This interview with electronic music pioneer Don Buchla is part of a series created by the Red Bull Music Academy.
Description:
You all know about the Moog. But what about Don Buchla, the Californian synthesizer designer who’s Buchla Series 100 was released mere months after Dr. Moog’s first synth?
His electronic music equipment company, Buchla & Associates, were commissioned by avant garde composers Morton Subotnik and Ramon Sender to create something they could use in live performance – and since then he’s been creating and designing a whole range of unusual electro-acoustic instruments and deeply desirable modular synths. That includes the intriguing Marimba Lumina, the classic 1970 200 Series Electric Music Box or indeed the hot little analogue cutie, 1972s Music Easel. Buchla’s sonic toys combine a colorful aesthetic with supernatural sonic abilities. Genius alert!
85? Wikipedia says he's 72.
Not sure about the interviewer, but this is the best interview I've seen with Buchla.
He's clearly sharp as ever and full of some deep synth kung fu.
I like that Don pushed aside his jerk questions and only answered the questions that were real.
I've only listened to the first 20 minutes so far, but the interviewer doesn't have enough background to ask decent questions. He doesn't know what the original Buchla boxes could do, so is a little dismissive of the sophistication and professionalism that went into them and the tremendous capability they had.
I've only listened to the first 20 minutes so far, but the interviewer doesn't have enough background to ask decent questions. He doesn't know what the original Buchla boxes could do, so is a little dismissive of the sophistication and professionalism that went into them and the tremendous capability they had.
"the idea was, you dropped acid". Fun to think that Buchla probably has tripped in ways that this punk hipster kid could only dream of 🙂