Melodic Buchla 100 with SciFi video - by Benge

video upload by Memetune Studio



"Another track from the new Benge album

The track itself is made on a vintage Buchla 100 series modular system from the 1960s. A series of looper modules made by 2hp were used to construct the music in real time

How many melodic Buchla 100 videos are out there? Not many I wager

You can watch the original performance here:
• Orangey-Brown Accumulation (Buchla 100) [posted here]

This video pays homage to one of my favourite science fiction illustrators Bruce Pennington, who was responsible for many amazing book covers, which I have on my shelf. I have tried to bring them to life by putting them through the Memetune VideoLab...enjoy!"

The Evolving Riddle V2 by Benge

video upload by Memetune Studio

"New album out now:



This track was made on a Crumar DS2 from 1978

As one’s life winds its way through the corridors of infinite time and space, I find myself relocated and reset, so to speak, in a place many miles and many moons from the West Country—my former domain—in one of the shires just north of our splendid capital

And I find myself once again following my musical instincts down yet more labyrinthine sonic rabbit holes and through yet more labyrinthine electronic circuit boards

On this outing I decided to try my hand at live sound-on-sound improvisational looping, a method of composition I find particularly rewarding when using relatively unwieldy modular synthesiser systems. The act of looping provides a convenient way of setting down short compositions in real time, allowing simple melodic studies to be created, riddles, if you will, to be solved whilst sitting at the instrument’s console and engaging with the various dials and switches

The core device used on this recording is what I call the Concrete Box - an assortment of Eurorack modules I put together consisting of four loopers, two delays, two digital reverbs, two compressors and various mixers and utility units. Using this box of tricks I was able to run sounds around upon themselves, creating the pieces you hear on this album

Not all tracks were made this way, some took a more conventional path, namely those which made use of polyphonic keyboard synthesisers (the Ensoniq Fizmo, the Crumar DS2) where I simply recorded a few layers of sound one upon the other

And on one track I made use of a rather special device called the Tempera, alongside a regular acoustic piano. The device is able to take stereo recordings and resynthesise them using granular synthesis. You are then able to layer them and manipulate the sound in a great variety of ways. Practical applications of granular synthesis have been around since the mid 1990s, but it is only now, it seems, that dedicated hardware units are beginning to appear on the market, and they seem to be taking hold as an extremely interesting synthesis path

And so it is that these riddles I have been working on have been neatly packaged up for you in this second volume, itself a kind of evolution of the idea presented in the first of the series last year. And who knows where I will find myself in another year’s time - hopefully still diving down sonic rabbit holes and exploring labyrinthine electronic circuits

Synthesisers and recording equipment used on this album:

ARP 2500
Buchla 100
Buchla 200 (cloned)
Roland System 100
Crumar DS2
Ensoniq Fizmo
Tempera Granular System
Yamaha G1 Piano
Eurorack ‘Concrete Box’
Dynacord VRS23 Vertical Reverberation System

The various track titles depict the main instrument used on each track

Released August 7th 2026

Written, recorded and mixed by Benge (B.D.Edwards) at Memetune Studios, England

Design and video work by Benge, made at the Memetune Video Lab

(c)+(p) 2026 Memetune Recordings (Memesongs) all rights reserved"

Taking a stand

video upload by Memetune Studio

"I've been setting up a little workspace using some really cool granular synths (Tasty Chips GS1 and Beetlecrab Tempera) and I've discovered these crazy VESA stands that you can get pretty cheap (£20). They are really designed for computer monitors and things, but they work great with desktop synths too, especially if you don't have a lot of desk space like me at the mo

I made the music in this video clip just now on the new granulars - yes!"

Buch Comber

video upload by Memetune Studio

"I’ve been rejigging the Buchla 200 cabinet today, as I just picked up some new cloney modules from a cool guy named Stephen in Farringdon. I got a Verbos pulser, a completely bonkers Clouds derivative live granulating module, and the excellent 295 Comb Filter, which is a really nice way of getting your hands dirty when it comes to manipulating sound on the Buchla. A bit like beach combing but it’s Buchla comb-filtering. Buch Combing

This is a live performance of some experiments in sound mangling, so don’t expect any nice melodies or beatz"

Tempera Quirks and Foibles by Benge

video upload by Memetune Studio

"I’ve been exploring granular synthesis since around 1997, when Native Instruments brought out Reaktor, because it was the first system I knew of that had a granular synthesis engine built into it

But even before that I was experimenting with certain samplers that could do a sort of proto-granular thing where you could control the loop start and end end points of a sample independently, and use sliders to scroll through the sample by hand (for example on the Fairlight CMI 2X and also the Akai S612)

But nowadays we have it so easy, as there are a whole slew of desktop granular devices coming out, often based on ARM chips, such as the Tasty Chips GR units, the recent Waldorf synths, the Torso S4, Endorphines Evil Pet, not to mention the Mutable Instruments Clouds and its many derivatives

And then there's this little monster, The Beetlecrab Tempera - a strange and tiny box which takes granular synthesis and does something completely unique with it

It’s got 8 stereo granular samplers at its heart, but the way you interact with them is using the 8x8 touch-points. They are called emitters, and you play them either over midi or using some of the touch-points. You can change and trigger emitters in x - y directions, and it's all extremely complex, and things can get really wild very quickly, so as this is my first patch on it, I decided to keep it simple by using just 2 of the 8 grain samplers

I captured the samples myself using the built in mic (sample 1 is just tapping the box with my fingers, and sample 2 is me humming

It also has comprehensive mixing and FX processors, so here is a little ambient sketch done in real time, using just the Tempera

I’m going to have fun exploring this thing - especially when I integrate it into some of my modular systems, once I have got my head round its many quirks and foibles"

Midsome - Live Buchla 200 Performance

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Here's a live performance on the (cloned) Buchla 200 system, alongside my trust 'Concrete Box' (basically some euro rack units that allow me to record and process live performances)

Oh, and the Teenage Engineering TX6 which I'm using as a final recorder

Hope you like it!"

Background Modulars No12 - Buchla 200

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Don’t have a real cloned Buchla 200 to hand? No worries! Just put this video on in the background (in full-screen mode), and have the next best thing 😁

Here is 10 minutes of self-playing modular synthesiser randomness

Why not put it on loop - then you can have it playing away in the background while you do other things

A note on the patch:

'I’m using the 259 as the main sound source, which is being sent to various places: the 288 delay, the 296 filter bank and the Dodeca modules’s LPGs

The MARF is combined with the 208 5 step sequencer to produce all the modulations, all powered from a 281 VC function generator

The Dodeca mixer provides stereo panning and the general output'

This piece was featured on Modulisme Session 131: https://modular-station.com/modulisme...

And it appears on this album:



Please support them if you like this kind of stuff! 😁

Synthesiser programming and recording, design and concept: Benge (B D Edwards)

Made at Memetune Studios, England
(c)+(p) 2025 Memetune Recordings"

Many Synthesiser Clubs

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Here is a compilation of some of the Synthesiser Club segments from The Memetune Programme over the years

Featuring vintage ARPs, Moogs, Yamahas, Rolands, Korgs, Ensoniqs, Kawais, Sequential Circuits - did I forget any?

Enjoy!"

Cabaret Voltaire - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

video upload by KEXP

Some synth spotting with Cabaret Voltaire. You might recognize Benge of Memetune Studio, and Tara Busch of I Speak Machine.

"http://KEXP.ORG presents Cabaret Voltaire performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded May 3, 2026.

Songs:
24-24 00:30
Landslide 05:26
Spies In the Wires 08:44
Nag Nag Nag 13:39
Sensoria 18:20

Stephen(Mal) Mallinder - Vocals, Synths
Benge Edwards - Drums
Tara Busch - Synths
Eric Random - Guitar, Synths
Dan Conway - Visuals, LD

Host: Kevin Cole
Audio Engineer: Jon Roberts
Mastering Engineer: Matt Ogaz

Cameras: Jim Beckmann, Carlos Cruz, Emma Juncosa & Ettie Wahl
Editor: Carlos Cruz

https://cabaretvoltaire.bandcamp.com
http://kexp.org"

cascades

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Some cascading patterns for you 😁


Buchla 200 only"

the100

video upload by Memetune Studio

"This is a simple video of a vintage Buchla 100 being sequenced by a Modcan A Series

Thanks for viewing"

Crumar Cruise

video upload by Memetune Studio

"The Crumar DS2 and the Modcan

And an Ensoniq DP/4"

new model - modern live jamb

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Thanks for viewing!"

Vapore

video upload by Memetune Studio

"a live jam on the Madcan A Series and the Ensoniq Fizmo"

ping thing

video upload by Memetune Studio

"The Modcan is such a plucky synth

I managed to set up a temporary working studio in a spare room so I can work while I build the new proper studio

Luckily the Neve survived the enormously traumatic move to the new place!

I've spent the week patching up the patch bays and FX units and mic preamps and monitor speakers - and re-learning the mysteries of MADI and MIDI routing"

Exploration Situation of the Third Kind

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Taking the very sci-fi Buchla 200 out on another ride across the Solar Sythesystem™

Here's a close encounter with the 288 delay and 289 dual stereo FX with Lexicon-style algorithms - Nanu Nanu!"

Exploration Situation Two

video upload by Memetune Studio

"A more melodic exploration, still digging into those delays and reverbs, which is great to have onboard now with the dual Lexi-algos fitted to the 289 Defect Processor (thanks Maxlord)

I really love the way the 277 and 288 delays go all lo-fi and glitchy when CV'd"

Exploration Situation

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Here I have set up an exploration situation, whereby I can mess about with various settings on the Buchla 200 while it's playing a semi-random patch

I'm using the 208 Easel module for initial sound generation, which goes to the 296 Spectral Processor, then out to two places: the even output goes to a mixer input, and the odd out goes to the 288 Time Domain Processor, then into mixer input 2. This goes out to the 289 Defect Processor top section, which has Maxlord's Lexi-like (224) reverb EPROM fitted. It's a great reverb! And you can CV various parameters. Joy!"

Defect Process 2 - Discombobulation arises

video upload by Memetune Studio

"Another exploration on the Defect Processor, this time feeding one half of the 289 into the other. It's kind of ghostly and interesting - I love how you can change the pitch of the reverb in real time - quite a discombobulating effect"

Defect Processor Buchla 289

video upload by Memetune Studio

"A few months ago I managed to snag a Defect Processor Model 289 made by Alex Pleninger (Keen Association) and Roman F

This hyper-rare module adds some appropriately bonkers digital FX to the Buchla 200 series system, by using two independent stereo digital effects units based around the rather interesting Spin Chip platform (it has two of them inside)

The module takes any audio signal and subjects it to various Spin Chip algorithms - there are 8 per section, and they are pre-set on EPROMS on the board behind the panel. The good news is you can swap out the EPROMS and change the 16 algorithms if you so desire, and you can even create your own if you get the Spin Chip programmer

I have a set that includes this insane delay patch. The module has CV inputs for some of the parameters (not many Spin-based products have this facility AFAIK) but here I am playing around with the delay times and feedback levels by hand

I’m also tweaking the 259 timbre, the LPG decay time, and the mix between Noise and VCO, and the Bandpass filter

Crazy sounds and defects abound!"