Moog or Buchla

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/