Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments Music Easel (Retro)

• West Coast Architecture
• Complex Oscillator
• Modulation Oscillator
• FM & AM
• Dual Lowpass Gate (LPG)
• Random Generator
• Inverter
• Comparator
• Mixer
• Envelope follower
• Step sequencer with 5 steps
• Pulser
• Reverb effect
• Expandable with Program Manager Card

Capacitive touch controller

• Masterkeyboard controller
• 29 capacitive keys
• Touchstrip
• Portamento
• Arpeggiator
• Preset Voltage Source
• Connectors for Pitch, Pulse, Pressure, Strip, Clock, Preset Voltages

Easel Command

The Easel Command aka 208C is the revised version of the famous Music Easel from the same house. Typical for Buchla and the resulting Westcoast philosophy is the sound and control concept; a different one than most other analogue synthesizers. The basic sound is formed with the Complex Oscillator and the Modulation Oscillator together. With this combination, very bass-heavy, but also very overtone-rich sounds are possible; these are always just one knob movement away from subtle to extreme FM and AM sounds. The generated spectrum is processed with the dual Lowpass Gate (LPG). The LPGs are mixable in level and lead to a reverb effect as the last link in the audio chain. In addition to a three-stage envelope (attack, Sustain & release), there is a pulser for modulating the sounds, a random generator, a sequencer that plays up to five steps and, of course, numerous control voltage inputs and outputs.

LEM218

The LEM218 is a touch-sensitive keyboard controller. Capacitive touch controllers have a long tradition at Buchla, dating back to 1973. The 29 capacitive keys produce a well-controllable touch dynamic despite 0mm travel. The longitudinally mounted touch strip functions as a modulation wheel. To play notes, it is sufficient to simply place the finger on the key without applying pressure. This opens up new playing techniques that are perfectly suited for expressionistic respectively generative music. The arpeggiator has its own clock, but can also be synchronized to MIDI, USB or a Buchla pulse. The Preset Voltage Source generates four adjustable control voltages, one of which can be active at the same time. The selection is done via the buttons below; pressing the buttons generates a pulse at the same time. The Preset voltages make sense in all patches where context-related sound changes have to be brought to the point. If, for example, the bias parameter of Waveshaper is to have a different setting in certain passages, the corresponding input is patched first and the appropriate setting is made with the controls.