"Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments has been purchased by Buchla U.S.A.
The historic electronic music instrument company has been purchased, is under new management, and is now headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Minneapolis, Minnesota January 18, 2018: Announcing the purchase of Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments by Buchla U.S.A. LLC. The iconic electronic musical instrument company founded by Don Buchla as Buchla and Associates in the mid-1960s is now headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and headed by CEO Eric Fox.
The new company will continue to create unique, expressive, and iconic electronic performance instruments and controllers with a focus on the 50+ year history of Don Buchla. Buchla U.S.A.’s lead design and engineering is being performed by Don Buchla's right-hand-man, Joel Davel, who worked with Don for over 20 years. Production of the majority of Buchla modules is being handled by Dave Reilly, who was hand-picked by Don to manufacture Buchla products. Both design and production are located in the San Francisco bay area, as they were in the 1960s.
'With such an amazing legacy I am really excited about telling the story of Don and working closely with Joel and Dave to develop new products in the spirit of Don... and even revisiting/reimagining some of his designs that never actually made it out into the wild!' said Buchla U.S.A. CEO Eric Fox, about this historic purchase. 'I hope to involve as many of the artists and people that inspired Don as possible, moving forward. We owe it to him and the generations of new users to give them a sense of what he was all about.'
Buchla U.S.A. is committed to the continued production of high-quality historic synthesis/performance technology, a focus on and celebration of Don Buchla's legacy, and meeting the needs of Buchla customers.
By listening to the needs of composers at the San Francisco Tape Music Center, Don Buchla created one of the first modular voltage-controlled synthesizers in the mid-1960s as only a gifted designer and engineer could. His innovative and seminal musical instruments have inspired composers and listeners alike for over 50 years."
The body is similar to the Blofeld and it appears to be a solo, string, and vocoder synthesizer with effects. The string sections is likely based on the Streichfett. Curious if the solo section is based on the Rocket. If you click on the bottom image it's blurry but you can make out the Solo, String, Vocoder, and Effects sections. This actually looks pretty cool, in the more of a focused instrument vs. overwhelmingly programmable synthesizer sense. Sometimes less can more. It should be interesting at least.
Details sure to follow.
Update: from a reliable source: "Solo Section is as it was in Streichfett. No relation to Rocket." And confirmed on B&H. Price is $899 US. Additional pics added below.
"PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS
Based On Streichfett String Synth
49-Note Keyboard
Rugged Metal Chassis
Includes Gooseneck Microphone
Update1: Images replaced with higher res ones. Click on them for details. Also I have conformation this is a Streichfett with Vocoder in Blofeld KB housing.
Fingers crossed for a desktop version that can sit on top of my Blofeld keyboard. :)
Moog's Drummer From Another Mother will soon be available to the masses. The DFAM was introduced as a DIY build-only percussion synthesizer at last year's Moogfest. Anyone who visits MATRIXSYNTH should be well familiar with the DFAM from numerous demo videos from the lucky owners. For those who missed out on the original, you will now be able to purchase your own built by Moog. And it's black, compared to the original. The press release follows. Further below you will find additional details and pics.
"January 11, 2018, Asheville, NC -- Today Moog Music introduces the Drummer From Another Mother (DFAM), the first addition to the Mother eco-system of semi-modular analog synthesizers. DFAM is an original electronic instrument for the exploration of new concepts in rhythm and resonance.
Drummer From Another Mother (DFAM) is a highly-interactive, Semi-Modular Analog Percussion Synthesizer and a vibrant deviation from the traditional drum machine--presenting an expressive hands-on approach to percussive pattern creation.
DFAM’s fully analog circuitry behaves much like a living organism, reacting in different ways to input from different individuals. Moog Music enlisted three artists to demonstrate the sounds of the new instrument: DJ Haram, Stud1nt and Umfang--all members of NY’s Discwoman collective. Watch as they explore the new Semi-Modular Analog Percussion Synthesizer from their own personal creative spaces:
DFAM is the first addition to the Mother ecosystem of electronic instruments and each DFAM includes a package of patch cables, inviting interconnectivity via the synthesizer’s 24-point modular patchbay. Create new sounds or bizarre behaviors, synchronize an unlimited number of DFAM and Mother-32 synthesizers together, or fully integrate this analog instrument into a modular Eurorack production environment.
Each DFAM is lovingly designed, assembled, calibrated and tested in Asheville, NC by the employee-owners at Moog Music and has already begun shipping from the Moog Factory to Authorized Moog Music Dealers worldwide.
Starting next week, from Jan 15- Jan 24, Moog will offer free hour-long DFAM workshops facilitated by Alissa DeRubeis and Felisha Ledesma of S1 Synth Library to the west coast subscribers of the Moog Music Newsletter.
Right now, the DFAM synthesizer is part of an interactive interspecies installation at the Cactus Store in Echo Park. Entitled BioRhythmia, the installation uses electromyography sensors to measure the electric energies of a 30 year old cactus. The plant’s energies are converted into analog control voltages (CV), enabling the cactus (a mutant species originally from Bali, but now extinct in the wild) to “play” the synthesizer. Different conditions, different times of day, even different experiences with human passer-bys can affect what the cactus decides to play."
"DFAM is the first addition to the Mother ecosystem of synthesizers and presents an expressive hands-on approach to percussive pattern creation. It requires no patching, and absolutely no experience is needed for human-beings of any age to quickly begin synthesizing new and unique rhythmic compositions.
Activated by an easy-to-use analog sequencer, DFAM’s emotive sound begins with a white noise generator and two wide-range analog oscillators - effortlessly transitioning between rhythmic pulsations, resounding bass and resonant bells in an instant. DFAM’s distinctive voice is then shaped by a classic Moog Ladder filter with two selectable modes: Low Pass mode imparts impact and dimension to each sound it touches, while High Pass mode opens the door to naturally expressive strikes, spikes and clangorous accentuations.
DFAM behaves much like a living organism, reacting in different ways to different individuals. 3 dedicated analog envelopes work dynamically with the sequencer to ensure that tribal toms breathe, industrial impacts evolve, and sonic chaos can be created or subdued at the turn of a knob.
Each DFAM ships with a package of Moog patch cables that unlock access to the 24-point modular patchbay. Use it to create new sounds or bizarre behaviors, synchronize an unlimited number of DFAM and Mother-32 units together, or fully integrate your analog instrument into a modular Eurorack production environment.
Through exploration and experimentation, the vast potential of this expressive analog instrument is realized.
SOUND ENGINE: Analog
ANALOG SEQUENCER: 8-Steps With Pitch and Velocity Per-Step
ENVELOPES: VCO EG w/ Voltage Controlled Decay and Bipolar Amount Control, VCF EG w/ Voltage Controlled Decay and Bipolar Amount Control, VCA EG w/ Voltage Controlled Decay and Selectable Fast/Slow Attack Time
"I just messed around with the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet REV2 module, nothing series, all unscripted, just improvising. We shall see what you think. The patch is a split, as you can tell, it's a fantastic synth. I'll be reviewing it in the coming month."
Demo of the 40 factory patch sounds from the Prophet 5 (Rev 3.2). This is not intended to be musical, just a demo of the sounds. I am far better at fixing them than playing them.
Parts, service and synthesizers available on my website."
"It's triggered by any instrument using regular input and output jacks. It's a very unique synthesizer and 100% working. It's in great shape with only some minor cosmetic wear."
"Minimoog D Moog Music (1972). These ones are the “famous” old osc. board but these osc board are not at all the same as the RA & Musonic. This is the common version of the Mini D. Their tunning was better than the first models (RA & Musonic). All serial numbers until SN 10175 were issued with this “original” oscillator board. First Moog Music models have metal panel (not only the RA and the Musonic). The later one (but before SN 10175) have full plastic panel. Modulation wheels are smooth white and perhaps the last models (but before 10175) the white ribbed plastic. Inscriptions around knobs are different than on the RA & Musonic models."
