Exploring the 1st Buchla 100 Modular Synthesizer

video upload by Sarah Belle Reid

"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

Thank you to:
Mills College Center for Contemporary Music https://www.performingarts.mills.edu
The Buchla Archives https://www.buchlaarchives.com
Ryan Gaston (co-producing + filming) https://gastonsounds.com
Hainbach (tape slicing footage)

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.

www.sarahbellereid.com"



"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."

The Buchla Archives & The Garden Weasel

Richard Smith & Ryan Gaston have a launched a new website dedicated to Buchla, aptly named The Buchla Archives.

If you are curious what The Garden Weasel references, see his latest post here.

You'll find images never shared before.

From the home page:

"For years now, I have had what might be described as an unhealthy obsession with the musical instruments produced by the artist Donald Buchla—as well as the mystery that surrounds his designs and the philosophies at work in his obscure musical artifacts. My experience during this time included a decade-long friendship and apprenticeship with Don, in which I was involved in instrument construction, marketing, conceptual design, and the maintenance of both his modern and vintage creations.

The Buchla Archives is the result of over twenty years of work collecting and cataloging everything that I could pertaining to the development of Buchla's unique body of work. Today, the archive includes a significant collection of documentation, ranging from schematics and production files to user manuals, software, photographs, sketches, correspondences, and much more. Additionally, the Buchla Archives collection includes meticulously restored, functional, original examples of nearly every Buchla instrument ever created—in some cases, the only remaining fully functional examples of their kind, altogether.

The Buchla Archives mission is to thoroughly, thoughtfully, and respectfully document and preserve this peculiar piece of music history: the instruments, the documents, their story, and the ideas that led to their creation.


Richard Smith
The Buchla Archives"

https://www.buchlaarchives.com

FEEDBACK by Ultraviolet Light

This one is in via Todd Barton who co-curated the release.

"Cassette label Ultraviolet Light is ecstatic to announce Feedback, a compilation of new works from Todd Barton, Dan Deacon, Dani Dobkin, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, Doug Lynner, Toshimaru Nakamura, Sarah Belle Reid, Ryan Gaston, Jimmy Joe Roche, and Keith Fullerton Whitman. Each track utilizes some form of acoustic feedback, no-input mixing or recursive patching techniques as the central compositional principle.

Closed circuit and acoustic feedback have been prominent features within experimental electronic compositions for well over 50 years. In 1968 Steve Reich made extensive use of audio Feedback in his work “Pendulum Music”. David Tudor and Alvin Lucier incorporated feedback systems in many iconic compositions. Much of John Cage's interest and questions of noise and its relation to music could be seen as an extension of concepts explored when artists introduce feedback into their performances and recording. Arguably the most prolific and influential artist who integrated feedback into her compositions is the French composer Éliane Radigue.

Feedback is released as a 300-copy limited edition cassette with 4-color risograph printed artwork by Never Brush my Teeth. A digital download card is included with each cassette. 60% of the digital sales of the album will be donated to Earth Justice annually.

Curated by Todd Barton and Jimmy Joe Roche.

Available here on Bandcamp: https://ultravioletlight.bandcamp.com/album/feedback"

Mapper: map01/12/21 Chaotic Synthesizer Prototype Demonstration

video upload by Ryan Gaston

"A demonstration of map01/12/21, an electronic musical instrument that focuses on random, chaotic, and gestural interconnections between its constituent structures. map01/12/21 has been succeeded by map02/21, which offers nearly identical functionality; this video serves as an archival demonstration of the older prototype.

map01/12/21 combines three modules: the map01 Delta Scan Mapping Interface (a chaotic audio generator), the map12 Windowed Temporal Drag Processor (a dynamically re-writable audio buffer), and map21 Multiple Vector Source + Translation Matrix (a MIDI controller that combines two joysticks, sixteen random number generators, a timing generator, and a data routing matrix). map01 and map12 have been abandoned in favor of the newer map02 Delta Scan Mapping Interface + Windowed Temporal Drag Processor, which combines their functionality into a single device.

This improvisational demonstration highlights many of the unique possibilities of each of its constituent parts; ranging from blasts of noise to whistling tones, stuttered repeats, aliasing, goofy computer-generated bleeps, and gesturally-controlled chaos."

Additional demos:

CLICK FOR MORE »

Continual Transition - a Memory Machine [Sound/Noise Demonstration]

video upload by Ryan Gaston

"Continual Transition is an electronic sound-making device designed to engage memory, inspired by the unique otherworldly dread of isolation in the Ozarks.

Continual Transition uses a simple synthesis structure, modulated delay lines, sampling, and multiple internal feedback/feedforward nodes to create a chaotic, constantly evolving musical structure. Despite its use of relatively simple synthesis "building blocks," its embrace of chaos and its perhaps-peculiar parameterization makes it such that individual controls often results in individual knobs affecting many aspects of a sound's character, usually in nonlinear or unpredictable ways.

Continual Transition is comprised of two primary sections: on the left, a Temporal Reflection Interval Processor (TRIP), and on the right, an Arbitrarily Traversal Memory Register (ATMR). The TRIP and ATMR are intertwined via multiple intermodulation nodes, allowing them to influence one another's behavior in a number of ways. The TRIP is a continually-degrading memory process, in which user actions are echoed, multiplied, and obfuscated continually as time progresses. The ATMR is a sampling device, which assesses the device's total state for concentrated periods of time, locking small windows of "memory" into a buffer which can be bent, twisted, folded, and traversed linearly or chaotically.

By allowing these two forms of memory to commingle—and by gradually learning the relationship between individual controls, the immediate sound, and the way that sounds progress into the future—the user may develop a peculiar sense of "presentness," in which the events of the past and immediate future gain greater clarity and present actions take on greater-than-typical weight.

Continual Transition was created with a Bela Mini, Pure Data, simple custom circuitry, and Arkansan cedar sourced directly from the forests of the Ozarks. A limited number of Continual Transition devices were created in 2020. Despite initial goals to the contrary, there is no current plan to develop it into a commercial product.

If you want to learn more about Continual Transition (and to hear more examples of how it can sound), see the Summer 2019 edition of SciARC's Offramp online magazine here: https://offramp.sciarc.edu/articles/c..."

Stereo Transfer Function Synthesizer - Proof of Concept (Teensy)

video upload by Ryan Gaston

"A simple demonstration of some of the sounds yielded from a simple Teensy-based synthesizer. This is a proof of concept more than anything else; ultimately, this will be integrated into a more complete instrument.

The internal signal path is based on a combination of phase modulation, frequency modulation, and digital waveshaping via arbitrarily constructed transfer functions. Three oscillators intertwine in various ways, each contributing to the sound's instantaneous timbre, pitch, loudness, and sense of spatial location. The use of many internal feedback/feedforward nodes enhances the potential for chaotic, unpredictable sonic structures.

Originally, the idea was to create a stereo oscillator with transfer function-based waveshaping; however, I found that with a sufficiently knotted internal signal flow, it was possible to achieve a pretty astonishing range of animated sounds using relatively limited means. Though very much inspired by the Hordijk Blippoo Box, Hordijk Benjolin, Serge Wave Multipliers, Buchla Touché, Buchla 400, Buchla 700, and Buchla 259e, and some experimental works by Larry Polansky, I'm finding that there's much more sonic territory to be explored utilizing the bizarre combination of feedback and waveshaping via arbitrary transfer functions.

Again, I hope to continue to expand this into a more complete, performable instrument. But for now, enjoy some noise."

Buchla Thunder + ASM Hydrasynth | Noise Improvisation

video upload by Ryan Gaston

"I recently took delivery of a vintage Buchla Thunder—a MIDI controller I've been dorking out over for years. In this video, I'm exploring a tiny bit of what it can do when combined with an ASM Hydrasynth desktop module...in the form of a mostly noisy/textural improvisation. (Note—the laptop is there purely for the sake of recording. All sounds and effects are coming from the Hydrasynth.)

Released in ~1990, Thunder is bonkers. Like many of Buchla's prior instruments, it uses touch-sensitive plates as a way of interacting with electronic sound engines. There's no "default" setup...you have to program everything that it does from scratch. It can translate touch directly into MIDI notes, or your touches can be used to initiate/conditionally influence programmed strings of events. Keys can even be used to conditionally modify one another's behavior—it's very deep, and things can become complex quite quickly. That's much of its charm: it's very easy for simple interactions to unwind into complex, unexpected flurries of sound.

So it's quite powerful...but given that I've had it for only a short time, I'm still barely scratching the surface. That said, it's already proving to be super inspiring to play, and I'm excited to keep digging in from here."

The legend of BRENSO’s pulse-width modulation

video upload by Frap Tools

"PWM is a huge part of everyday electronics, but it is also a classic synth sound, to the point it reached a cult (if not meme) status.

A Eurorack oscillator like BRENSO wouldn't have been completed without a PWM section, and today we're exploring it in detail. It might not be the most obvious feature, since it is nestled into the timbre modulation section, but it is capable of wild timbers.

Check also this PWM patch: [video below]

Timbre and Amplitude modulation:
BRENSO Waveforms: [posted here]
Overtones: [video below]

00:00 Overview
02:36 What is a comparator and why it's important for pulse-width modulation?
03:36 The difference between BRENSO's square waves.
04:37 Modulating the comparator threshold to change the pulse width.
05:04 What are the harmonics of a pulse wave?
06:09 How to fake more oscillators through PWM.
07:15 Pulse wave symmetry and phase.
09:51 Feeding BRENSO's comparator with the triangle shaper

Pulse-Width Modulation and Sync with BRENSO | East Coast Sounds 1 | Frap Ideas

video upload by Frap Tools

"A recent article on @PerfectCircuit’s blog inspired this exploration beyond the label of "West Coast" synthesis. We thus focused on two techniques for the BRENSO oscillator that go beyond the classic complex oscillator's palette: PWM and sync."

Ryan Gaston’s articles:
Pt.1 https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal...
Pt.2 https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal...

00:00 Introduction: East Coast and West Coast?
02:20 Pulse-width modulation (PWM) on the BRENSO
13:29 The "AAAAAH" moment
14:05 Flip Sync


What are overtones and why they might be more important than you imagine

video upload by Frap Tools

"Today's topic ties together notes, harmony, tuning, timbre, and even more. It's the overtones, and this is our introduction!"

00:00 Introduction
00:22 What is a note?
02:11 What are overtones?
04:06 Harmonic and inharmonic overtones
06:24 Electronic waveforms and overtones: triangle, square, sawtooth
09:42 Isolate waveform partials through CUNSA bandpass filters
12:56 Create a complex wave through harmonics in analog
15:04 From the harmonic series to the dominant chord: closing remarks

Seventy Two | Gradient Instruments Sputter | Happy Birthday Todd Barton!

video upload by Todd Barton

"Woohoo! I'm turning 72 today. I actually love getting older: richer in friends, family, musics and listenings . . ."


video upload by Todd Barton

"Awesome new instrument from the infinitely creative & curious minds of Ryan Gaston and Sarah Belle Reid! Loving this instrument.
More info at https://www.gradientinstruments.com
Also checkout Sarah's Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/sarahbellereid"

Living Room Concerts: Buchla Modular System Duo | Sarah Belle Reid and Ryan Gaston

video by Sarah Belle Reid

"The second video in a series of informal living room concerts, put on by Sarah Belle Reid and Ryan Gaston. In this concert we are improvising on two Buchla systems: a 200-series clone modular synthesizer, and a mixed system featuring a 208 clone and 223e Tactile Input Port."

Meet And maX Virtual Meetup - Modular Synthesizer Graphical Programming Discussion Livestream

Published on Apr 21, 2020 Perfect Circuit

"Join our first ever virtual Meet And maX—a community gathering dedicated to Cycling 74 Max, a powerful graphic programming environment that works with a variety of media, from sound to video, to 3D graphics, to physical computing, and more.

Max lets you connect anything to anything, and we put together Meet and maX to connect all of you. In our inaugural livestream we will host a pretty diverse group of Max folks, including Darwin Grosse and Dan Derks from Cycling 74, independent developer and artist Dillon Bastan, MIDI whiz and current meetup host Aaron Levitz, as well as Perfect Circuit maxers Ryan Gaston, and Eldar Tagi.

We will be talking about building plugins in max for live, using Max for interactive livestreams, hardware integration, and a bunch of other things. Tune in to the stream and bring questions."

MIGSI: Connecting Acoustic Instruments, Modular Synths & MAX

Published on Feb 13, 2020 Perfect Circuit

"Sarah Belle Reid and Ryan Gaston are at Perfect Circuit to present MIGSI, their system for electronically augmenting the acoustic trumpet. They discuss MIGSI's development, as well as tactics for using acoustic instruments to control Max/MSP and modular synthesizers for experimental music. Sarah Belle Reid presents a short performance with MIGSI, Max, and a Buchla modular system.

Read more about MIGSI here: https://www.perfectcircuit.com/signal..."

MIGSI: Connecting Acoustic Instruments, Modular Synths & Max Event at Perfect Circuit

RSVP here


"Sarah Belle Reid and Ryan Gaston will give a short performance with their MIGSI augmented trumpet instrument and then explain its design

About this Event
Sarah Belle Reid and Ryan Gaston present MIGSI: an electronically augmented trumpet designed for performing experimental electronic music. Reid and Gaston will discuss the process of developing MIGSI, as well as strategies for integrating traditional instruments with computers and modular synths—including a demonstration of their own Max/MSP and Buchla-based performance setup. Reid will present a performance using MIGSI, Max/MSP, and a Buchla modular synthesizer.

Wednesday 2/12/2020 7-9PM at the Perfect Circuit Event Space (next door to the showroom)"

Text-to-MIDI Modular Synth Sequencer

Published on Dec 30, 2019 Sarah Belle Reid

"Text-controlled modular synth sequencer, using Max/MSP to convert text into MIDI and CV to control a Buchla modular synthesizer, a Eurorack synth, and a MicroKORG.

2019 was an exciting, productive year with lots of new creative projects and growth. I made this little video to say thank you to the wonderful folks who support my work through Patreon, and make it possible to continue creating new music, tutorials, and videos.

Huge shoutout to the folks at Perfect Circuit Audio and Ryan Gaston for inspiring and helping with this project!

Join me on Patreon!
patreon.com/sarahbellereid

Sarah Belle Reid is a Canadian performer-composer, active in the fields of electroacoustic trumpet performance, intermedia arts, music technology, and improvisation.

www.sarahbellereid.com"

MIGSI Trumpet and Serge Modular Synthesizer Improvisation

Published on Aug 16, 2018 Sarah Belle Reid

"Controlling the Serge modular synthesizer with MIGSI (Minimally Invasive Gesture Sensing Interface) for trumpet, built by Sarah Belle Reid and Ryan Gaston. Data captured by MIGSI is sent to a computer running Max/MSP (Cycling '74), then out to the Eurorack using the Expert Sleepers ES-8, and finally into a format converter to control the Serge.

This project and many like it are supported through my Patreon community:
patreon.com/sarahbellereid

Sarah Belle Reid is a Canadian performer-composer, active in the fields of electroacoustic trumpet performance, intermedia arts, music technology, and improvisation.

www.sarahbellereid.com"

Burnt Dot Trumpet + Modular Synth at Automata (Full Set)

Published on Oct 1, 2017 Burnt Dot

"Live set from Automata, Los Angeles, Sept 2017
Sarah Belle Reid - trumpet + megaphone, Ryan Gaston - eurorack modular synth

Burnt Dot is an LA-based noise, improvisation, and experimental jazz ensemble founded by Sarah Belle Reid (trumpet + electronics) and Ryan Gaston (modular synthesizer).

www.burntdot.com"

Expressive E Touché & Eurorack Modular Synthesizer

Published on Jun 13, 2017 Ryan Gaston

"First test with the Expressive E Touché and Eurorack synthesizer. The Touché controls crossfading between pulsing/clicking sounds from the Make Noise DPO as well as the position, size, and density controls on the Mutable Instruments Clouds. And of course, a healthy helping of Pressure Points :)"

Burnt Dot Quartet: Improvised Music for Trumpets & Synthesizers Pt. 1

Published on Apr 2, 2016 Burnt Dot

"First video excerpt from Burnt Dot Quartet's February 2016 concert at the Wild Beast Pavilion, Valencia CA. A concert of improvised music for trumpets and synthesizers.

Featuring Sarah Reid and Kris Tiner on trumpets, Ryan Gaston on Euro, Frac, and Serge, and Todd Barton on Buchla, Hordijk, Euro, and waterphone. Todd performed telematically from his studio in Oregon.

Special shout out to Sahir Khan and Andrea Yasko for motion graphics and David Howe for videography.

See http://www.burntdot.com/ for more."

This one in via MATRIXSYNTH Member, Ryan Gaston.

Elektron @ CalArts

Published on Feb 22, 2016 Elektron

The Black Serge at CalArts.

"We met up with Zach Crumrine and Ryan Gaston, two students at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), to chat about how they use Overbridge.
For more information on Overbridge and/or CalArts:
http://www.elektron.se
http://calarts.edu"

Burnt Dot Quartet in Concert: February 17th

"Burnt Dot Quartet performs improvised music for trumpets and modular synthesizers in quadraphonic space. Featuring Sarah Reid on trumpet, Ryan Gaston on Eurorack and Serge synthesizsers, and special guests Kris Tiner on trumpet and telematic performance by Todd Barton on Buchla and other synthesizers.

The concert is taking place on February 17th at 8pm PST at:

The Wild Beast Pavilion
California Institute of the Arts
24700 McBean Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355

This concert is FREE, open to the public, and streaming at:
https://music.calarts.edu/wild-beast-webcast

Burnt Dot is an improvisational duo formed by Sarah Belle Reid (trumpet) and Ryan Gaston (modular synthesizer) in 2014. From violent gestures to undulating textures and sparse flickers, Burnt Dot uses open forms to explore and extend the unique vocabulary of each of their instruments, and aim to discover just how much of the area beyond their typical sonic territory is still unmapped. Burnt Dot specializes in free improvisation, prompt-based performance, and interpretation of graphic scores."

"Kris Tiner (b. 1977) is a California-based trumpet player, composer, and improviser. Featured on NPR Music as one of a handful of new trumpet voices impacting modern music, his playing has been described as 'extraordinarily inventive' in Signal to Noise Magazine, and the LA Weekly claims 'Trumpeter Kris Tiner can turn barbed wire to beauty.'"

"Todd Barton is a composer, sound designer, multimedia performer, analog synthesist specializing in Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments. Todd is a praised improvisor, composer, and consulting artist for Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments."