Multifunctional in nature, the Buchla 400 is designed to serve the
needs of composers, performers, educators, and listeners.
OF
PARTICULAR INTEREST TO THE COMPOSER is a musically sophisticated score editor
that functions in real time. Six orchestrally differentiated voices can
simultaneously be displayed, auditioned, and edited. Musical data is efficiently
presented with linear-time notation and a high-resolution graphic display.
Instrument definitions, dynamics, tempi, registration, and tunings are programmable,
and a menu-driven editor provides for sectional labeling, recall, inserts,
merges, copies and jumps. The instrument can decode, display, and track
a SMPTE time code signal, facilitating film, video, and multitrack composition.
THE PERFORMER CONCOCTS HIS SONIC FEASTS from an array of timbral ingredients
unprecedented in musical cuisine. Dynamic waveshaping techniques, multiple
complex envelope generation, and advanced concepts of instrument definition
provide an extensive electronic vocabulary. A specialized touch sensitive
keyboard can be organized in traditional or nontraditional fashions, can
be tuned to any imaginable scale, and responds to the subtlest of musical
gestures. Pressure-sensitive joysticks, control voltage interconnections,
and analog modifiers further extend the possibilities.
AS AN EDUCATIONAL
TOOL, the Buchla 400 is unusually comprehensive. With an architecture capable
of implementing a variety of synthesis techniques, the intricacies of frequency
modulation, timbre modulation and non-linear waveshaping can be effectively
presented. Fast real-time graphic displays of waveshape tables and parametric
envelopes enable experimentation with the elements of musical structure.
Tuning systems, principles of orchestration, and other aspects of theory
can be explored, and sophisticated high level software facilitates the development
of new musical languages and compositional algorithms.
FOR THE LISTENER, who is the final link in the musical chain, the Buchla
400 offers some unusual possibilities. With the capability of storing complete
scores on cassette tape or plug-in cards, the instrument serves as an idealized
playback medium, recreating the composer's intent with uncompromised fidelity.
If he chooses, the listener can display a score and interact with it at
any level, from modifying balances, tempi, or instrumentation, to completely
reconfiguring a composition. Thus the listener may abandon his role of passive
consumer, and become a creative producer of the acoustic experience.
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OF
PARTICULAR INTEREST TO THE COMPOSER is a musically sophisticated score editor
that functions in real time. Six orchestrally differentiated voices can
simultaneously be displayed, auditioned, and edited. Musical data is efficiently
presented with linear-time notation and a high-resolution graphic display.
Instrument definitions, dynamics, tempi, registration, and tunings are programmable,
and a menu-driven editor provides for sectional labeling, recall, inserts,
merges, copies and jumps. The instrument can decode, display, and track
a SMPTE time code signal, facilitating film, video, and multitrack composition.