SERVING AS THE NERVE CENTER OF THE INSTRUMENT is a general purpose digital computer. Programmed to perform user communication, data handling, and supervisory control, this "host" computer may be reprogrammed to realize future musical needs or alternative instrumental concepts.
Receiving
instructions and data from the host, a second computer (called the multiple
arbitrary function generator), directs the progress of 64 acoustic parameters,
each with a time resolution of 1/1000 of a second. This facility enables
precise specification of complex sonic detail and offers expanded possibilities
for expressive articulation.
A third computer, this one a pipeline digital signal generator, produces the instrument's six voices. Built into this computer are unusually powerful algorithms for timbre generation, including frequency modulation, waveshape interpolation and timbre modulation (unique to the Buchla, this technique significantly augments the electronic vocabulary).
Gating and filtering are performed by voltage-controlled analog circuitry, providing a dynamic range exceeding 90 dB. Specialized phasing and location circuitry provides unusual depth and imaging in the resultant acoustic field and enables independent location of each voice in stereo space.