Buchla & Tiptop Audio have announced that the Model 259t Programmable Complex Waveform Generator for Eurorack is now shipping to dealers.
The 259t is a 34hp Eurorack format reissue of the original Buchla 259 Complex Oscillator design of the ’70s.
The dual VCO features the classic waveform outputs, waveshaping and center modulation of the original, but is also integrated with the Tiptop Audio ART system for precise autotuning control.
Pricing and Availability:
The Programmable Complex Waveform Generator Model 259t is now available to pre-order, priced at $529.
Very disappointed that Buchla associated with Tip-top. The previously elite status modules have fallen into the hands of far too many undesirables due to the reduced price. Very very disappointing.
Sounds like you are very concerned about the riff-raff synthesists getting involved!
Absolutely. It’s a deeply concerning trend. Like is society, synthesis should return to a feudal system. The peasants must not be allowed access to such things, less they start to claim that they will ‘expose the sham’ that is my iambent studies with some ‘semi competent composition or sound design’.
Damn them
*adjusts monocle*
The democratization of squelchy bloop sounds is just the latest example of socialism ruining what was formerly a firmly oligarchical musical form.
Couldn’t agree more. The mystique surrounding Buchla (pre-Tip-top anyhow) allowed me to post any old garbage (Source of Uncertainty > Osc > LPG) on YouTube and call it an ‘Ambient Study’. Unfortunately the availability of such modules has exposed me and my contemporaries as talentless frauds. Hopefully my synth illuminati friends can arrange another ‘component shortage’ or similar, raising the price and availability to beyond the reach of such peasants. It worked with Make Noise 🙂
Haha!!!
buchla for all man! what are you? wtf
LOL, let them eat complex oscillator cake says Cwillia…
Cwillia is a perfect example of a fellow synth enthusiast that makes my stomach turn couldn’t be any grosser than this comment
What a lovely machine.
I am interested very in how this compares to the verbos complex oscillator (which I love)
I love what Tiptop Audio has been doing with their Buchla Euro format module reissues, but I’m not sure what to make of the ‘ART’ support on this module, and whether it makes sense to dedicate space on this module to features that will only be used if you invest in Tiptop’s ART system.
The key question for me is how much of the $529 cost is covering ART features that I probably won’t use? There are at least 5 different areas on this module’s panel for ART-related features that will be useless, unless you buy into their ART system. That’s something that hasn’t been the case with any of their other Buchla modules.
So I’m wondering if it would have made more sense to have an ART companion module, so that we’re not paying for stuff that we don’t want/need. It kind of feels like these features are a Trojan Horse to get ART into people’s rack.
Does anybody know more about these features and why it makes sense to dedicate so much space to ART on this module?
First of all, it is not “so much space”, it’s literally only two gate output jacks instead of redundant duplicate audio outs. On the original 259 there was already space allocated (in both UI and circuitry) for autotune features that were never implemented and literally no one ever complained. Be content that these functions can now be used with a system like ART which a: exists, and b: is accessible, should one care to partake.
Secondly, the 259t manual mentions an ART compatible 264t (quad poly sample and hold), which Gur has confirmed will incorporate quantizing capabilities similar to the ART/CV converter/quantizer module that already exists, but in Buchla livery and with all the additional functionality that the 264 already offered to the very select few who have ever touched one. Nice!
As far as “paying for stuff we don’t want”, this module comes in at a price that is lower than it’s complex contemporaries such as the Verbos CO or DPO. You could look at this as getting massive potential and control for free, or you could point the finger at the makers of other complex oscillators and ask why they are so expensive despite omitting the computer control/autotune functionalities present in the 259. One could even argue that the inclusion of ART on this module makes it a truer clone of the 259 than even its 4U contemporaries for this reason alone.