8-bit computer art

Stillstand

Vertikal

Schwung

It took me a while to get it the way I wanted it....

The Skylab has landed!!

Finally!!!!!

Skylab on the workbench!!!

My Skylab is beeing build right now by BEMI. Just a couple of days away. I feel like Kirk sitting on his futuristic concept car from the 60's.

Best picture ever.

Second best.

My Modules!!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

With my Skylab only two weeks away from delivery I tought I take a picture of the modules that are waiting for it. Not much but I think I will have a lot of fun with those five modules. 281e is next as well as some Module Modules with the Timbre from Roman already on order.

 

Buchla Quad Spatial Director Model 204

Someone got lucky and bought the 204 that was for sale a couple of weeks ago.  The nice thing is that it didn't vanish in some studio but ended up with Votek_Mendo a fellow wiggler from muff's who has shared some really nice pictures of the 204. Congrats again on the amazing purchase and thanks for sharing all this nice pictures.

From Muff's:

So, this module is from 1971, which means it was in the heart of the "black knob era". It wants +15, -15, +5, +24 and 2 grounds. The control voltage range at that time officially was 0-15 volts. The power connectors were black Cinch-Jones box connectors on individual chassis boxes that sat inside of a wooden cabinet.

A friend of mine have done away with all of that. It now will plug into a 200e or later 200 cabinet with an EDAC 10 pin edge connector and doesn't need a 24 volt line. The joysticks will put out roughly 0-12 volts and the CV inputs respond through their entire range from 0-10. This module will now plug and play in a 200e system. It actually was mostly working. The only issue was that the joysticks are optical. They have a lightbulb on the PCB and 4 photocells facing up around it. The joystick has a hole in the ball that reflects the light back from the bulb to the photocells, depending on where you lean it. It is a very slight difference between moves, physically. If one of the photocells is 1mm to any direction, the range will change. He was able to get the range proper by nudging them here and there. In other words, if one of them doesn't go all the way to 0 volts, it's a simple matter of pushing that one photocell toward the lightbulb more.

 From the Buchla Website:

Voltage controlled quadraphonic distributor for determining the spatial location of sounds with pan pots or externally applied voltages. Monitor switches and voltage controlled attenuators are included.

The 204's features include:

4 electronically isolated 2-dimensional joysticks with output voltages proportional to lateral and vertical displacement. Generally used to control sound location, but may be used to control other parameters.

4 gain controls for signals applied to inputs. Control voltages may alternatively be used to control amplitude.

Control voltage inputs for defining positions of sounds. Increasing voltages move sounds from rear to front and from left to right. Voltages are generally (but not necessarily) derived from adjacent joystick outputs.

Monitor switches for use in conjunction with the Model 226 Quad Monitor Interface.

Wonderful Buchla Clones and DIY!!!

Wonderful Buchla Clones and DIY modules by jooksi. I have to say I really envy him for his dual version of the Flopsequencer. I have a singel one, the rest of the panel is empty. Would love to add something. Otherwise it would be a waste of space but I  have not decided what kind of module I should fit in there. Time will tell.

Note: go to his flickr to see more of his amazing DIY Buchla modules.

Mod your Skylab!!!

Djangosfire made some really nice mods for his Skylabcase. And walks us through his thought process on muffs. Thank you. Will have to do this as well when my Skylab arrives which is roughly three weeks from now.

from muff's:

Rather than building a stand alone "format jumbler" style jack converter...or losing a module space for a helper panel - I came up with a simple solution for my Skylab: modify one of the small back plates on the cabinet into a "Mult Plate"

Not much room on the little panel, but I was able to get 3 sections: 2x that had Tini-Jax, 1/4 & Banana and 1x with Tini-Jax to Banana.

Right off the bat this panel allows easy and clean interface with a Kenton Pro Solo II that i just picked up.

While I was at it - I also added 1/4 outs to the other backplate... which are tied direct with the 206e L & R main outs.... and added 1x more Tini-Jax to Banana converter

A few other ideas I'm considering that could be built into these little plates: 

- simple attenuator
- glide/slew
- break out connector to power a "satellite" module box
- ???

Here are some pictures of the work - Cheers - Adam

 

 

New Module Modules by Sputnik

Sputnik (Roman. F) has released two new modules for the Module Module format by Eardrill.

The one that is brand new is the Envelope Follower that is in fact just one channel of the old Buchla 230 Tripple Envelope Follower and is therefore ideal for a small system.

The second one is the singel Module Module of the timbre cercuit that can be found in the original 259. Perfect perfect companion for a 258 or 258v. But I am realy looking forward to use it with my 259e because sometimes I just want it to sound more analogue. I think the Timbre Module will deliver. This is the second batch as the first one sold out really quickly.

From muff's:

$320 each, preorder is $100 and shipping is $15
preorder is till may 10th, then add 4 weeks for the production.
paypal is in@btwn.us, please add 4% or use personal
thank you

ps: the EF prototype-unit on the foto has unscratched metalfoto panel and ready to go with a 10% discount

New Module by Mark Verbos: The 247v Sequential Voltage Source

from his blog:

I have been working on a new Sequential Voltage Source. It is only a single module space and packs a big punch. It does most of the things a MARF or ARF does, but without any menus. It can act as an 8 stage sequencer with two rows, voltage control of the clock/slide rate, switchable slides/pulses, pulse outs on each channel and the ability to loop from any stage to any stage.  It can act as a multi-stage envelope, up to all 8 stages with any stage as a sustain stage or any stage pausing unless a key is held. It can act as ADSR, AHDSR, HADSR, AD, AR, AHD, LFO saw, pulse, square, triangle, something more complex, LFO that only runs when a key is held, LFO that only runs when a key is lifted.
I wanted a small sequencer with every function on the panel. I wanted to do TB-303/MC-202 type sequences with slides selectable per stage, where the pulse output holds the whole stage on a slide stage but only pulses 25% of the stepped stages. I desperately scrambled to complete two for my performance during the NAMM show. I made panels from PCBs because they take less time to manufacture. I only got one finished and then it didn't work when I got there! Anyway, it's working now. It's pretty fun. 

Rare original 200 modules for sale on ebay!!!

That's not happening everyday. Not one but six original Buchla 200 modules have surfaced today on ebay, including two of the most hard to find modules. The 237 Polyphonic Keyboard Module and the 204 Quad Spatial Director. If you have the funds, go get them as this is a once in your lifetime opportunity.

284 Quad Voltage-Controlled Envelope Generator Model:

Adds voltage control and variable delay and duration times to the capabilities of the Model 280 (Four independent envelope generators with variable attack and decay times (range is .001 to 10 seconds) and a choice of sustained or transient operation. Input pulses initiate envelopes and optionally control duration time; output pulses, activated at end of decay, are particularly useful for advancing sequencers or looping to inputs to generate repetitive functions.).
All times are internally variable from .002 to 10 seconds; control voltages may be used to extend this range and control overall time while preserving envelope shape. 

237 Polyphonic Keyboard Module:

This keyboard provides the musician with the means to achieve direct expressive control of the Electric Music Box's many voltage-controlled parameters.
Model 237 has 37 keys (3 octave) and 3 voice polyphonic outputs; built-in processor allows polyphonic output voltages to be transposed or modulated by applied signals and control voltages.
Model features velocity and pressure outputs. Velocity output voltages are proportional to initial striking force; pressure outputs are actuated by applying pressure at bottom of key travel.
Key voltage outputs are equal interval -- any equal-tempered scale may be readily tuned with the processing and offset controls built into Electric Music Box oscillators.
 

204 Quad Spatial Director:

Voltage controlled quadraphonic distributor for determining the spatial location of sounds with pan pots or externally applied voltages. Monitor switches and voltage controlled attenuators are included.
The 204s features include:
4 electronically isolated 2-dimensional joysticks with output voltages proportional to lateral and vertical displacement. Generally used to control sound location, but may be used to control other parameters. 4 gain controls for signals applied to inputs. Control voltages may alternatively be used to control amplitude.

Control voltage inputs for defining positions of sounds. Increasing voltages move sounds from rear to front and from left to right. Voltages are generally (but not necessarily) derived from adjacent joystick outputs.

Go to ebay to see the rest of the modules.

Buchla 300 - The Electric Music Box (1980)

Rick who is an expert in restoring old analogue synths, and who has worked on all the old Buchla instruments gives us another insight into the amazing history of the instruments Don Buchla has created over the last dacades.

from muff's:

found this photo from 2007 in a folder on my drive.. was the patch i used to record this piece: soundcloud.com/ava76/buchla-296-buchla-donald

note: configuration has been changed slightly since this photo, now one of 2 original 288s occupies the space to the left of the System Interface.

...its hard to see in this pic but its a hybrid system consisting of 28! Oscillators, Freq Shifter/Bal modulator, 2 Spectral Processors, 16 Lopass Gates, 8 Envelopes, Source of Uncertainty, Voltage Processors, Mixer/preamp, Triple Envelope Follower, System Interface, Time Domain Processor and touchplate. the 300 cpu handles all the sequencing and further voltage processing, multistage complex envelopes.

Q: whats the module left to the system interface?

...its the 298 Silicon cello/sax.. a recreation of the circuit stuffed in the silicon cello... a few were made in 2002 (by me) at the same time as the original run of barberpole modules.

 

More GIF!!!

♥♥♥ Farwell VM-1 ♥♥♥

♥♥♥ Think of  all good times we have wasted, having good times  ♥♥♥

Jason R. Butcher's new module module

A new module module From Jason R. Butcher. Seems like a quad CV mixer. Looks very nice like all his modules.

From his Flickr: Nearing the end of this run limited to 8 units. All are spoken for.

My first GIF.

I made my first gif tonight. Nothing special but I love 8 bit and psychedelic art.

The End of Walnut Grove

Friends of mine have released their sixth Ölfilm a few weeks ago. A dark, apocalyptic dystopian road movie that takes you too a world without light. Because instead of light there is darkness and the sound of a generator that gives just enough electricity that Joe Maguro can see his shopping trolley in which he carries around the last remaining belongings of his life over an endless, cold as hell ice desert. This low buget sience fiction movie has achieved what many new movies are trying to create. Something new, something fresh and exciting. If you can find the movie anywhere go and watch it. You will not regret it.

From their homepage:

The End of Walnut Grove
Das sechste Meisterwerk.
Inhalt:

Es ist Nacht, für immer. Und niemand weiß warum. Menschen verstecken sich in Höhlen und Gruben, Schmutz und Dunkelheit sind ihre Begleiter, und sie hören nur den Wind, der durch die einsame Eiswüste heult.

Joe Maguro hört den Wind nicht. Er hört nur das ohrenbetäubende Knattern seines Generators, den er im Einkaufswagerl über den gefrorenen Sand schiebt, und der ihm Licht und Leben spendet. Joe braucht keine Angst zu haben, vor den Monstern der Nacht.

Also hat er Zeit nach der Lösung zu suchen, vom Rätsel um die ewige Finsternis. INTEC hat etwas damit zu tun, soviel weiß er schon. Und auch den Rest wird er noch herausfinden, unterstützt vom Lippenleser im Pinguinkostüm und einer blonde Falle aus Heldenmut und Pappmachee. Viel Zeit bleibt ihnen nicht. Denn ein bevorstehender Sonnenaufgang löst nicht Rätsel und Probleme, sondern spendet Tod, und Untergang.

There is no trailer but I just made this for the contest they are currently having. I hope this will win me the bottle of Vodka.

Buchla 200 - 101 Buchla 200 - 101 keyboard test

Buchla 200-101 system that Rick from "The Electric Music Box" was repairing. Or that is what he said. I think it sounds great nonetheless.

The Puck style Rogan knobs are back!!!

via xpander on muff's : "in my relentless effort to bring all of the Buchla style knobs back into existence, a group buy will finally be happening for Rogan "puck" style knobs thanks to the generous assistance of two fine wigglers. look for that to begin at the end of the week"

Can't wait for those and will definitely order some. Those where mostly used on the 259's in the Buchla 300 series, but some people prefer them to the skirted ones you normally see. 

UPDATE: the group buy has begun over at muff's. Don't miss out!!!!!!

 

GIF Art

I amlately fascinated by intenet art. Just love those gif's. Go to gifart.org for more.

The Music Easel has returned!!!

So now that the dust has settled I post some of the information that has surfaced here that is concerning the new Buchla Music Easel that BEMI will release in about 6 months.

Ever since I have first read about the Music Easel it was a dream of mine (and probably every Buchla enthusiast) to play one, just for a few minutes at least. But with only 20 or so produced the chances of this ever happening where very little. As I am located in Europe it is even harder to get your hands on one. But even though Don is the guy that never looks back, B&A has been bought and the new owners follow a different philosophy and have announced that they will release a functionally identical Music Easel in the next months. Everything will be the same as the original one. They even left the Programming Card the way it was. So you just take some resistors and solder your own presets for it.
The slot for the Programming Card can also be used for an additional card that lets you hook up the Music Easel to your I Pad or other devices and also lets you save presets.

I have not ordered on yet, but I will when the unit is ready and available in Europe. Can't wait for it. At first I was considering selling my 200e modules but I have since decided against this as I could not live without the 259e or the 267e and all the other wonderful modules.

BEMI's statment on muffs:

Pricing Structure
The Music Easel is BEMI’s first foray into selling Buchla gear through dealers, and while we are keeping the number of dealers purposely small, we are following a traditional dealer pricing model. This means that while BEMI will sell the unit at the MSRP of $3999.99, dealers can advertise it for $3,699.99. No matter whether you choose to purchase directly from BEMI or go through a BEMI dealer, orders will be shipped in the order in which BEMI receives them.
   
Orders / Email Address Confusion
Due to a combination of circumstances, some Easel inquiries sent to our sales@buchla.com address were not received. Our sincere apologies to those of you who were frustrated by our lack of response. We have recovered the mails, and we are contacting everyone who was not previously contacted and/or who did not subsequently place their order through either purchasing@buchla.com or  info@buchla.com.

Features
We’re listening! In addition to the many thoughtful comments we received at NAMM from the Buchla community, we’re closely following the “vintage accuracy versus modern functionality” debate in this forum, and doing our best to find the optimum blend of the two. We’ll continue to refine and implement changes in accordance with your input. Our goal is to put the best possible instrument in your hands.

The preset card is a good example. We think it’s really important to remain true to the original Easel’s preset card architecture (apparently some of you can’t get enough solder fumes). But we also understand the modern workflow and the need for immediate access to multiple presets---hence the design of our optional preset manager/ iPad interface card. Speaking of which, the interface’s spec calls for saving/loading presets, remote programming of the Easel via iPad, and wireless operation. MSRP 
TBA.

We’ll post the full feature list and specs on our new Web site as soon as it’s launched. (We’re busy translating the Latin pages now….)

Aesthetics
The debate over original vs. new aesthetics is raging nearly as fiercely as the one over features. Again, we’re doing our best to find the sweet spot. A couple of things you can be sure of: The case lid will be removable and we’re taking a long hard look at all of the graphic elements, from fonts and colors to knobs….

Don Buchla’s Involvement
If you were BEMI, would you reissue the Music Easel without Don’s involvement? Get real!

The Manual
It’s our intention to include an appropriately updated version of the original Allen Strange manual along with new documentation to help users unfamiliar with the Easel unlock its sonic potential.

European Service / Distribution
Yes to both! We’ll be announcing dealers, distributors, and service centers on our Web site as they come on line.

 

 

1984

"I betrayed you," she said baldly.
"I betrayed you," he said.
She gave him another quick look of dislike.
"Sometimes," she said, "they threaten you with something – something you can't stand up to, can't even think about. And then you say, 'Don't do it to me, do it to somebody else, do it to so-and-so.' And perhaps you might pretend, afterwards, that it was only a trick and that you just said it to make them stop and didn't really mean it. But that isn't true. At the time when it happens you do mean it. You think there's no other way of saving yourself and you're quite ready to save yourself that way. You want it to happen to the other person. You don't give a damn what they suffer. All you care about is yourself."
"All you care about is yourself," he echoed.
"And after that, you don't feel the same toward the other person any longer."
"No," he said, "you don't feel the same."

Throughout, a song recurs in Winston's mind:

Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me—

New Stuff arrived!!!

So a some new stuff arrived in the last couple of weeks.Some panels, some knobs, the simple yet amazing flop sequenzer Djangosfire build. So I took a picture with all the new Buchla stuff.Have to build some modules and need to finally get a bigger case as it is quite sad that I can't use my 267 at the moment.