In 1963, in Berkeley, California, Don Buchla was commissioned by Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender of the San Francisco Tape Music Center to design an electronic musical instrument conducive to live performance. Buchla created the 100 series, and the rest is literally history — a legacy seeing the creation of electronic instruments so unique and powerful that they are revered by distinguishing musicians to this day.
In 1973, Buchla created the inimitable Music Easel, a portable, performance-oriented electronic instrument. Extremely rare with only a handful originally made, it’s been reissued by Buchla in multiple versions: the full Music Easel with the 208c, the 218e, EMB-IO, and case and a desktop version, the Easel Command. Both versions are still fully analog and provide the unique and exquisite Buchla experience with greater functionality, having been modernized with MIDI, USB, and USB-host connectivity. The 218e controller is available separately as well.
In the 1970s, Buchla took the 100 series further, adding more sonic flexibility, and from it created the 200 series, known as the “Electric Music Box” — another milestone achievement in electronic musical instrument history. These modules are now available in the Buchla 200 Classic Reissue series. Buchla further developed the series and added preset management capability, advancing it into the current 200e, the flagship series and one of the most powerful electronic musical instruments available.
Design your dream Buchla modular system with the Buchla Instrument Designer, a highly interactive, intuitive, and engaging online tool that helps you design, lay out, save, share, and easily purchase your Buchla instrument. Have questions or need help designing your own Buchla 200e System? Give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call!
