Buchla Music Easel

Photo: Tim Rafferty

Fifty years after Don Buchla first released his portable electronic music studio, is the world finally ready for the Music Easel?

The development of synthesizers into the myriad forms we know today can be traced back to the 1960s and two American designers, one whose name became synonymous with ’synthesizer’, the other who thought the word was too limiting for his instruments. The two men are, of course, Bob Moog and Don Buchla and both leave legacies far greater than implied by terms such as East Coast or West Coast Synthesis. Although it’s true they were geographically separated, Moog and Buchla invite as many comparisons as contrasts, but there’s no denying that Moog’s impact has been the most keenly felt across the industry. Even to this day, Don Buchla remains a much more elusive character, his contributions less widely understood and appreciated.

While I can’t hope to redress the balance in just a few thousand words here, I would like the opportunity to dally in the Buchla universe and check out a recently reissued classic, the Buchla Music Easel. Born out of the artistic melting pot that was the San Fransisco Tape Music Center, this was an electronic instrument designed for portability, patchability and live performance. It seems criminal that it’s not as well known and loved as the Minimoog, ARP 2600 or Synthi AKS.

Around eight years ago, having long been curious about Buchla and his instruments, I treated myself to an Easel — as a kind of retirement present. For reasons I’ll come to later, it was eventually returned, but I’ve always regarded it as the missing link in my personal quest to learn about every important synth. Without giving away too many spoilers, much has changed since then, not least that the Easel is now available in two updated versions: Retro and Modern.

First Steps

Drawing from modules Buchla had already designed, the Music Easel first appeared in 1972. While the bulk of this review will concentrate on the more feature‑rich Modern version, both it and the Retro have the same long pedigree — and have been given enhancements to extend their life far into the future. Both models are supplied in robust cases, ideal for the performing musician.

The Music Easel Modern comes in a squarer box and adds the EMBIO (Electronic Music Box I/O) module.

Upon connecting the external laptop‑style power supply, you’ll probably need to reach for the Quick Start patch sheet (unless you’re already up to speed on the Buchla way). Disappointingly, a full printed manual is not supplied. Indeed, you have to assemble its components yourself from resources on the Buchla website. Accordingly, to supplement the original 1974 ‘Operating Directive’, I added the 208c addendum, the 218e V3 user guide and the EMBIO manual. Incidentally, all the components of the Modern Easel (which I’ll refer to as simply Easel from now on) are available individually. The 208c or Easel Command is the main instrument, the 218e the updated keyboard and the EMBIO is the ‘Electric Music Box I/O’.

Ten banana cables are supplied, along with four shorting bars, a MIDI adaptor (Type‑A) and a TiniJax lead. This lead closely resembles a 3.5mm mini‑jack lead, but it’s not; it’s a fraction wider at 3.58mm. Before making any assumptions, it’s therefore worth taking stock of the sockets strewn about the panel, ready to baffle then hopefully delight.

Starting with the EMBIO, its CV and gate connections are 3.5mm, ready to talk to Eurorack. MIDI is present in TRS mini‑jack form and there’s another mini‑jack located on the 208c, the headphone output. Every other small jack, including the mixer on the EMBIO and the audio outputs on the 208c, are in the archaic TiniJax format — because that’s how Buchla have always done it. It would have been nice if they were more obviously different because, as you can imagine, it makes things slightly awkward when interfacing with non‑Buchla gear or when using the external audio input. I’m told TipTop’s stackable Eurorack cables work reliably in both types but haven’t tried them personally. There are a couple of USB‑C connections (also for MIDI), and the audio outputs and sustain input are reassuringly normal quarter‑inch. Everything else is, well... bananas.

The Easel is mostly modular in concept; there are some hard‑wired connections and a multitude of switches, but you won’t get far without patching. In a Buchla system, this means banana cables, which have one advantage over Eurorack (and 5U format) in being naturally stackable. Multiples are not required. The cables are colour‑coded for length and the sockets coloured by function, with black denoting a CV input and various hues representing the available modulation sources. Furthermore, pulse outputs, which are used for timing information, envelope triggering and so on are red, making it easy to see your options at a glance.

Unlike Moog, Buchla preferred to keep audio and voltage connections separate, considering the differences as ‘sound versus structure’. Thus, bananas carry control signals (0‑10 V) with shielded cables reserved for audio. One small exception is found in the Quick Start patch but we’ll leave that as a treat for later.

I should mention that the banana sockets are all pretty tight at first and tough to disconnect one‑handed, at least for this puny, partially retired knob‑twiddler. Fortunately, they do loosen up after about a week of regular use and, long‑term, I suspect they’ll prove more trustworthy than, say, Eurorack connections.

The Retro version of the Music Easel keeps things aesthetically closer to the original.

The Eclectic Electric Music Box

The Easel is a collection of tools assembled to serve electronic musicians from the tape music era — and beyond. Central to operations are two oscillators, the Complex Oscillator and Modulation Oscillator, the former notable for its wavefolding. The latter is a modulator in either low or high frequency ranges as well as being an audio source in its own right. In supporting roles are a voltage‑controlled envelope, a ‘Pulser’, a five‑step sequencer, a source of random voltages, two low‑pass gates, white noise and a spring reverb. Additionally, there’s a voltage inverter and an audio input (with envelope follower), plus a Program Interface slot. Volume controls for the two channels and a headphone output round things off.

Courtesy of the 218e keyboard, the Easel gains portamento, an arpeggiator, four assignable voltage sources and several control outputs. While both Retro and Modern Easels include MIDI, only the Modern’s EMBIO provides those handy CV and gate inputs, along with a set of...