Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

Designing modules to be as Buchla as possible is the least Buchla
thing you can do. They were unique and original for their time.
Cloning Buchla modules thirty years later isn't experimental.
Designing modules to look more like a Buchla isn't creative. Serge
already offers updated versions of of many Buchla modules, including
the banana jacks and different color knobs. So it's already been
done.

Don Buchla went from making analogue modulars, to digital synths, to
allternative MIDI controllers. He could have continued to keep
offering his old designs, but he didn't. He kept moving on to new
territory.

Paul Schreiber is offering radically new and experimental designs
with his 500 series. Yet, they aren't non-repeatble or innaccurate
in the wacky way Buchla modules were. The 500 series is weird in
Paul's way. He's doing his own thing. And that's beautiful, man :)

Paul isn't Don. Remember that episode of the Simpsons when Homer
tried to be a hippy?? It didn't work.

You can't "capture the Buchla spirit". You can't turn back time.
You can't make mistakes on purpose. You can't make mistakes on
purpose. If you try to capture the Buchla spirit, it's no longer the
Buchla spirit.

While I'm sure there are many Buchla designs that are worthy
inspiration for upcoming MOTM modules, adding blue knobs isn't going
to make them any more useful. Puttting cheap electronics behind
expensive hardware is a waste of money. The way to improve them is
by adding features, and making them more reliable.