Buchla

Notes: Banana cable for modular systems, as used by companies such as Buchla. The length is 101,6 centimeters.

Patch cable with banana plugs.

Length: 101,6 centimeters

Color: Violet

Notes: Banana cable for modular systems, as used by companies such as Buchla. The length is 12.7 centimeters.

Patch cable with banana plugs.

Length: 12.7 centimeters

Color: Violet

Notes: Banana cable for modular systems, as used by companies such as Buchla. The length is 25,4 centimeters.

Patch cable with banana plugs.

Length: 25,4 centimeters

Color: Orange

Notes: Banana cable for modular systems, as used by companies such as Buchla. The length is 50,8 centimeters.

Patch cable with banana plugs.

Length: 50,8 centimeters

Color: Green

Notes: Banana cable for modular systems, as used by companies such as Buchla. The length is 76,2 centimeters.

Patch cable with banana plugs.

Length: 76,2 centimeters

Color: Blue

Notes: Banana Shorting Bar for synthesizers and modular systems made by Buchla.

Shorting Bar with banana plugs. The color may vary.

Notes: Latest incarnation of Buchla's legendary modular synth. Massively creative with incredible sound and history stretching all the way back to the 1960s.

Supplier notes:
The evolution of the legendary modular analog synthesizer by Don Buchla. The Buchla Easel Command is the newly updated 208C in a standalone desktop form with MIDI and CV control.

Buchla's own Joel Davel led the charge to create a new version of the legendary Music Easel instrument with more modular flexibility and independence, while also providing the means to easily interface with more devices, such as the various DAWs like Ableton and MIDI controllers, including the very expressive Sensel Morph. It's still fully analog in its default configuration and provides the unique and exquisite Buchla experience with greater functionality at a lower cost.

Notes: ***B-STOCK: Item refurbished, repaired and in perfect working order.***


Latest incarnation of Buchla's legendary modular synth. Massively creative with incredible sound and history stretching all the way back to the 1960s.

Supplier notes:
The evolution of the legendary modular analog synthesizer by Don Buchla. The Buchla Easel Command is the newly updated 208C in a standalone desktop form with MIDI and CV control.

Buchla's own Joel Davel led the charge to create a new version of the legendary Music Easel instrument with more modular flexibility and independence, while also providing the means to easily interface with more devices, such as the various DAWs like Ableton and MIDI controllers, including the very expressive Sensel Morph. It's still fully analog in its default configuration and provides the unique and exquisite Buchla experience with greater functionality at a lower cost.

Notes: Buchla's touch-sensitive keyboard updated for the 21st century. Third-generation version offers expressive control for Buchla, MIDI and Eurorack. Iconic.

Supplier's Notes:
Though our lives are dominated by touchscreens, when it comes to music, there's still a lot of magic in capacitive touch control. Don Buchla was one of the first to apply this technology to electronic music in the Buchla 112 module. The non-traditional sounds were controlled with a futuristic interface. This fantastic idea met many iterations in Buchla history: the Music Easel, 400, 700, Thunder, and 223 all employed touch technology.

Buchla USA is proud to present the third iteration of one of the most used touch interfaces, the 218, as the LEM218v3: The 218e version3 Lunar Excursion Module. The first design appeared in the 1973 release of the Buchla Music Easel and named for the spacecraft that delivered astronauts to the moon. Providing the familiar piano key layout for this early mobile music machine, the additional controls and capabilities were an interface for exploring uncharted musical territory. With the new version 3, it's been updated with a new foundation of stable, modern electronics and plenty of inputs and outputs to integrate with your Buchla, MIDI, and Eurorack gear.

Capacitive Magic

The incredible sensitivity and accuracy of the redesigned touch bed means the lightest touch will produce triggers and control voltage for your setup. The adjustable sensor has the dynamic range and durability to handle your playing. The new texture not only improves the sensing, but provides a satisfying tactile experience.

As always, pressure is an expressive output, adding an extra dimension to the control. MIDI outputs velocity and polyphony, as well as channel pressure, making the LEM218 a uniquely expressive controller for all your synthesizers. The configurable touchstrip adds a fantastic addition for pitch bend or as an additional modulator to patch into your system.

MIDI Polyphony, Velocity & More!

More than just MIDI compatible, the LEM 218 v3 gives you a unique interface to playing your existing MIDI gear and soft synths. Each touch outputs note name, channel pressure, and velocity for every note, along with sustain controls from a pedal. Polyphonic MIDI mode lets you play chords. The touchstrip can act as a pitch bend control, or as a mod wheel for additional expressive control. Easily configured using the front panel controls, you can send notes and controls on any MIDI channel. Send the LEM some MIDI, and it gets converted to voltages and gates for eurorack and Buchla control.

Get More For Your Euro

Even if you don't have any Buchla products, the LEM 218 v3 is designed to work with your Eurorack-compatible gear. Four 3.5mm jacks output 1v/octave pitch, 0-8 volts pressure, touchstrip voltage, and gate outputs for use with Eurorack equipment. Or, combine your Euro with your Buchla instruments. If NATO can do it, so can you. The sound design possibilities will blow your mind.

Arpeggiate

A pulse input allows the arpeggiator to be driven by external inputs and are allowed to interact with the automated notes to make the pattern more complex. Additional controls allow you to blend different patterns and randomness to easily change from the expected to the surprising.

Control

The classic preset voltage knobs offer several possible ways to shift your sounds into new territory. Not only can the knobs be used for quick access to voltages for your patch, they can control arpeggiation modes and octave shifting. Pads output pulses for additional control

Set It Up Your Way

Such a unique device will spark many ideas. With easy front panel configuration, you can quickly customize the velocity and pressure sensitivity, MIDI channel, knob behavior, and more. No cumbersome software setups, just simple settings with the keys and knobs, and you're ready to play.

Notes: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of this truly iconic synth, the 'modern' take on the classic Buchla Music Easel doesn't mess with a winning formula, paring the 208C sound source with 218e touch-sensitive keyboard.

Supplier's Notes:
The Buchla Music Easel was one of the first truly portable electronic music instruments. Fifty years ago, in 1973, only a few dozen were made. Unlike many iconic technologies, the influence was not grown through force of scale, but rather the force of the ideas. The Music Easel made available virtually every musical dimension: timbre, melody, rhythm, and time; how these dimensions intersected was no longer the court of acoustics and material, but signals and voltage. The 208 Stored Program Sound Source engendered "a new functional organization [with a] particularly rapid system of patching and program storage via plug-in cards."

Taking cues from the then-recent discipline of cybernetics, the 218 touch plate was for "real-time communication" to help realize the "potential vocabulary" of the Easel, rather than exploiting existing modes of musical virtuosity. The Stored Program Cards ensured rapid repeatability and repertoire on its own terms. The battery terminals made sure the music was as portable as any acoustic instrument. And the name let you know it was designed for art rather than science.

Buchla is ecstatic to revive the Music Easel for its third run in 50 years. Buchla first released the updated 208 Stored Program Sound Source, dubbed the Easel Command, with expanded MIDI and USB capability. Next came the update of the Easel Program Manager - a complete kit for storing and recalling sounds sources, even more rapidly than imagined in 1973. The new 218 Touch Activated Voltage Source provides the optimal input facility, as originally envisioned. It is now all together in a rugged case and the advanced EMBIO module that unifies all the audio and control inputs and outputs for integration with the rest of your musical world.

More than a retro novelty, the Music Easel still speaks to a future we strive for. A technology that invites conversation, not chats, and controls that engage expression, not work. There are many new worlds to explore in this instrument created at the crossroads of the jazz and computer ages. Designed as "an integrated assemblage of functions", rather than a collection of modules, the Music Easel's colour coding, comfortable access to controls, and solid patch connections allow for satisfying sessions of sonic discovery.

The Music Easel is available for pre-order starting June 16 at Buchla.com and your favourite Buchla Dealer. Delivery of the Music Easel (modern) is expected fall 2023.

Stored Program Sound Source Model 208C

The sound source of the Music Easel is the 208C, which includes a complex oscillator and a modulation oscillator (which can also serve as another voice), each with independent switchable waveforms, as well as a noise generator, allowing for rich and intricate sound design. The 208C also features a five-stage sequencer, envelope generator, pulser and modulation source - with switchable triggers - allowing for complex patterns and evolving textures. The dual low pass gate provides dynamic control over the tone and amplitude of the sound, as well as natural-sounding decay and sustain. The 208C has a number of modulation sources, including a random voltage generator, the envelope generator, modulation oscillator, and an envelope detector. These sources can be used to modulate various parameters via the extensive patchfield - creating movement, texture, and complexity. The 208C also includes a mixer section with spring reverb.

Touch Activated Voltage Source Model 218e (v3)

The first design appeared in the 1973 release of the Buchla Music Easel and named for the spacecraft that delivered astronauts to the moon. Providing the familiar piano key layout for this early mobile music machine, the additional controls and capabilities were an interface for exploring uncharted musical territory. With the new version 3, it's been elevated with a new foundation of stable, modern electronics with incredible sensitivity and accuracy - the lightest touch will produce triggers and control voltages. The adjustable sensor has the dynamic range and durability to handle your playing. The new texture not only improves the sensing, but provides a satisfying tactile experience. As always, pressure is an expressive output, adding an extra dimension to the control. MIDI outputs velocity and polyphony, as well as channel pressure, making the 218e a uniquely expressive controller. The 218e includes portamento and an arpeggiator, which can be driven by external inputs and are allowed to interact with the automated notes to make patterns more complex. Additional controls allow you to blend different patterns and randomness to easily change from the expected to the surprising. The classic preset voltage knobs offer several possible ways to shift your sounds into new territory. Not only can the knobs be used for quick access to voltages for your patch, they can control arpeggiation modes and octave shifting. Pads output pulses for additional control. The 218e also gives you a unique interface to playing your existing MIDI gear and soft synths. Each touch outputs note name, channel pressure, and velocity for every note, along with sustain controls from a pedal. Polyphonic MIDI mode lets you play chords. The touchstrip can act as a pitch bend control, or as a mod wheel for additional expressive control. Easily configured using the front panel controls, you can send notes and controls on any MIDI channel.

Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO)

Maintaining the spirit, sound, and process from the original, the new Music Easel adds a variety of new features. Buchla's latest renditions of the Stored Program Sound Source and Touch Activated Voltage Source are tied together with the Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO) module. This of course provides MIDI out (mini jack and USB) and CV out from the 218, MIDI in to the 208, and the audio out from the 208C. Additional creative control comes from the Audio Mixer, for integration with other Buchla modules and systems, and the CV conditioners and controls. The slew control can turn your sequencer into a wavy modulator, or soften up a square LFO. The attenuator and crossfader gives you the opportunity to find new levels and combinations of voltages from existing ones. The pulse converter offers new rhythms to trigger. And a simple LFO provides another valuable modulator when you just can't quite let yourself flip that Mod Osc switch from "high" to "low."

Notes: ***B-STOCK: Item refurbished, repaired and in perfect working order.***


Celebrating the 50th anniversary of this truly iconic synth, the 'modern' take on the classic Buchla Music Easel doesn't mess with a winning formula, paring the 208C sound source with 218e touch-sensitive keyboard.

Supplier's Notes:
The Buchla Music Easel was one of the first truly portable electronic music instruments. Fifty years ago, in 1973, only a few dozen were made. Unlike many iconic technologies, the influence was not grown through force of scale, but rather the force of the ideas. The Music Easel made available virtually every musical dimension: timbre, melody, rhythm, and time; how these dimensions intersected was no longer the court of acoustics and material, but signals and voltage. The 208 Stored Program Sound Source engendered "a new functional organization [with a] particularly rapid system of patching and program storage via plug-in cards."

Taking cues from the then-recent discipline of cybernetics, the 218 touch plate was for "real-time communication" to help realize the "potential vocabulary" of the Easel, rather than exploiting existing modes of musical virtuosity. The Stored Program Cards ensured rapid repeatability and repertoire on its own terms. The battery terminals made sure the music was as portable as any acoustic instrument. And the name let you know it was designed for art rather than science.

Buchla is ecstatic to revive the Music Easel for its third run in 50 years. Buchla first released the updated 208 Stored Program Sound Source, dubbed the Easel Command, with expanded MIDI and USB capability. Next came the update of the Easel Program Manager - a complete kit for storing and recalling sounds sources, even more rapidly than imagined in 1973. The new 218 Touch Activated Voltage Source provides the optimal input facility, as originally envisioned. It is now all together in a rugged case and the advanced EMBIO module that unifies all the audio and control inputs and outputs for integration with the rest of your musical world.

More than a retro novelty, the Music Easel still speaks to a future we strive for. A technology that invites conversation, not chats, and controls that engage expression, not work. There are many new worlds to explore in this instrument created at the crossroads of the jazz and computer ages. Designed as "an integrated assemblage of functions", rather than a collection of modules, the Music Easel's colour coding, comfortable access to controls, and solid patch connections allow for satisfying sessions of sonic discovery.

The Music Easel is available for pre-order starting June 16 at Buchla.com and your favourite Buchla Dealer. Delivery of the Music Easel (modern) is expected fall 2023.

Stored Program Sound Source Model 208C

The sound source of the Music Easel is the 208C, which includes a complex oscillator and a modulation oscillator (which can also serve as another voice), each with independent switchable waveforms, as well as a noise generator, allowing for rich and intricate sound design. The 208C also features a five-stage sequencer, envelope generator, pulser and modulation source - with switchable triggers - allowing for complex patterns and evolving textures. The dual low pass gate provides dynamic control over the tone and amplitude of the sound, as well as natural-sounding decay and sustain. The 208C has a number of modulation sources, including a random voltage generator, the envelope generator, modulation oscillator, and an envelope detector. These sources can be used to modulate various parameters via the extensive patchfield - creating movement, texture, and complexity. The 208C also includes a mixer section with spring reverb.

Touch Activated Voltage Source Model 218e (v3)

The first design appeared in the 1973 release of the Buchla Music Easel and named for the spacecraft that delivered astronauts to the moon. Providing the familiar piano key layout for this early mobile music machine, the additional controls and capabilities were an interface for exploring uncharted musical territory. With the new version 3, it's been elevated with a new foundation of stable, modern electronics with incredible sensitivity and accuracy - the lightest touch will produce triggers and control voltages. The adjustable sensor has the dynamic range and durability to handle your playing. The new texture not only improves the sensing, but provides a satisfying tactile experience. As always, pressure is an expressive output, adding an extra dimension to the control. MIDI outputs velocity and polyphony, as well as channel pressure, making the 218e a uniquely expressive controller. The 218e includes portamento and an arpeggiator, which can be driven by external inputs and are allowed to interact with the automated notes to make patterns more complex. Additional controls allow you to blend different patterns and randomness to easily change from the expected to the surprising. The classic preset voltage knobs offer several possible ways to shift your sounds into new territory. Not only can the knobs be used for quick access to voltages for your patch, they can control arpeggiation modes and octave shifting. Pads output pulses for additional control. The 218e also gives you a unique interface to playing your existing MIDI gear and soft synths. Each touch outputs note name, channel pressure, and velocity for every note, along with sustain controls from a pedal. Polyphonic MIDI mode lets you play chords. The touchstrip can act as a pitch bend control, or as a mod wheel for additional expressive control. Easily configured using the front panel controls, you can send notes and controls on any MIDI channel.

Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO)

Maintaining the spirit, sound, and process from the original, the new Music Easel adds a variety of new features. Buchla's latest renditions of the Stored Program Sound Source and Touch Activated Voltage Source are tied together with the Electric Music Box Input/Output (EMBIO) module. This of course provides MIDI out (mini jack and USB) and CV out from the 218, MIDI in to the 208, and the audio out from the 208C. Additional creative control comes from the Audio Mixer, for integration with other Buchla modules and systems, and the CV conditioners and controls. The slew control can turn your sequencer into a wavy modulator, or soften up a square LFO. The attenuator and crossfader gives you the opportunity to find new levels and combinations of voltages from existing ones. The pulse converter offers new rhythms to trigger. And a simple LFO provides another valuable modulator when you just can't quite let yourself flip that Mod Osc switch from "high" to "low."

Notes: The Buchla Music Easel Program Manager Card

Store your best sonic memories on the Program Manager Card! The PMC takes full advantage of the program interface, storing up to 48 Easel presets and interfacing with your computer with a class-compliant MIDI connection. The Buchla Program Manager App for Mac and Windows gives you the power to manage banks, create programs, and import and export your presets for sharing.

Evolution of an idea

The program interface's edge card connector was originally designed to let artists create presets by wiring resistors to a circuit board to fix the positions of the sliders and banana connections. Each preset was its own card. Simply swapping cards in the program interface completely changed the sound. This was valuable, if not outright necessary, to musicians who needed to easily recreate patches for performance and create repertoire. The 2013 "iProgram Card" created a vital link between computer and Easel. Now, in 2022, Buchla USA has refreshed and simplified the design, giving it more memory, embed-ability, and making it easier to use.

Virtual Solder Station

While you can still solder up some sounds for all generations of the Easel, the new Program Manager Card provides microcontroller precision and computer convenience. Serving as the digital bridge between your computer's USB port and the 28 pins of the Program Interface, the PMC gives you instant recall and easy access to 48 unique programs that control almost every parameter and patchpoint on the Easel's front panel. Repeatability and repertoire are made instantly available.

Computer Precision

Using the Buchla Program Manager Application in Mac or Windows to design presets gives you even more programming options than the Easel's front panel controls. The unique "Depth" controls for the patch cords put a virtual knob on every cable, allowing gradual and even inverted connection for every patch point. The fine resolution provided by high resolution controls means you can dial in extremely precise values for parameters, in a way not easily achieved by hand. The application serves as an endless extension to the Program Manager, with nearly unlimited space for presets and banks.

Sharing is Fun

Import and Export features make it easy to backup or share your presets and complete banks with other Easel musicians in a simple, small file.

Adventure Awaits

With the optional embed kit, you can install the Program Manager card directly into your easel, replacing the Program Interface connector with the screen and buttons. Embedding the card makes it easier to control and travel with.

What about the iProgram Card?

The Program Manager Card is an updated version of the iProgram Card. With a firmware update that we'll be providing very shortly, you can use the new software with your iProgram Card over a USB connection.

Compatibility

The Program Manager Card is compatible out-of-the-box with the Easel Command 208C and upcoming Music Easel. It can be used with the 2013-2017 Music Easels with a DIY modification to the card's connectors or to the Easel itself.

Getting Started

The Program Manager system is composed of the card itself that installs into your 208 Program Interface, and Mac/Windows software where you design and manage presets.

Notes: The Buchla Easel X7 USB-A MIDI HOST Expander adds USB-A MIDI host functionality to the Easel Command.

Buchla Easel X7 USB-A MIDI HOST Expander works requires the Easel Command. It will not work with the à la carte 208C module in a 200e system.