Moog or Buchla

http://www.keyboardmag.com/artists/1236/donald-buchla-a-personal-remembrance/59786

thread should be hopping a bit more but I guess we are on a sub board

I didn't know him too well, over the last ten years it got to the point where he'd smile and wave if he saw me at a party, we'd had enough in the way of extended conversations about software design and the deleterious influence of the corporations spearheading the work into DAW / plug-in / soft synth design -- though he wasn't ever going to pursue soft synth design himself, no way, he was at least very interested in tracking the issues involved

first time we met was at a dinner at Keith McMillen's in the late 90's, about eight people, skewing young. I was blown away he was there, but he was completely impossible to engage; listening intently, but would cold face stare down any direct address. about twice he made a completely non-sequitous Donald Duck quacking noise. he stayed to the end, on the way out Keith said 'Seeya Don!' while he was walking away and Don made the duck noise again without looking back or saying anything else

other key moment was at an AES panel at Recombinant over 10 years ago. heavy hitters, Buchla, Chowning, Linn, Mathews, Oberheim, Dave Smith. History of instrument design, adoring audience asking historical questions. Panel was trying to steer conversation back to their current work, but also touched by the degree to which the young crowd were respectful. Buchla not answering any questions whatsoever, even when directly addressed. Then, out of nowhere, in response to a question about the difference between R&D in the 60's and R&D in the 00's, Buchla suddenly speaks up and says 'The main difference between instrument design in the 60's, and instrument design today, is that in the 60's, there were people who were genuinely interested in the potential of electronic music.' Long pause. Then nothing, no followup, and I think that's the only thing he said the whole panel, the kind of bald criticism that sort of called bullshit on the entire panel & the entire convention really, but the rest of the panel was mostly smiles because it was SO DON and if you wanted to know anything else about what he really thought, well, you'd just have to talk to him

Scharpen's 'Buchla' documentary is on pause; I don't think they made their kickstarter to a degree that allows them the weeks it'll take to cut it all together. But they definitely have enough footage in the can for an amazing film so hopefully it's only a matter of time and public focus.

milton that dinner party story is fantastic.

seems a shame that it happens right as the Ciani/KAS collab has come out - most high-profile buchla-driven record in a while surely?

I like the Suzanne Ciani comment in the guardian's obit: "He never wore matching socks, but oddly, as an enthusiastic tennis opponent, always wore pristine tennis whites"

http://www.emusician.com/artists/1333/don-buchla-1937-2016/60675

Great piece. As a graduate of Oberlin's electronic music program, I can confirm Ostertag's story that all those amazing analog instruments were still there in the 90s—the Putney, Moog Modular and Buchla—and sadly, still untouched as well. I imagine they are quite popular today.

Buchla reminds me of a certain kind of man from his generation – much like my father in law and some other friends of that age. These men grew up being told men didn't show emotions but in truth had many. They were libertarian in their political beliefs but socially liberal. They hid behind bushy beards, hats and glasses. And they spoke very, very little – but when they did say something made it count. The ones I know were in the newspaper industry – but most intense, socially awkward people tend to be drawn to jobs that allow them to make that an asset not a hindrance. We are lucky Buchla chose the profession he did.

They sold the moog modular to buy a bunch of k2000 workstations or similar. And they used to have more heat but the sold it before us. John Mcentire of tortoise got his Synthi from Oberlin.

Heat was a typo. Meant to say gear.

I'd love to have my hands on a synthi someday. I recently got the (stunningly accomplished) iOS recreation of it and it's such a great world of its own.

The thing that was amazing is that all of us actually made fun of the Buchla – no one in the program during the 90s had any appreciation whatsoever for what Buchla, or even Moog, had accomplished. That said, it was probably more of a reflection on the glut of terrible academic electronic music over the previous two decades than anything else.

Much LA Boog

Bullshit man, I totally appreciated and got it, I just didn't have the patience, motivation or discipline to make use of those synths! I remember one long night in the studio using the modular moog sequencer trying to make it sound good and not being able to and pretty much giving up.

Dan, you were always more aware of the history – but your post sort of proves my point, doesn't it? Most of us looked at all that gear as relics that were barely worth the time to plug in and turn on much less make music on.

Again, it's easy to see why in retrospect – we were in the middle of this terrible ROMpler/menu diving era in synthesis. And our professors were products of an era in university composition that felt as if it had been hermetically sealed.

But looking back, if we weren't learning about this stuff, what were we learning? Not being force fed a steady diet of Moog, Buchla, Serge, EMS ... studying composers like Henri/Schaefer, Subotnick, Radigue for more than a month ... and learning subtractive, additive and FM synthesis cold (to say nothing about not being required to learn the electronics behind any of it) was just a huge missed opportunity. Pretty much everything I know about any of this stuff I ended up teaching myself years later.

But as big of a factor was that almost nobody cared about this era of electronic music at the time. It's almost hard to believe today.

My Oberlin rant killed the thread.

What the hell were people thinking during the General MIDI / ROMpler age? Who were the jerks who sat around in the GM Star Chamber and decided "everyone needs a helicopter?" I want an oral history of this. Bad decisions are more important to learn about than good ones.

Hahaha

You're crazy to act as if that age is a relic of the past. It's back. The y2k aesthetic is strong and people are getting excited by machines like Jorge m1s, Roland d50, Yamaha TG 33. Time to invest in some emu proteus modules.

Jorge had the best m1. Obv that should read Korg.

The Yamaha TG33 is an all time classic though. That's one of the few pieces from my collection that I really wish I still had. That and the TQ5

Funny you should mention that...

I just sold my TG-33. Original owner! Have to make room for baby and am downsizing. Not that that thing is a monster, but every bit of space counts.

also babby is expensive

Dan, meant to congratulate you. You need these. Buchla would have approved.

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/05/21/60s-buchla-100-synthesizer-repair-lsd-accidental-trip/?fbclid=IwAR3wNL8yDslDYNNCcncH834xng-9sCBfFN9DUTgXsmHS2pquT5XcC76QQ20#.XOS9upftgAU.facebook

or https://www.factmag.com/2019/05/23/synth-technician-contact-high-vintage-buchla/