Wiardgroup

> I was told that the Wiard family originated from Sweden. Other 
>US 

I have been told a variety of things by the Wiard families 
themselves. Some thought it was Scottish, others from Wales or 
Ireland, possibly Sweden. 

Based on my own research, variations of the name appear 
under different spellings. Weird, Wiard, Waird, Wyrd. And 
pronounced variously "weerd", "wired" and "wared". The origin of 
the name is attributed to the Anglo-Saxons, but it is likely to 
extend back to Celtic times. Shakespear named the three Fates 
from Greek mythology "The Weird Sisters" in a play (Hamlet? 
MacBeth?). The word "weird" itself means "fatelike or of the 
Fates". Just as it is your fate to be reading this.

Records are often contradictory because the Celtic era extends 
from perhaps 2000 BC up to Roman times. It extended from just 
north of Africa to the Netherlands. The intermingling of art can be 
seen in the knot art of Celtic and Arabic cultures which are 
similar.

The Roman and Celtic mythologies are intertwined, in that the 
Roman adopted some stories from the Celts. Most of our 
understanding of Roman and Celtic mythology comes from 
Victorian era england, where romantic interpretations of the 
myths were documented for popular entertainment. I believe 
Bullfinch's Mythology dates from the Victorian era. It is a rich 
source of artistic inspiration and the foundations of our modern 
iconongraphy.

Roland is a mythological figure, as is Nike, Ajax, and all the 
planets.

> Regarding the electrical considerations Don Buchla had 
(among others) 
> for seperating audio and CV connections, is it easier today to 
handle 
> a common path than it was for him in his analog days?
> 

The reason for the different connectors is the Vactrols which are 
Buchla's sole transconductor in the 200 series. A transconductor 
is a conductor which is modifed by another signal. So to have a 
voltage controlled filter, you need to modify an elements 
conductance by an external voltage.

Modern transconductors like the CA3080, LM13700 and CA3820 
are precision solid state devices which have very high speeds 
and can be calibrated. The conductance path is also electrically 
commoned with the control voltage path. That is, they share the 
same ground system.

A Vactrol , which is a photoresistor in a can with a light emitting 
diode, can be used as a transconductor. They are realtively slow 
and can not be calibrated due to chemical variation in the 
photo-phosphor But the conductor and control circuit are optically 
isolated and do not share the same ground system.

This is literally true in the Buchla 200 series where the 
photoresistor portion of the Vactrol and LED portion are 
completely isolated electrical net works with different power 
supplies and grounds.

For the photoresistor (audio) portion of the Vactrol, Buchla used 
1/8" jacks with NE5532 op-amps and +/-15 volt supplies with a 
quiet "Q" ground system.

To control the LED (CV) portion of the Vactrol he used banana 
connectors with LM741 op-amps, a 12 volt power supply and 
noisy "N" ground systems.

The Wiard system uses all of the available transconductor types 
and matches the transconductor to the required function. The 
VCAs in the oscillators use LM3080s for simplicity with moderate 
distortion (0.5% THD). The Omni-Filter uses LM13700s for an 
increased distortion level (1-2% THD). The Mixolators use 
CA3280s for very low distortion and noise (less than 0.5% THD). 
Bear in mind that 0.5% THD only increases the second 
harmonic level to -50 dB.