In 1970s the primary scene in terms of synthesisers, were dominated by the subtractive synthesis. This was called the west coast synthesis, where the filter was the primary thing to play with to bring the sound tonality. With Don Buchla’s approach, he used a different method which would become the east coast synthesis and additive synthesis, where the whole sound designing comes is created by playing around with wave shaping, Dynamic Depth Frequency Modulation and other functionality.
To find out even more about the functionality of iconic Buchla Easel, read this article.
The components of Buchle Easel
Buchla Easel contains all the major components of its predecessor modular system and allows to design dynamic and powerful sounds. With the interface, we still have the very Buchla like design of silver and cool color combo to scream the name of Buchla.
We have the field full of knobs, sockets and sliders, but to a minified level to suit the portability. Unlike the modular synthesisers of its elders, you do not need to initiate a patch to generate sound.Easel comes with a basic sound patch internally.You just plug-in, power on and you will hear something upon turning the volume up. But, this is just to get you started. You do have the capability to make patch, after all that is what Buchla all about.
Initially, the easiest part to start with would be playing around with complex oscillators. You will immediately be exposed to the number of waveforms and the timbre and tone this little beast can produce. You can easily create a drone out of Easel in no time.
Buchla Easel oscillators
The oscillators of Easel and Buchla series in general are quite different from other synthesisers of their time.
You have waveforms like sawtooth, square, triangle. You can also get the sine wave by the help of the mix knob.
In the oscillator section, you have pitch slider right at the bottom of the waveform section. You also have a level slider and another interesting feature will blow your mind is the timbre slider. This is quite a common feature that Buchla never forget about. Just with the mixer knob down to sine wave, if you raise the level of the timbre, you will not only hear the difference but feel the significant difference in the sound.
Crucial functions of Buchla Easel
Of course, none of the Buchla is whole without a FM or frequency modulation. You have it right in the middle of the Easel interface right before the complex oscillator.
You can use it for various purpose like, Lfo (low frequency oscillation), FM, audio source etc. You will immediately hear the crazy sound characteristics applied to a simple waveform. You also have a keyboard toggle switch, that will allow you to control the modulation with the keys. There is also a RM (Ring Modulation) here.
You have your patch cables to patch and make even more complex sound. Another fascinating component of Buchla is the low pass gate. This can act like a Low pass fitler, Voltage controlled amplifier or hybrid of these two.
Another most useful and advance feature of Easel is the memory slot on the top left. With this you are free to save your sound as preset.
Things you can do and the kind of sound you can make with an Easel are impressive and can take you on an endless ride for the day with a Buchla Easel.