The US Library of Congress has announced that it has restored Morton Subotnick‘s iconic Buchla 100 synthesizer, and is making it available for researchers to play.
They share the background at their site:
“Around 2008, the Library of Congress acquired one of the earliest Buchla 100 synthesizers through musician and teacher Michael Czajkowski, a friend of composer Morton Subotnick.
The system was purchased by Subotnick in 1966 for his Bleecker Street studio in New York City, where he composed “Silver Apples of the Moon” (1967) and the “The Wild Bull” (1968).
The first Buchla 100 system had emerged a few years earlier, during Subotnick’s time at the famous San Francisco Tape Music Centre, where he and Ramón Sender commissioned inventor Don Buchla to realize something that bridged the gap between tape music practice and the future capabilities of computers.”
The instrument has been restored to full operation, and in the process, high-resolution photographs were made of the front and back of each module.
The Buchla 100 system is now available for researchers to play (by appointment, and subject to approval by the Music Division).
It will also be featured at an upcoming Library of Congress event featuring Subotnick:
Morton Subotnick and the Buchla 100
Thursday, December 5, 2024, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
LJ-119, Thomas Jefferson Building
Free, tickets required (available Wednesday, October 2 at 10:00 a.m. ET)
Featured Speakers: Morton Subotnick, composer; Steve Antosca, composer
Members of the Modular Electronic Music Systems (MEMS) team: Chip Flynn, MEMS Research Associate; Mark Milanovich, MEMS Research Associate; Andrew Northrop, Film and Media Technician, Slade School of Fine Art/UCL
See the LOC site for details.
that’s *my* tax dollars at work. good job!
I am glad to hear Morton Subotnick is still among us at age 91.
Making an appointment to play this particular Buchla is like science fiction. I don’t know what kind of productive work might be possible within the constraints, but it’d sure be inspiring to sit at the instrument and try. Wow.
is this one that had LSD on one the panels and The Repairman tripped from not wearing any gloves
Ummm…they know about that red panel, right?
We had a Buchla 100, I believe originally from the San Francisco Tape Music Center, while I was in the Master’s composition program at UCSD, La Jolla, CA. It was an amazing and unstable beast, but given it’s historic provenance, quite wonderful. I taught undergraduate students electronic music basics on it. Prolly very similar to Morton’s 100. What an experience!