Ultra Hardcore Synth Pr0N

Allow me to demonstrate my non-analogue snobness by wanting the sweet holy fuck out of this thing...

It's like they remade Willy Wonka with synths instead of chocolate. Sooo many wonderful toys...

ZOMG Buchla 200E System

The Buchla stuff does always look amazing, but is there any artist out there who actually uses a system? Always seems a rich hobbyists toy.

  kakapo said:

The Buchla stuff does always look amazing, but is there any artist out there who actually uses a system? Always seems a rich hobbyists toy.

RDJ wrote a passionate reply to a bad review the 200E got in Keyboard. He's an artist. Who knows how many tracks he has used it on though.

edit - here tis:

  Quote

Yes you can use other sequencers for other tasks so maybe other people have

labelled their sequencers too modestly/incorrectly/boringly and should think

up some new names, why should Don name his module the same as everyone

else`s apart from the fact that it does things other sequencers dont ?

I think its like saying we should all talk in the same accent because then

we could all understand each other better.

 

I also think everytime you look at it, it reminds you that using it as a

sequencer would be the most obvious function and it makes you approach it

differently.

Its almost like people WANT him to conform to a standard because they get

angry with themselves for not being able to fully understand his modules.

I`m not trying to insult you here but it does make me slighlty annoyed that

you/others are being critical of something that is genuinely innovative and

so I feel defensive for Don as he is obviously a brave man and deserves a

lot more respect than he gets.

I love the fact that I`m quite uncertain exactly what some of his modules

do, its what makes me return to them all the time to unravel their hidden

secrets.

One thing that I`m certain of though is that calling his module `source of

uncertainty` for instance is actually more descriptive and more fun than

just calling it `noise module`

To me, presets and easier polyphony remove two of the biggest objections to modulars from an "actually getting stuff done" perspective, so you'd think people who owned them would be productive. They're probably just out there being productive in really obscure niches...

  analogue wings said:

To me, presets and easier polyphony remove two of the biggest objections to modulars from an "actually getting stuff done" perspective, so you'd think people who owned them would be productive. They're probably just out there being productive in really obscure niches...

Im not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying that not having presets or polyphony makes it easier to get stuff done with a modular system? Or that because there aren't, people don't ever get anything done with them?

???

You know, the 200E sounds interesting and all, until:

$19,850

I mean, really. If I were a rich man.....(I could pay to fix the pitch tracking and stability issues with my $19,850 buchla modular!). I'm sure its wonderful, but I have a distate for instruments in that price range. It just smacks of pretention and price gouging.

Pr0n rarely reflects reality. Such is the nature of pr0n.

  analogue wings said:

Pr0n rarely reflects reality. Such is the nature of pr0n.

So, which did you mean up there? I was seriously asking!

I don't really consider those hinderances of the modular environment anyhow. Especially the polyphony bit. If you have more than one oscillator you can even fake it pretty easily. Either in an obvious way (hardcode in an interval between the two osc's to make a basic chord that youll repeat), or do something more complex (have lfo's changing the pitch on one or another osc, and trigger envelopes for them at sync'd or rhymically unsync'd times and get neat intertwining patterns, etc. And these are just off the top of the head.

Lack of presets is kind of refreshing, I would say anyhow. It can force you to be in certain "modes" for quite some time, and work musical ideas all around certain modes for some time, and then move on.

I meant the latter. I think that you need to be able to make a complete track quickly if inspired to do so, and I would fear being hindered by a modular (unless of course I could afford a huge room full of other shit besides the modular).

An example of being hindered would be taking 5 minutes to change from cool inspiring sound #1 to cool inspiring sound #2 in order to overdub. What if the sound that inspired you is a lead sound and you have to switch to your favourite bass patch and lay that down first and then re patch the lead sound etc etc.

It shouldn't take 5 minutes.

The differences between a typical lead and a typical bass patch are not that extensive. Mostly just different octave range!

What are your leads usually like? I mean, if you have some detune osc's hooked to a lowpass, running some lfo on the cutoff or reso or both, I mean thats kind of a bass patch isn't it? Just maybe take a plug out of a saw and put it in a pulse jack. Perhaps run two or 3 filters in series to get a smoother rolloff than 24 or even 12 db (6db rolloff is a must for those ice cream smoothe basses). That takes perhaps 30 seconds.

Maybe I should have said "up to" 5 minutes.

Anyway, it's just an impression I have. I've never used a modular in the flesh. I just know that my personal way of working requires mucho speed as I have short and fleeting bursts of productivity and energy. Accordingly, I am wary of anything that isnt loaded with convenience features. Hence my rack full of midi-controlled preset polysynths.

Oh, I see what you mean, and to each his own. I just thought perhaps you had an exagerated idea of how long/hard (ha) it is to repatch a modular.

  ten fingers ten toes said:

You know, the 200E sounds interesting and all, until:

 

$19,850

 

I mean, really. If I were a rich man.....(I could pay to fix the pitch tracking and stability issues with my $19,850 buchla modular!). I'm sure its wonderful, but I have a distate for instruments in that price range. It just smacks of pretention and price gouging.

I had a think about this myself. I know that there are oscillators out there that cost $US2000 each (Cynthia Zeroscillator), and there are standalone filters that cost $US2000 (Schipmann Ebbe Und Flut). Compare the Buchlas to the standalones... probably pretty comparable in terms of features, sound quality and uniqueness.

The 200E that costs $20,000 has 16 modules, which works out at $1250 a module. $1250 is pretty acceptable for a boutique standalone unit, and the Buchla gives you a lot more than 16 cool boxes at $1250 would - like deep integration between them all, fully quadraphonic (if I understand correctly) signal path and and the ability to store preset patches that span all the modules.

Uhh, the Zeroscillator is less than $1000 US.

For the price of the Buchla's cabinet you could buy a whole 22 slot Dotcom modular. Or a well equipped Doepfer unit. For the price of a Buchla Oscillator you could have two Moog 960C Sequencer Reproductions by Synthesizers.com, I mean, it's really stretching it in terms of price/performance.

The preset thing and quadraphonic, eh. Ok. But for 20 grand I could go a hell of alot more than quadraphonic with a number of other modular systems. Probably get better customer service to boot!

Its apples and oranges, and obviously meant to appeal to a certain clientelle, just, geez. Thats ALOT of money for some DCO's eh?

Remember that Docom and Doepfer are run by sane people who understand economies of scale!

I'm pretty sure Don Buchla didn't price the system at $20,000 because of his ego. He probably designed and sourced the thing first, and then did the sums to see how much he would have to sell them for to cover his costs (plus eat and stuff) and went "d'oh it's $20,000"

True!

But still, that's alot of money for them DCOs!

jesus you can buy a used Buchla out of print system for less than that. Id love to play with one though, i had a friend try out a lot of the modular stuff at namm but i was pissed at him for not spending too much time in the buchla booth. He said the B.O. was overwhelming so he couldn't stay there for long.

buchla. booshla. boozshla. buschla. boooooshla.

booshlort?

it's cool stuff, definitely.

Heres a "song" that's all 200E

Actually, it mostly just sounds like multitracked noodling.

Those oscillators aren't DCOs btw. They're digital.

That's a really expensive box for producing background music for Cyberpunk Anime and Tom Clancy Thriller Video Games!

LOL seriously tho, yah, that does just sound like some noodling. Some neat noises for sure though. I like it from an academic perspective.

That sounds great.

Compared to myself using a Roland system 700 thats a lot nicer. The keyboard midi controller was awesome and the ring thing was bananas.... but i'll have to wait till i win the lottery. Not essential.

FOR A SYNTH PRON THREAD THIS HAS REMARKABLE LITTLE IMAGES.

sort this out now, WATMM.

I don't care if it's jazzwank. Want massive jpegs of synths NOW!

ADDED EXTRA CREDIT FOR OSCILLOSCOPES!!!!

NOT ACTUALLY A SYNTH AT ALL BUT COOL AS F*CK... THE WOBBULATOR...

sexy