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.

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.

 

Buchla 100 system for sale at Muff's Modules

There is a super nice Buchla 100 system for sale at muff's that acording to Rick the man behind the electric music box website includes the following modules:

Fully restored 1970s Era Buchla 100 Modular System in 101 Cabinet:

101 2 piece 25 Panel Unit Cabinet
115 Power supply
110 Dual Gate (2 VCAs)
160 Dual Noise Source
175 Dual Equalizer (2 Filters)
194 Comb Filter (Filter)
190 Dual Reverberator
171 Dual Instrument Preamplifier
111 Dual Ring Modulator
106 Six Channel Mixer
196 Phase Shifter
192 Dual Lopass Filter (2 Filters - SUPER RARE MODULE)
158 Dual Sine/Saw Generator (2 Oscillators)
158 Dual Sine/Saw Generator (2 Oscillators)
156 Dual Control Voltage Processor
107 Voltage Controlled Mixer (10 VCAs!)
140 Timing Pulse Generator
123 Sequential Voltage Source (8 Stage Sequencer X 3)
180 Dual Attack Generator (2 Envelopes)
170 Dual Microphone Preamplifier (transformers!)
130 Dual Envelope Detector
114 Touchplate

all modules cleaned/recapped and tested, power supply refurbished.. wood cabinet restored. this system has 4 VCOS, 12 VCAs, several filter varieties including the rare 192 Lopass Filter which was one of the first Buchla module with Optos!, 8 stage sequencer, tons of processors and excellent stereo reverb.

Pics/more details soon

price is $35,000 plus shipping - pics soon.. here is a crappy one for now:

 

 All modules are cleaned and checked out by a Buchla instrument specialist