Buchla Thread

[missingtwins]

Hi kbra
can you point me in the direction of that easel stand you have? It looks like a perfect setup!

[kbra]

It’s a Bespeco Compact 45T which is apparently a cheap Italian stand not sold in very many places (got mine from a local store who were apparently selling their last one). It also wobbles a bit when you play or patch things - which doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be secure, it’s just a minor irritation due to the structure that has some “give”.

However, what it originally is, is an amp / mixer / locator stand. People elsewhere have suggested eg. OnStage Mix400 and Quik-Lok QL-400 which are also locator-mixer stands easier to find in the US and worldwide. They’re a bit simpler in their structure, which hopefully means they wobble less. You could also look for height & angle adjustable guitar amplifier stands, I’m sure someone else than Bespeco has made a similar one if you need multiple angle adjustable parts instead of a simpler structure like the ones mentioned before.

Hope this helps at least a bit!

FWIW here’s someone from MW forums with Easel on one of those OnStage or QuikLok stands for reference: https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/userpix2/14455_image_1.jpg

[georgie]

I have a question for people that have used vintage Buchla goods:

I’m borrowing some vintage subtractive synths from a friend at the moment and they sound very very old! This is a sound many of us know well and that has been used in a great deal of music, however the majority of my exposure to the sound of Buchla instruments (and the instruments inspired by Buchla) are from recently produced instruments.

The difference between a 1970s subtractive synth and a new one can be pretty huge, so I was wondering if this is the case with old Buchla (logic tells me it should be due to ageing components - but aged components in subtractive synthesis might have a different effect to aged components on sinewaves/fm/wavefolding etc).

[mystasea]

I havnt used original vintage buchla, but have extensively used various brands of vintage subtractive gear. Dont have any of the old stuff any more but the 208 clone I currently use for sure has that same depth and tone which I love(and constantly crave) in the older gear. I love it so much infact I feel like I could be satisfied with exploring more of the clones in my quest for wild & fat older sonics. Off-course nothing like a well aged synth I like to say…but the modern clone is idiosyncratic enough that Im not bothered to compare

[Ivan]

From east cost world good clones are good - like Moog clones from Mos-Lab. bad modern clones are related with some updates/improvements, not properly cloned pcb’s, cheap parts and bad power system

[mlogger]

I was wondering if you or anyone with an Easel has actively used any of the Norns looper scripts to clock and loop the Easel instead of EHX setup. I have been looking at clocking it via Crow module and adjusting the voltages / triggers outputted in the script recommended below. So using Norns / Crow / Grid to replace the EHX. Also recording final outs to the Tape folder on Norns. I saw photos of your custom Norns box so it has me intreagued how you are using it in your Easel setup.

^^ crow help: norns

This is the line: crow.output[1].volts = (note_num-60)/12 Just multiply the value by 1.2 before assigning to volts, which simplifies to: crow.output[1].volts = (note_num-60)/10 For the trigger, you need to change the crow.output[2].action = ... to something like crow.output[2].action = "pulse(0.01, 10)". Where 0.01 is the pulse time in seconds (here 10ms), and 10 is volts of the high-state of the pulse.

[lilskullymane]

are you sure it needs 10v? from papz -

The voltage present at these outputs drops to about +3.5V when patched, this is ok to trigger the 208 sub-modules but too low for the MARF, the buffers keep the voltage stable.

[mlogger]

Yes thats correct - for the easel you don’t need such a high voltage to get the sequencer to run. That link was more of a general 1.2v/oct, 0 - 10v Buchla standard and how to deal with converting voltages on Crow at a script level. The point is, any voltage can be scaled easily from any Crow script / sequencer / looper to any Buchla standard.

What I’m also getting at is, no one I know of has really utilised fully a Norns / Crow / Buchla setup. By Buchla I mean Easel, 200 and 200e.

Norns has a lot of great loopers that output clock which can be tapped along with CV / Gates from Crow. Midi from Norns also has midi out, midi clock that can also run directly to a 200e setup with midi decoder module / converter. The new Easels have midi in.

If using Norns midi out and have 261e / 259e oscillators you will have zero issues with tuning. Everything is automatically in tune via the i2c bus.

Keen Association (Wormhole) and Studio H are both releasing midi / i2c bus internal devices that connect directly to the bus (no module) on the case. Preset storage / saving being done via Bluetooth on an iPhone app. So there will be no real need for a 225e midi decider module if running an external midi sequencer.

[mlogger]

That’s correct - for the easel you don’t need such a high voltage to get the sequencer to run. That link was more of a general 1.2v/oct, 0 - 10v Buchla standard and how to deal with converting voltages on Crow at a script level. The point is, any voltage can be scaled easily from any Crow script / sequencer / looper to Buchla standards.

What I’m getting at really is, no one I know has really utilised fully a Norns / Crow / Buchla setup. By Buchla I mean Easel, 200 and 200e.

Firstly, Norns has a lot of great loopers that output clock which can be tapped from Crow. Midi from Norns also has midi out, midi clock that can also run directly to a 200e setup with midi decoder module.

Alternatively, if you are going the midi route from Norns and have 261e / 259e oscillators you will have zero issues with tuning. Everything is automatically in tune via the i2c bus. Also a thing to note here is Keen Association (Wormhole) and Studio H are both releasing midi / i2c bus internal devices that connect directly to the bus (no module) on the case. Preset storage / saving being done via Bluetooth on an iPhone app. So there is no real need for a midi decider module if running an external midi sequencer.

Keen are also releasing a midi/osc module which is also a cv recorder - I guess it’s a super updated take on the 225e - from Keen “283 can be used as an interface for osc/midi/bluetooth which comes from its name but the first word is LOGGER, so it is very powerful event recorder first, and then the PROXY INTERFACE… just imagine what can be done with it in pair with, say, the 223e or the 220, or even with 250e if one will dare tweak it on the fly”

They are also releasing a DSP effects module

BTW - I think many people are not aware that you can run Midi on a 200e system without a Midi decoder 225e module. If you have preset storage module like the 206e you can get midi from a computer going to the regular Buchla firmware card via mini usb that acts as a midi/i2c converter and run midi sequencers directly to the 259e, 261e / 281e on the i2c bus.

[kbra]

This is actually super interesting - the plan to build a small 200 DIY + 200e system to accompany the Easel is slowly coming together, and I was thinking about different ways of integrating Norns + Grid into the setup as well.

(Of course now the idiotic DIY tinkerer in me is starting to wonder how much trouble vs. fun it would be to adapt a Crow to use banana jacks, and mount it behind a 200 panel with something else…)

Thanks!

[lilskullymane]

Preset storage / saving being done via Bluetooth on an iPhone app. So there is no real need for a midi decider module if running an external midi sequencer.

damn… yes. i’m a huge fan of what alex is doing with keen. crazy how many great ideas he has in the pipeline (ground control tracker/audio editor for his musique concrète 287e, custom 200e cabinet, quad stereo setup, new touchplate controller, etc) a whole keen system would be bonkers

i forget crow can scale voltages too, nice tip! have been running with this setup for a few months now. the color and personality of the norns scripts are a perfect match for the easel - will get some tracks up in the new year. your videos sold me on the pair earlier this year and i’m always surprised there isn’t a bigger monome/buchla crowd out there. perfect blend of forward thinking, playful, playable imo.

[mlogger]

@lilskullymane

Preset storage / saving being done via Bluetooth on an iPhone app. So there is no real need for a midi decider module if running an external midi sequencer.

Here’s Studio H wireless preset manager iPhone stuff

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJGXh-hBRaC/?igshid=fp7zntib7g2q

via this usb midi bus similar to Keens

https://www.instagram.com/p/CI5_OwznjXJ/?igshid=1083fgd9wtjqm

[dianus]

I’m thinking about building an Easel as my next project over the coming year. I’ve so far built, a 73-75, Jasper, and some DIY eurorack things. Please talk me out of this. Are there good reasons not to go down this road?

[kbra]

I didn’t build my Easel myself because it came to me as a trade, but based on building other equally or more complex looking things before and browsing build documents out of personal interest, it looks sort of a next step up in complexity from a 73-75 DIY set - eg. you may want to take it at an easy pace and be prepared to learn new things & troubleshoot issues, but it’s not a huge step up in complexity.

What I can say for certain is that to my taste it’s one of the finest (read: superb sounding and fun to patch and play) analogue electronic instruments I’ve owned, so in that sense I do wholeheartedly recommend building one.

The one thing I’ve heard is that the Portabellabz’ PCB version (208P) is definitely the way to go if you want a relatively trouble-free experience with major issues fixed. That’s what the Easel I have has. As for the 218 controller side, if you are planning on building that as well, I guess the only DIY option is Roman / Electric Music Store version.

[hollasynth]

@mlogger

I was wondering if you or anyone with an Easel has actively used any of the Norns looper scripts to clock and loop the Easel instead of EHX setup.

I was looking into this for a friend (hello @muncky !) who I think had also spoken to you about it. It’s pretty easy to create a little device which generates Buchla pulses from the midi clock that norns puts out. The problem is that I don’t know what is actually required to get a decent looper/clock combo going, so if you have an idea that would be great.

The norns scripts I looked at (cranes, MLR) don’t generate any clock themselves, but norns continues to put out the global midi clock. Cranes for example runs at a speed dictated by the global midi clock, but there is no outgoing signal to sync up loop start / end for instance. I am not really clear what @ghostcode is doing with the EHX setup and whether existing norns scripts can do a similar thing. Surely with crow and some coding you could make something happen. but even better if it can be more lightweight and not require a crow.

[mutedial]

I’ll second @kbra
A 208 is a step up in complexity from a 73-75 but if you can handle that it’s not too bad. But more failure points. The PCBs don’t have the values printed on them so you have to go slow and steady. Calibration is kind of a PITA. It is kind of $€£¥.

Go for 208p, papz includes adapter PCBs for rare parts like ua276 and just made a new one for dga200.

SAmodular has a hardware kit that handles a lot of the headache of BOM ordering for some things like sliders and slider caps etc.

SAmodular also has a 218 DIY kit and sells boats and power supplies etc.

There’s apparently a new 218 being made by Buchla in early 2021 along with the 208c (and the MIDI options make it seem pretty convenient). The DIY is cheaper but probably not by /that/ much (although obv diy can be fun/satisfying and you can spread out the costs)

[mlogger]

I’m going to look into it further - I have Crow also and some of those looper scripts output clock via Crow. I’m pretty sure it would be very easy to add a clock, as well as clock dividers / multipliers to any existing crow script (midi dividers and multipiers also) There’s Cheat Codes also I need to look at, as well as the 000000 script. Not sure about the start / end of the loop but pretty sure something can be added in the script. I’m mostly looking at Crow at the moment and less with midi as I am still waiting on the Wormhole midi for my 200e. It was mostly the Easel I was looking at for looping and using Norns midi sequencers for the 200e.

On a side note, I think the 4ms Dual Looping Delay would work really well also with having clock multiplication / division on it as well as Morphagene

[Vatican2]

Has anyone considered adapting Ansible or Teletype to Buchla format?

[ideaofnorth]

Following this topic, as I’ve tried unsuccessfully to clock my 208r using Norns > crow. I’ve also tried running the crow clock signal through channels 2+3 of maths to boost the signal without any luck.

[lilskullymane]

try triggering an a/d envelope on channel 1 and using that instead? my easel prefers falling ramps to pulses, although sometimes i can get a pulse to work