Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesizers, releasing his first units shortly after Robert Moog‘s first synthesizers. However, his instrument was arguably designed before Moog’s.^[1]

Biography[edit]

Buchla was born in South Gate, California on April 17, 1937,^[2] and grew up in California and New Jersey.^[3][4] He studied physics, physiology, and music at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1959 as a physics major.^[3]

Buchla formed his electronic music equipment company, Buchla and Associates, in 1962 in Berkeley, California.^[5] Buchla was commissioned by composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender, both of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, to create an electronic instrument for live performance.^[3] Buchla began designing his firstmodules for the Tape Music Center in 1963. With partial funding from a Rockefeller Foundation grant made to the Tape Music Center, Buchla assembled his modules into the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System (later known as the Series 100), which he began selling commercially in 1966. Buchla’s synthesizers experimented in control interfaces, such as touch-sensitive plates. In 1969 the Series 100 was briefly sold to CBS Musical Instruments, who soon after dropped the line, not seeing the synthesizer market as a profitable area.^[6]

1970 saw the release of the Buchla 200 series Electric Music Box,^[2] which was manufactured until 1985. Buchla created the Buchla Series 500, the first digitally controlled analog synthesizer, in 1971.^[2] Shortly after, the Buchla Series 300 was released, which combined the Series 200 with microprocessors. The Music Easel, a small, portable, all-in-one synthesizer was released in 1972. The Buchla 400, with a video display, was released in 1982. In 1987, Buchla released the fully MIDI enabled Buchla 700.^[7]

Beginning in the 1990s, Buchla began designing alternative MIDI controllers, such as the Thunder, Lightning, and Marimba Lumina. With the recent resurgence of interest in analog synthesizers Buchla has released a revamped 200 series called the 200e.

In 2005, NIME-05 (5th International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression), in Vancouver, Canada, featured a keynote lecture by Don Buchla. There was also a sizable exhibition of many of the instruments he and his team have created over the years.^[8]

He died at the age of 79 on September 14, 2016 of complications from cancer.^[9][10][11]

Personal life[edit]

He is survived by a son Ezra Buchla who is a musician, ^[11] daughters Jeannine Serbanich and Erin Buchla, and two grandchildren.

Notable artists[edit]

List of artists that use Buchla instruments:

• Bob Ostertag, Buchla 200e
• The Mae Shi
• Silver Apples^[11]
• Suzanne Ciani^[11]
• Elliott Sharp, Buchla Thunder
• Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
• Richard Lainhart

Products[edit]

• Products designs by Don Buchla
• 

  Sound System from the bus “Further“, designed for Ken Kesey and theMerry Pranksters ^[12]

• 

  Analog sequencers(bottom) on Buchla 100 (1963/1966)

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  Buchla Music Easel (ca.1973) ^[13]

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  Model 250e Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator module

• 

  Model 260e Duophonic Pitch Class Generator module

• 

  Oberheim OB-Mx (1994) designed by Don Buchla

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  Buchla PianoBar (2001);^[14] also sold asMoog PianoBar (2003)^[15]

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  Buchla 200 (1970–1985)

• 

  Buchla 200e (2004–)

References[edit]

External links[edit]

External video

Oral History, Don Buchla reflects about his interactions with Theramin. Interview date January 16, 2011, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Don Buchla, Buchla synthesizers and Buchla and Associates.

• Buchla and Associates
• Audities Foundation Buchla instrument collection
• “Oral History: Don Buchla explains pieces of his life story and career.” January 16, 2011. NAMM Oral History Library