The Buchla Easel V is the first recreation of Don Buchla's iconic instrument that helped define experimental West Coast modular synthesis in the early '70s. Arturia's enhancements translate to vastly expanded possibilities for sound design and avant-garde music.

Paint Outside the Lines
A vehicle for avant-garde expeditions. A totally different take on synthesis. Welcome to the West Coast.

Don Buchla is the father of the 'West Coast' approach to electronic music; rather than using synthesizers to imitate other instruments, one sees electricity itself as the instrument. This approach captivated Suzanne Ciani, Morton Subotnick, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails), Richard Devine, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, and many other cutting-edge composers. Arturia modeled the Music Easel, Buchla's suitcase-style modular system, at the component level, then added powerful modulation and sequencing extras to reinvigorate the Buchla spirit.

Zen and the Art of Synth Design
Arturia stayed true to the Music Easel's interface, putting your hands on the definitive sound sources that brought a new perspective to analog synthesis.

It's definitely different, but that difference lets you create sounds you won't hear any other way. Easel V invites you to leave all your preconceptions about synths at the door and updates the Music Easel for the MIDI age.

Don Buchla: the Nikola Tesla of synth designers
While most synth makers pursued commercial musical uses, Buchla felt electronics should empower musicians… read more to rethink composition from the ground up and free them from stale traditions.

In fact, for a long time he refused to add a piano-style keyboard to most of his modular systems before the Easel. But the most adventurous sonic explorers wanted a portable instrument they could play whenever and wherever inspiration struck -- like a painter's easel.

In 1965, Buchla was commissioned to build an electronic instrument for the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Electronic oscillators so far had been clunky affairs that could not be played or modulated in real time, just adjusted with a single pitch dial.

Features:

- A component-level model of the Buchla Music Easel
- Complex and Modulation oscillators, dual Low Pass Gates, output section with spring reverb modelling
- Modulation sources perfectly reproduced : 5-step Sequencer, Envelope Generator, Pulser
- Semi-modular architecture, color-coded routing and cables
- Enhanced functionalities, synchronizable Pulser and Clock, Oscillators quantization
- Left Hand modulation sources to create multi-point envelopes and LFOs. Add randomness and smoothing to the modulation
- Right Hand step-sequencer module
- Gravity XY modulation source. Control the sound with the movement of a projectile flying among planets and worm holes!
- 10 effects, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Overdrive, Delay, ...
- Control on the Vactrol modelling for fast, medium or slow response
- Up to 4 voices of polyphony
- 256 factory presets

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