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.