Building a Buchla 248 MARF with Stages, Stages, Stages and Marbles

video upload by Cinematic Laboratory

"Sorry about that title. The MARF is short for the Multiple ARbitrary Function generator, a huge Buchla design carrying the model number 248, and is part of the 200 series. It's not easy to compare it with anything, but you could see it as a 16 step 0-CTRL, a Rossum Control Forge and maybe even the 250e circular Dual Arbitrary Function generator (DARF) like Frap Tools USTA. I contacted Todd Barton (thanks so much!) to be able to study a few MARF images. The sliders made me think of Mutable Stages, and the control section reminded me of Marbles. While getting lost on the way, I finally got a patch that sounded similar: 'music that sounds like dancing butterflies'.
The recipe involves variable timing, notes, a quantizer, and a transpose. You may also need a trigger or gate when a segment runs or finishes. There's a lot to explore here, and I don't think you can find a MARF in a single eurorack solution. I tried to approximate it, but I also needed Maths to do envelopes and gate extraction. It took a while to make this video and I wasn't sure about the results until the very end. Then suddenly, it worked.

You'll need a lot of stuff to do it, but there may be smaller solutions. I'll revisit this idea when my Control Forge arrives and I'll be able to combine USTA with the CF.

This is a complex video so I hope it will make a bit of sense. It would have been better to figure all this out and then make a video. But you'd be missing the fun of exploration. There are plenty of useful examples of how 'factory' Stages can be used, but I installed the Qiemem firmware for max flexibility. In the end I only used its 'random segment' feature in this video, but it doesn't play a role in the MARF patch. You can do this with factory Stages but it still requires a chain of 2 or 3. You can use any sequencer with a clock input for this. A DFAM will also help you to cover the time/level sequence.

Installation requires playing a .WAV into the module which can be bit of a drag. I recommend using a eurorack sample player like the BitBox for a high success ratio. Using a phone, PC or pad can be a nightmare. Also, I am not sure if the firmware works on a clone, please comment if you tried it.
https://github.com/qiemem/eurorack/re...

I am still trying to wrap my head around it. Even though Stages and Marbles are now discontinued, they're easy to find as fully functional clones. With Eurorack, we have the 'power' to build our own synths, or get inspired by designs which are still amazing and modern after +50 years. I hope it inspires you too."

DIY Buchla 248 Marf

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The MARF Files: Ep 4 & 5

External Clocking & The Factors Of Time video upload by Source Of Uncertainty

The MARF Files

The MARF Files: Ep 5 - The Best Buchla Envelope Generator, Or Best Envelope Generator…EVER??!!???!?
video upload by Source Of Uncertainty

"In this episode I cover how to make simple envelope shapes with the MARF, and how to augment them with different CV sources to make them more dynamic and expressive.

I apologize for always saying the word 'decay' when I mean to say 'release' in regards to the ADSR envelopes. My Buchla based brain is always thinking in attack/decay terms.

Here is a link to a video where similar envelope types are used in a larger patch:"

Buchla Dirge


"Using the 248 MARF and 223e touch controller to play around with 3 different CV augmented MARF envelopes."

Source Of Uncertainty Featured Module Videos

video uploads by Source Of Uncertainty

Use the player controls to skip around.

The playlist currently starts with Kyle and Robert recreating a patch from Suzanne Ciani's "Buchla Concerts 1975" on the Buchla-format Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator Model 248, aka "the MARF".

SAMODULAR 248 MARF

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"This is SAM MODULAR 248 Marf. It is a great sequencer looks and works as it should."

This appears to be the first one to be featured on the site. You can find demos featuring the Buchla 248 MARF in additional posts here.

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Buchla MARF Overview Glitch LFO

video upload by Todd Barton

"This morning I once again got obsessed with the Buchla 248 Multiple ARbitrary Function generator (MARF). First a little funky pattern using the CV out of the time sliders to change the pitch, then a brief Overview flowed by some timbral glitching explorations and some very long LFOs. Enjoy!

Be sure to checkout the Source of Uncertainty Podcast on the MARF: https://sourceofuncertainty.audio/pod...

For some very cool and detailed patches for the MARF checkout Max Lord's awesome free pdf book. You can find the link in this thread: https://modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopi...

My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/synthtodd"

Latest Todd Barton Videos

It looks like Todd Barton's channel is the latest to be hit by my YouTube subscription bug. For some reason some of my subscriptions are not notifying me. If you are a supporting member and do not see your videos going up, please feel free to send them in. Not sure what's up with YouTube. P.S. If anyone out there works for Google/YouTube, please look into this if possible.

https://www.patreon.com/synthtodd​

That said, here's the playlist for the above:

1. NVO Sequences and Discoveries
2. Buchla 245 on THC NVO
3. Buchla 246 and 248

I just got this beautiful Buchla 246 Programmable Voltage Source built by Adam Scramstad. My all time favorite sequencer. There are two short maiden voyage explorations here. 1) Buchla 246 and 248 (MARF) and the second just the 246. This second one uses the 246 to take panning on a wild ride so maybe headphones or speakers. . .

4. BuchlaBot Lives

Soundtracks made on Buchla Music Easel, Buchla 200e Electric Music Box and Buchla 200. Enjoy!

5. 296e Env Followers meet Krell

Exploring sending lots of Envelope Followers out from the 296e Spectral Processor to many different functions inside a little Krell patch.

6. Pi Day Beat

OK, I'm definitely late to the Pi Day Party but couldn't resist doing something with those numbers, intervals and rhythm. Enjoy!

Patch Notes: Peace Chord

video by FACTmagazine

"Peace Chord is the solo alias of Daniel Robertson, a Vancouver artist who is also a member of sprawling musical collective Crack Cloud. On his debut self-titled solo album, released last month, Robertson crafts a personal collection of songs that combine voice, piano and synthesiser.

On this week’s episode of Patch Notes, recorded in the shed and studio where Robertson recorded much of the album, he performs a session with a Buchla 200 clone system that he during the LP’s recording, a modified Marantz PMD-221 as a tape delay, a Prophet 6, a Rhodes MKII and his old upright piano.

'In terms of the synthesis patch used for this piece, here are some of the key ideas,' Robertson says. 'I use the 296 Programmable Spectral Processor to process vocal loop layers, giving each layer a specific resonant frequency range. I use the first 9 steps of the 248 MARF as a sequencer, which is clocked by the Prophet 6 arpeggiator in order to create an unpredictable pattern of harmony between the Prophet and the Buchla. The remaining 7 steps of the MARF act as a rudimentary wavetable oscillator. The 208 Stored Program Sound Source provides a complex oscillator, low pass gates, and a preamp to connect my voice, the modules and the musical ideas.'

'I find it important work with a limited amount of variables, in order to maintain a musical conversation with myself. At the root of my synthesis process, it’s still more about songwriting for me; songwriting as a means of processing, reflecting. I also play synthesizers (among other instruments) in the art-punk collective Crack Cloud. Peace Chord might seem somewhat antithetical to Crack Cloud. Peace Chord is steeped in interiority, quiet, and derived from solitude, whereas Crack Cloud is communal, vibrant and vibrating with energy. But they both feel necessary for me.'

Peace Chord’s debut album is available now on his Bandcamp: https://peacechord.bandcamp.com/album..."

Buchla 248 marf

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"Freshly built and calibrate Buchla 248 marf, multiple arbitrary function generator. .
Electric music store v 2.1 pcb, 2.0 firmware."

Random*Source Euro Serge Set & MARF “Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator” model 248 (1V/Oct mode)

Random*Source Euro Serge Set & MARF “Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator” model 248 (1V/Oct mode) from bucketbd on Vimeo.

DIY Buchla 248 MARF clone

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marf: full shot

flickr by citizenmori
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"buchla & associates model 248-1602. it actually works! beautifully repaired by mark verbos."

Testing the new Marf

via Reed

"My son, Henry, adjusts the timing row of a 1970's Buchla Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator 248-1602 prototype recently brought to life by Mark Verbos."