Spirals and Orbits

Here is my latest album, all made upon a very vintage 1960s Buchla 100 and 1960s WEM Copycat

Benge's Buchla 100 Labelled

TEMB

Two VCOs (258) are cross modulated to produce an evolving sequence of clocks, not just random because the interactive nature of the cross modulation creates unexpected pauses and clusters - the envelope follower (model 230) helps in extracting the clocks. These are sent to an LPG which gates a modulating sound from the 259 - the main tone. The MARF sequences pitches, but these are shifted with a clocked random voltage, changing every 5 or 7 pulses (using the MARF programmable pulse out feature) There are 5 LFOs are all slightly different, and being clocked by more scaled down pulses from the MARF, so the LFOs are locked into the main set of pulses. The signal is split into several paths, one goes to the 277 delay (being modified by the same random voltage mentioned above) and the other going to the spring reverb, also being modified (by an LFO). These also go into 2 bandpass filters, being modulated with row 2 of the MARF. The stereo signal is being modified as well and the whole lot goes into the Buchla 100 signal leveller (model 172) and vintage eq (model 175)

Sketchy

Heres a little sketch on the CS80 and Buchla 100. I managed to get them to almost play in tune!

Bord

This patch uses 6 square wave oscillators with fixed frequencies (tuned to a harmonious chord) going into the 107 VC mixer. The 114 touch plates control the duration of the notes. Two of the trigger outs fire off a 180 dual attack generator which varies the frequency of the 191 filter (all the oscillators are summed through it in mono). There is some 185 frequency shifting added in (acting as a phaser) and also some RE201 Space Echo. This mono signal is then going through a delay line (Bel-BD80) and is panned hard left and right with the original signal

Feedback

This patch uses the Frequency Shifter to feed back audio into itself along with the VCO. Then there is a network of CV and audio feedback loops using the Matrix Mixer, Delay Unit and a Band Pass Filter. The 281s and LPGs are adding timbre and volume shaping, and it basically all interacts together

Leaping

Devils Leap

New Benge album:

I Hear Voices

CLICK BELOW FOR AN UPDATE

Mirrula

Shores

Here is an Akai and Buchla. God I love the Neve desk - theres a whole world of tonality I never knew existed before

Brackle

A noisy performance on the Buchla 200. This patch uses the 296 Spectral Processor, 275 Delay and the 205 Matrix Mixer to create feedback situations, which I mess about with a bit

Isolation

Here is a 12 minute video of a Buchla 200 playing by itself. Nothing else!

You can put this on in the background while you are doing your self-isolating, it might help pass the time?

Blipper

Bleets

A pure Buchla composition exploring percussive beats. I'm trying to decide if I should get another Dodeca module or a 292/281/266 combo. And guess what I got myself a cute little Neve 542 mixer which I am learning how to use at the moment as well

Labelled

Do you know how much I like making lists and labelling things? A lot! So I made labelled pictures of my Buchla systems, just for fun

Drifterly

All Buchla 200. And self-playing

Patch Notes:
The 259 VCO goes into a Low Pass Gate, which is being controlled by an envelope created on ch2 of the MARF. Ch1 of the MARF controls the pitch and clocks everything. The signal then goes into the 296 Spectral Processor and has separate frequency bands turned on an off by the 281 Function Generator. The 281 is being triggered by various steps of the MARF, providing 4 slow LFOs. There is also a mixer into which the 277 Delay Unit is fed. A few other things are being modulated on the 259 such as the timbre and symmetry

Ciani in the Car

Heard this on the radio yesterday. Not often the word BUCHLA comes up when I'm listening in the car to a random program. I'm putting it up here for posterity

Spectral Needs

Purity of Buchla. Nothing else in this one - I set up 7 envelopes on the 200 series, being triggered by 7 trigger outs on the 100 series sequencer. The envelopes control 7 bands on the 296 Spectral Processor, giving it a sort of polyphonic note sequence, the source being a mixture of oscillators and noise. This mono signal was then sent to the Dodeca reverb and the 277 delay unit for stereofication. Oh yes, and I also got a new go-pro camera that I bought at a car boot sale for £10

Be Moog

I managed to get the Buchla MARF to play nicely with the Moog Modular. It took a bit of wrangling, mainly by processing the CV out of the MARF to go from 1.2v per octave to the 1v that the Moog needs. I know that it is possible to set the MARF to 1 volt per octave from the back of the unit with some tiny switches, but I would normally be using it with other Buchla modules so I did the voltage scaling with a Moog mixer instead, then used the Dotcom Quantizer. Hopefully you can work out the patch from the video