to you by the Norwich Arts Centre, Electronic Sound Magazine and Molten Modular.
Tickets are available for each event separately. There's a discount if you order the Saturday Expo and evening gig at the same time.
Friday: Subotnick documentary [trailer here], Adam Buxton interviews Steve Davis and music from Luke Sanger.
Saturday daytime: Synth Expo with performances
Saturday evening: Blancmange, Ultramarine and Molten Modular
"Pouring from the heart of Norfolk, hosted by the Norwich Arts Centre, curated by Electronic Sound Magazine and run by Molten Modular, Synth East is back. After a devastatingly successful 2023 show the sold-out Norfolk-based festival of synthesizers returns in 2024 but this time it's been widened into a full weekend experience.
The all new Friday evening Synth East event is curated by Electronic Sound Magazine and kicks off with (possibly) the UK premiere of a documentary on electronic musician Morton Subotnick, who at 90 years old, is known affectionately as the Father of Techno. It’s called Subotnick, Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer by Waveshaper Media who brought us the intoxicating 2014 documentary, I Dream of Wires.
Following the film we have writer, broadcaster, comedian and musician Adam Buxton chatting with Synth East alumni Steve Davis about music, life and modular synths. Finishing off the evening we have an ambient set from modular musician Luke Sanger as we relax into some beers in preparation for what’s to come for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday’s Synth East Expo is a carnival of control voltage, a festival of synth sounds and a party of epic performances. Dozens of manufacturers will be filling the Arts Centre with synths and modulars to give you an opportunity check out their marvellous machines and bask in the glow of synthesiser technology. You’ll be able to chat with the makers about the gear and even have a personal demonstration. Simply walking through the auditorium in the company of such exciting gear is completely thrilling.
Throughout the day we’ll be having some performances from local artists Hardwired and Tristan Burfield before we once again embark on the awesome modular experiment of the all-star patch off. This year, joining Robin "Molten Modular" Vincent, Steve Davis and Gaz Williams will be Mylar Melodies, Nina Richards, and Jason Jervis. These are unique, improvised performances that you’ll never see anywhere else.
Saturday night’s synthesiser explosion features the 80s synth legends Blancmange who have kindly agree to fit us in before their extensive Everything is Connected: The Best Of Blancmange tour of the UK. Supporting Blancmange we have eclectic electronic music duo Ultramarine featuring Ian Cooper and Paul Hammond. And in the warm up slot is our own Robin “Molten Modular” Vincent and a special guest.
On Sunday we are hosting some Eurorack DIY workshops presented by Befaco and Thonk. They will be held at Electronic Sound HQ at Capital House over a few hours. The idea is that you buy a ticket for the workshop and then order the kit that you hope to build directly with Befaco or Thonk.
Synth East 2024 runs from the 23rd to the 25th of February. Each event is available as a separate ticket and there's a bundle deal on buying the Saturday Expo and evening performance together.
Our intention is to revel in the world of synthesizers, modular and electronic musical boxes. We want to explore sound through performance, discussion and hands-on interaction. It's a lot of fun and open to anyone with an interest in bleeps, tones and noises."
"The Brooklyn Synth & Pedal Expo, a free for all interactive display of synthesizers and pedals of all kinds, will return to Brooklyn on the weekend of October 21st and 22nd in a new, larger venue in Greenpoint.
Hosted in a 6k sq ft warehouse in the heart of one of Brooklyn’s most musical neighborhoods located between Williamsburg and Queens, this year's event is expected to be attended by around 2k visitors. Pictures from previous editions can be found here [you can find some video coverage in previous posts here].
Morton Subotnick and Steve Horelick VIP Guest Speakers The organizers are excited to announce the involvement in this year's expo of two legendary NY synthesists who will be hosting talks and a performance on Sunday 22 in the 70-seat theater embedded in the venue
"Buchla Focus" on Sunday October 22 The two presentations will be part of a 3 hour block from 12pm to 3pm on Sunday 10/22 dedicated to Buchla, which will also feature a Music Easel product presentation and an industry panel featuring the company owner Eric Fox among others.
The full program of talks and workshops can be found here.
Morton Subotnick, one of the pioneers in the development of electronic music and multi-media performance, is best known for his 1967 composition Silver Apples of the Moon, the first electronic work commissioned by a record company, and for his creative output linked to Buchla synths. He will host a talk about synthesis on Sunday October 22 in the early afternoon (schedule to be released soon). He will be the event's keynote speaker.
Steve Horellick is a tireless educator and acclaimed soundtrack composer (he wrote the Butterfly in the Sky song from PBS's Reading Rainbow). He is also known for his immersive, textural surround performances. At the Brooklyn event, he will perform using a hybrid setup of synth and pedals in surround sound. Steve will be hosting a talk/performance involving several synths (including Buchla) and some guitar pedals.
Eurorack Classes and GSG.live workshops The schedule of the presentations will be also integrated by two Eurorack classes hosted by Ben Atchouel of the New York Modular Society and two workshops about online performances curated by the team at GSG.live.
Confirmed Vendors Visitors will find a varied mix of companies, over 70, with almost all the heavyweight synth and pedal brands and several boutique builders, and also a selection of Eurorack and many pedal builders. Full list below.
A special 2-night event in Toronto:
North American premiere documentary screening, and LIVE A/V performance by Morton Subotnick.
After our international preimere screening of Subotnick: Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer nearly 1 year ago in Berlin, we had a few setback in terms of music licensing clearance delays... but we're finally ready to proceed with new screenings, and it all starts in October...
Announcing our North American premiere screening + live performance event in Toronto, please see details below. We are actively looking to book screenings, so if you have any interest/leads, please get in touch: info@waveshapermedia.com (or REPLY to this email).. More screenings booked and TBA soon include screenings in San Francisco, Barcelona, Malta, and Limerick Ireland.
Friday October 27th.
Morton Subotnick + Lillevan — LIVE.
A special A/V performance of Subotnick's newest work "As I Live and Breathe" — a multi-media, surround sound experience.
Subotnick’s final composition, and final live performance in Canada.
With an additional performance by Heidi Chan (modular synthesizer) & Kristine White (shadow projections).
Al Green Theatre, Miles Nadal JCC — 750 Spadina Ave
RESERVE YOUR TICKET NOW (General Admission seating): https://SUBOTNICK.eventbrite.ca
Saturday October 28th.
"Subotnick: Portrait of an Electronic Music Pioneer"
Documentary screening — North American premiere.
Post-screening Q&A with Morton Subotnick and director Robert Fantinatto.
From Waveshaper Media, producers of the acclaimed modular synth documentary, "I Dream Of Wires".
Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema — 506 Bloor St W.
RESERVE YOUR SEAT NOW:
https://hotdocs.ca/whats-on/films/subotnick
"This video is about Mort’s Barge - a replica mini-system of five Buchla 100 series modules that were used by electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick in the mid-1960s. I recently built the 4U DIY modules from LA67, and in this video I walk through the features and create a few patches that show what they’re capable of.
Notes and pics via Tom Churchill's post on Mod Wiggler:
"I thought I’d share a couple of things I learned along the way which maybe aren’t immediately obvious from the BOMs alone, in case anyone else is planning to tackle the build and is looking for some tips.
Some of this stuff has no doubt been covered earlier in the thread, so apologies for any repetition. Also, a lot will probably be obvious to experienced builders, but I’m definitely not in that category yet, so for anyone else (like me) who’s only built Eurorack kits previously, maybe isn’t super-familiar with circuit theory and component sourcing, it might be useful.
Enclosure: After I ordered the panels and PCBs from LA67 I contacted Julian at The Beast to ask about his 6U Buchla boats. As luck would have it he still had a couple of the special boats he supplied to LA67 for the pre-built Mort’s Barge systems, with matt black coating and pre-drilled holes for power inlet, power switch and grounding banana socket, so I snagged one. I added some rubber feet to allow a bit of clearance for the screws I used to mount the PSU PCB (see below) and to avoid the underside getting scratched. For mounting the modules, I bought a pack of 20 M3 speed fasteners (aka captive nuts, aka Tinnermans) from eBay, and secured the modules using M3 6mm screws with plastic washers. Power: The PSU PCB doesn’t require any caps and you just need to solder one bridge as marked. (This is now clear on the Mort’s Barge PSU BOM, but it wasn’t at first.) I mounted the PSU PCB on 8mm M2.5 standoffs via the pre-drilled holes in the bottom of the boat. I added a 2.1.mm DC inlet and wired a 20mm round rocker switch in series. I added a single banana socket connected to 0V to provide a ground for any other cases I might want to use with it (and for connecting to Eurorack - see below). For the AC-DC converter I just used a standard 12V 2A wall wart I had lying around, with a 2.1mm centre positive barrel connector. I used the 2-pin Molex connectors as per the BOM to distribute power to the individual modules (with the power cables hard-wired to the individual module PCBs) Component sourcing: I combined the individual BOMs for the five modules into one master BOM, ticked off what I already had in stock (mostly resistors), then ordered any other required resistors, trimmers, pots, 2N3904/6 transistors and various bits of hardware from Tayda; caps, specialist transistors, diodes, switches, knobs, lamps etc from Mouser. I’m in the UK and banana sockets worked out slightly cheaper from Thonk, so I ordered those there. I also bought the necessary matched transistor pairs from Thonk to save time (I don’t have the tools or experience to match them myself!) Changes: This might be sacrilege to Buchla purists but I went for Switchcraft 3.5mm sockets instead of Tini-Jax - I already have lots of 3.5mm patch cables and it makes for easier integration. The 910p film caps on the BOM are huge - 10mm lead spacing - and expensive. I ordered them before I realised this, and with a bit of leg straightening/bending they do fit fine in the 158 and 180 boards, but I replaced them with these much smaller and cheaper 1n mylar film caps for the 140 - https://www.switchelectronics.co.uk/1nf ... apacitor-5 - and they work just fine. The BOM has since been corrected, but slightly annoyingly at the time I was ordering, the part code for the Dialight lamps in the 123 was out of date, so the ones that arrived in my original order were the wrong size. I had to do a separate order for the correct parts, 609-1122-130F. These aren’t cheap, so double check that you’re getting 9mm ones! On the 158 BOM, there’s a suggestion to use 1n5 instead of 47n for C11 to reduce saw wave distortion. I put sockets in for that and tried both - the 1n5 definitely gives a much cleaner saw so I’ve stuck with that. I also left out C8 as suggested to improve sine shape - I didn’t try it with it included but the sine is definitely a good shape without so I’ll stick without it. General tips: I built them in the left to right order they’re shown on the LA67 photos - 158, 110, 180, 140, 123. It was pretty easy to test this way. Calibration-wise there’s not much to do - the trimmers on the 158 adjust the sine shape and upper and lower frequency limits; use the 110 trimmers to minimise clicking with a raw trigger in; the 140 trimmers set the upper and lower period (I haven’t really touched these) For the wiring, I soldered pins to the PCB and used a bunch of F-F Dupont jumper wires, cut in half, so if I ever need to take the board off I can simply pull these off and don’t need to desolder anything. For the multiple outputs I mostly just used old resistor legs to bridge them. Integrating with Eurorack clock is easy - both the 180 and the 123 respond to triggers as low as 5V (e.g. from Pam’s). I don’t use a format jumbler, just a 3.5mm to two bananas cable, with the ground banana connected to the spare ground I fitted near the power switch. I don’t think I’ll ever bother trying to send CV from Eurorack but this way I can at least clock it to the rest of my system if I want to, and maybe even play around with some more complex rhythm patterns. Anyway, hope that’s handy for someone - I’ll share a bunch of patches on YouTube soon!"
Additional details on the series from Giorgio Sancristoforo:
"I’m very happy to share my works at the prestigious Ernst Krenek Institut where I had the chance to play for four days and nights an original 1967 SFTMC Buchla 100 once owned by the Austrian Composer Ernst Krenek and now exhibited at his museum in Krems an der Donau Austria.
Krenek has been one of the most prolific composers of the XX Century, he has written pieces for theatre ballet opera symphonies electroacoustic and electronic music.
In 1938 after the Anschluss Krenek moved to California United States and in the late sixties he met Morton Subotnick and Don Buchla at the San Francisco Tape Music Centre.
In 1967 the same year of Subotnick’s SIlver Apples of the Moon Krenek bought la large Buchla 100 modular synthesizer which he used for a number of electronic and electroacoustic works not yet released to the public (which I hope that will be soon collected in a special release of his edition).
So here I am with Krenek’s amazing Buchla 100, probably one of the rarest and most expensive synthesizers on earth. Working with this breathtaking instrument is pure pleasure."
Performed live from Tool's studio Hollywood, CA by Jill Fraser, Shiro Fujioka, Peter Grenader, Thomas Klepper
Filming/Editing: K. David
Recording Engineer: Tim Dawson
Title Graphics: Hyejin Sunwoo
Produced, arranged and mixed by Peter Grenader
Morton Subotnick's seminal 1971 electronic work Sidewinder performed live at Tool's studio in Hollywood CA on March 26th, 2023 by Jill Fraser, Shiro Fujioka, Peter Grenader and Thomas Klepper, at the invitation of Joan LaBarbara, in celebration of his 90th birthday.
The idea of an adaptation of Sidewinder has been on the radar of zZyzx Society's Jill Fraser and Peter Grenader - both CalArts alumni who worked with Subotnick, for years. The process began with an abridged orchestration drafted by Peter Grenader, where the quartet was encouraged to both replicate his soundscapes and develop more interpretative timbres for the individual parts. With that, two general rules applied:
"LIVE IN 48 HOURS: Morton Subotnick's SIDEIWNDER performed live from Tool's studio Hollywood, CA by Jill Fraser, Shiro Fujioka, Peter Grenader, Thomas Klepper
Morton Subotnick's seminal 1971 electronic work Sidewinder performed live at Tool's studio in Hollywood CA on March 26th, 2023 by Jill Fraser, Shiro Fujioka, Peter Grenader and Thomas Klepper, at the invitation of Joan LaBarbara, in celebration of his 90th birthday.
Performed on March 26th at Tool's studio, with access to Danny Carey's 1975 vintage Buchla 200 and massive E-mu. Filmed by K David.
"On April 23, 2023 with profound appreciation for his historic contribution to art and music
a taped live performance of Morton Subotnick's Sidewinder by Jill Fraser, Shiro Fujioka, Peter Grenader and Thomas Klepper - filmed at Tool's studio in Hollywood CA - will be released in Celebration of his 90th birthday."
