#41

Thank you, that was super instructive. Someday, I will start building these, maybe!

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#43

I have an all 200e 12 panel system and I think it’s a very unique and interesting sound especially for sound design. People love it or hate it. I think because of the sound of those oscillators - 261e / 259e wavetable. I would say a 200e is more akin to the sounds of Harvestman (Industrial Music Electronics) and many people get mixed up with talking about the 200 and the 200e system - they are very different.

I went all “e” because it’s a system, and because you can use the presets in a creative way. Many people miss the point when mixing them with clones. I see no point mixing clones with 200e unless they have preset capability. For me, if you you don’t intend using the presets then I wouldn’t advise getting a 200e system at all. The 200e is specifically designed for live performance and by utilising the preset system. The power of that system is the presets. You can use the sequencers to sequence the presets or sample and hold or random voltage the presets. Blind patching with alternate presets. Lots of happy accidents with them. Start with a preset, improvise for 20 minutes then recall back to we’re you started. Change a bit, save a new preset. Turn the preset into another sequencer. That’s something pretty unique in modular. Preset switching from slow to madness then back again. So you get huge shifts and changes in music styles at the press of a button or a trigger from some place else in your system. Think of it like META mode on Braids… but the whole system does it. Presets = Metasequencing.

The touch controller - 223e brings the 200e system together and makes it more like an instrument than a collection of modules. The timbral control you get with it is something you can not really create by programming. I’ve tried a lot of controllers and nothing comes remotely close.

I see Easel’s with a 223e controller attached, which to me is wrong. It’s a marketing ploy by the previous BEMI management to try to sell more Easels. It’s like using a computer mouse to the play a grand piano! Use the 218 - the thing it was designed for, not the thing that came out 30 years later for a completely different system :slight_smile:

I also have an easel clone which sounds a lot darker than the BEMI version, which to my ears, sounds more brighter and metallic - heres is an album I made with the clone - https://mudlogger.bandcamp.com/album/touch-activated

This was when I had a 158 clone which I changed out for a 261e

8 Likes
#44

I’ve been using a small 4-panel pre-BEMI 200e for the last seven (eight?) years as an external effects rack to enhance my DIY software projects (206e, 291e, 230e, 259e). Have tried a few different synthesizer formats and nothing else has lasted or quite clicked with me as my 200e has. At some point I’ll expand it with some FPGA experimentations I’ve been working on, but all-in-all: it’s a good synthesizer. Won’t be buying anything from the subsequent holders of the B&A IP.

#45

They’re showing Buchla 100 series modules, which was his first synthesizer system, from the 60s, and 2019, so in theory it looks like they’re preparing to rerelease those modules or maybe updates to them.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/buchla100.php

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#46

My personal dream is that they join forces with Audio Catalyst to help him finish more of his 100 series clones, since the set of 6 modules is a little incomplete as it currently stands. In particular it has no trigger sources.

#47

i do frequent MTG twitch channels…

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#48

I mean, that’s modular in general, no? :slight_smile:

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#49

i was going to say… probably my second most consumed internet content next to music and synthesizer videos.

:mage:

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#50

We’ll have to have a lines tournament on MTGA when they add the ability to play against friends (which is supposedly coming soon).

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#52

aside from the character differences i’ve found that i greatly prefer banana cables to 1/8th inch. they are so dead simple and solid; connections feel bulletproof and i’m not concerned with stacking 3 or 4 tall. euro stackables are useful and all but are much less robust.

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#54

Another Buchla user here.

I started with an Easel and fell in love enough to go further and build myself a few 200 clone modules and case. I really enjoy the format and its sound, control, design, and standards. It’s like constant discovery.

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#55

Possibly related to this, possibly not, but this looks interesting anyway…someone is working on redoing all PCBs and panels for the 100 series: https://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=208382

#56

These vids are awesome, forgot about this album for a while and then remembered I bought it back when you released it :slight_smile: that’s my commute home from work listening sorted!

Didn’t know of the catalyst euro 100 clones… they look and sound very nice. Just been listening to some 100 series demos on youtube and it sounds great, I wonder if catalyst are planning on recreating the other modules too. Silver Apples of the Moon remains one of my all time favourite classic synth albums.

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#57

They definitely have prototypes, including a sequencer, filter, and square wave oscillator (can’t look up the exact model numbers because I need to look like I’m working :slight_smile: )

Some of these are visible in videos from Superbooth this year. No word on timing of them though. By his own admission (posts on MW), he takes the time that he needs to and does this on the side, so he can only move so fast, which is completely fair.

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#58

My impression is that $2K is fairly optimistic for starting a workable 4U Buchla system. You might be able to DIY some clone modules for that kind of investment though. Maybe others can speak to costs?

You can buy all the Audio Catalyst clones for that, if you can find them, and TBH if you go Verbos you’re effectively going part-Buchla. Same is true of some number of Make Noise designs (DPO and Brains/PP being the most explicitly Buchla-derived modules I can think of though there might be others).

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#59

do you know anywhere I could read more about this? the 248 has ref outputs and i’m not sure what to do with them.

#60

i’ve found out this info mostly from the buchla section of muffs - reference clocks are discussed in this thread

“According to the 246 schematic, it’s a signal coming from the clock before it reaches the pulse-width comparator.”

“REF is the falling saw output of the Pulser, same phase/frequency as the square, so it can be used as a secondary modulation source.”

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#61

awesome thank you. decided to look at the 248 manual as well, heh: “a reference output (descending ramp, with period equal to the interval time).” sounds like it’s consistent across 200 series stuff.

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#62

For folks folks interested in the legacy 100/200 Buchla modules, I’ve got a set of informational pages here: http://fluxmonkey.com/historicBuchla/BuchlaIndex.htm. Links to schematics and PCBs where available, for DIYers.

4 Likes
#63

i found that yesterday and was very close to posting a link, heh.