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157:. In 2012 the original company led by Don Buchla was acquired by a group of Australian investors trading as Audio Supermarket Pty. Ltd. The company was renamed Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments as part of the acquisition. In 2018 the assets of BEMI were acquired by a new entity, Buchla U.S.A., and the company continues under new ownership.
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He also used a naming convention different from most of the industry. One of his modules, for example, is called a "Multiple
Arbitrary Function Generator." These differences run deeper than nomenclature. The Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator (or MARF) goes well beyond what a typical sequencer is
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In 2015, various websites, including FACT, reported that Don Buchla had taken the owners of BEMI to court, citing health problems due in part to unpaid consulting fees and asserting a claim to his original intellectual property. The lawsuit alleged breach of contract and "bad-faith conduct" on the
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The original Buchla modular synthesizer was commissioned by Morton
Subotnick and Ramon Sender and funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. The earliest modules are labeled "San Francisco Tape Music Center." Later modules were offered through the musical instruments division of CBS.
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Legal documents filed with the state of
California indicate that the court ordered the case to be settled by arbitration in July 2015. In August 2016, the court dismissed the case in light of the fact that the parties had reached an out-of-court settlement.
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grant to Buchla in 1964. Subotnick envisioned a voltage-controlled instrument that would allow musicians and composers to create sounds suited to their own specifications. Previously, one had to use either discrete audio generators, such as
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The instrument was named the "Buchla 100 series
Modular Electronic Music System," and was installed at the San Francisco Tape Music Center in 1965 and moved to Mills College in 1966. Subotnick completed his first major electronic work,
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BEMI attended NAMM 2017 and released the Easel AUX Expander. BEMI also established a new distribution model, discontinuing direct sales to customers and integrating more closely with a worldwide network of dealers.
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Don Buchla died shortly afterward, on
September 14, 2016. His obituary was reported in the New York Times and elsewhere, noting his significant achievements to the world of electronic music and technology.
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The Buchla 200 series
Electric Music Box replaced the previous model in 1970 and represented a significant advance in technology. Almost every parameter can be controlled from an external control voltage.
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sounds. This goal is evident in the omission of a standard musical keyboard on his early instruments, which instead used a series of touch plates that were not necessarily tied to equal-tempered tuning.
325:-controlled systems. The results were the 500 series and the 300 series, both of which paired the new technology with existing 200 series modules to create hybrid analog/digital systems. The
198:, or other audio. Buchla designed the synthesizer in a modular fashion, combining separate components that each generated or modified a music event. Each box served a specific function:
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controllers. The origins of the company could be found in Buchla & Associates, created in 1963 by synthesizer pioneer
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released a software/plugin emulation of the Music Easel, called the "Buchla Easel V", as part of the V collection.
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Finally, in 2004, Don Buchla returned to designing full blown modular electronic instruments with the
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By the late 1980s, Don Buchla had stopped creating instruments and shifted his focus to alternate
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Page about modern MARF clone with schematics and links to original MARF manuals
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1032:"Don Buchla, Inventor, Composer and Electronic Music Maverick, Dies at 79"
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Buchla's instruments, such as the Music Easel (pictured), use a method of
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and was also his final attempt to market a "mainstream" Buchla synth
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Buchla's first modular electronic music system was the result of a
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948:"Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments Debuts At Winter NAMM 2012"
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modules. Using the different modules, a composer could affect the
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722:"Buchla 500 electronic musical instrument (photograph only)"
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part of BEMI's owners and sought $ 500,000 in compensation.
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740:"Buchla Series 300 - digital control for 200 series module"
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Synthesizer manufacturing companies of the United States
989:"Don Buchla is taking the owners of his brand to court"
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controllers. His controller designs have included the
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In the mid 1970s, Don Buchla began experimenting with
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Buchla & Associates - Historical
Systems Overview
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845:"Music Easel - Summary Description / December, 1973"
66:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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378:Buchla tended to not refer to his instruments as
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1078:Buchla 100 Modular Synthesizer @ Synthmuseum.com
460:Buchla Thunder, Buchla Lightning, Marimba Lumina
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348:for musical instruments, and also equipped with
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704:"The Electric Music Box - Buchla Series 200"
593:on Buchla 100 (array of knobs on the bottom)
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16:Synthesizer and MIDI controller manufacturer
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863:"Arturia - Buchla Easel V - Buchla Easel V"
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758:"Buchla Touche Introduction (front page)"
177:in 1963, who later allotted $ 500 from a
126:Learn how and when to remove this message
1063:Sarah Belle Reid on the Mills Buchla 100
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414:. Moog units use oscillators with basic
391:capable of performing and can act as an
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360:Buchla 250e Arbitrary Function Generator
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933:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
915:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
897:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
879:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
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847:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
796:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
778:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
760:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
742:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
724:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
706:. Buchla and Associates. Archived from
75:"Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments"
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667:, Miller Freeman Books, 1993, p. 97-99
329:was also the result of this research,
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677:Gordon, Theodore (January 14, 2016).
139:Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments
1088:Buchla resource page @ synthsale.com
1073:Buchla 200 Series Information/Photos
374:Buchla's unique synthesizer designs
194:source recordings of other musical,
64:adding citations to reliable sources
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314:Buchla 300, 500, Touché (mid 1970s)
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1098:Sound On Sound Buchla 200e: Part 2
1093:Sound On Sound Buchla 200e: Part 1
1030:Pareles, Jon (17 September 2016).
337:Buchla 400, 700, and MIDAS (1980s)
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931:"Buchla Series 200e (front page)"
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811:MARF Programming tips by JonDent
776:"Buchla 400 Product Information"
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679:"Unboxing the Buchla Model 100"
577:223e Tactile Input Port (front)
438:employed as voltage-controlled
309:Computer-controlled instruments
190:, manually composed and edited
167:San Francisco Tape Music Center
51:needs additional citations for
1141:electronic musical instruments
1068:Buchla Current Model 200e page
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212:voltage controlled amplifiers
141:(BEMI) was a manufacturer of
228:touch and pressure-sensitive
23:Buchla 200e (2004–) used by
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250:'s influential 1969 album,
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410:generation different from
244:Silver Apples Of The Moon,
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794:"Buchla 700 (front page)"
169:commission by composers
965:"NAMM 2013 Gino's Hits"
833:Buchla 250 product page
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179:Rockefeller Foundation
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895:"Buchla Lightning II"
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30:National Music Centre
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1305:Modular synthesizers
1196:Instrument amplifier
913:"Marimba Lumina 2.5"
665:Vintage Synthesizers
511:At the January 2012
428:amplitude modulation
424:frequency modulation
155:Berkeley, California
60:improve this article
1300:Buchla synthesizers
976:Electronic Musician
683:Library of Congress
610:Modular synthesizer
200:envelope generators
1036:The New York Times
1003:"Buchla v. Buchla"
970:2013-02-12 at the
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416:function generator
393:envelope generator
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369:Buchla Music Easel
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248:Buffy Sainte Marie
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1211:Speaker enclosure
1169:52. Amplification
952:Keyboard Magazine
620:Serge synthesizer
591:analog sequencers
434:- photoresistive
412:Moog synthesizers
401:voltage quantizer
237:Buchla 100 at NYU
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188:musique concrète
184:test oscillators
175:Morton Subotnick
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954:(January 2012)
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71:Find sources:
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49:This article
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1264:Telharmonium
1236:
1218:("feedback")
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686:. Retrieved
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171:Ramon Sender
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143:synthesizers
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116:January 2020
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58:Please help
53:verification
50:
1252:Synthesizer
1176:Bass guitar
630:Harald Bode
625:Robert Moog
573:Buchla 200e
497:Buchla 200e
489:Buchla 200e
258:Robert Moog
204:oscillators
196:spoken word
145:and unique
1289:Categories
1274:Trautonium
1153:51. Action
646:References
605:Don Buchla
300:Buchla 200
289:Buchla 200
275:Buchla 100
230:surfaces.
151:Don Buchla
86:newspapers
589:Earliest
513:NAMM Show
475:Lightning
1269:Theremin
968:Archived
599:See also
432:vactrols
323:computer
268:Products
25:Deadmau5
1257:Modular
553:Buchla
540:Gallery
471:Thunder
444:Arturia
319:digital
208:filters
100:scholar
1237:Buchla
1191:Pickup
477:, and
408:timbre
327:Touché
224:timbre
214:, and
102:
95:
88:
81:
73:
651:Notes
559:LEMUR
342:MIDAS
220:pitch
107:JSTOR
93:books
1242:Moog
1145:list
690:2016
506:200e
467:MIDI
350:MIDI
344:, a
186:—or
173:and
147:MIDI
79:news
1143:) (
557:on
397:LFO
384:new
260:'s
153:of
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