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The Arturia Buchla Easel V is a software reproduction of the iconic Buchla Easel V, an instrument that helped define experimental West Coast modular synthesis in the early 70's. By applying Arturia's TAE modelling technology, the Buchla Easel V is represented in all its glory, quirks and all. Complex oscillator design, AM & FM synthesis, percussive low-pass gates, filters, and numerous ways to modulate and clock just about every parameter.
Design and perform soundscapes that burble, shimmer, pulse, and evolve without ever touching a keyboard. There are 256 factory presets designed by expert sound designers to get you up with timbres ranging from hauntingly beautiful sonorities to clangorous pokes in the ear.
Arturia dramatically expanded the functionality of the original Music Easel by incorporating five full-featured function generators that are individually routable to any of the 76 modulation destinations. Also included is a modern 32-step sequencer and a Gravity X/Y grid that uses the physics of a bounding ball included by attraction, repulsion, and collision with objects to generate unexpected modulation signals.
Main Features
- A component-level model of the Buchla Music Easel
- Complex and Modulation oscillators, dual low pass gates, output section with spring reverb modeling
- Modulation sources accurately reproduced
- 5-step sequencer
- Envelope generator
- Pulser
- Semi-modular architecture, color coded routing and cables
- Enhanced functionalities, synchronizable pulser and clock, oscillators quantization
- Left Hand modulation sources to create multi-point envelopes and LFOs. Add randomness and smoothing to the modulation
- Right Hand step-sequencer module
- Gravity XY modulation source controls the sound with the movement of a projectile flying among planets and worm holes
- 10 effects including phaser, flanger, chorus, overdrive, delay, and more
- Control of the vactrol modeling for fast, medium or slow response
- Up to 4 voices of polyphony
- 256 factory presets
Sound Generation
- Modulation Oscillator
- Hardwired to modulate the Complex Oscillator and optionally patchable to other targets
- Set it for amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), or to AM-modulate an external signal like another track on your DAW
- Low-Frequency Range: AM and FM produce effects like tremolo, vibrato, and trills
- Audio Range: Creates distinctive sidebands that reshape the main sound source-anything from subtle harmonics to otherworldly ring modulation. Audio range also gives you the option of using the Modulation Oscillator as a second sound source, complete with its own timbre, pitch, and voltage inputs
- Complex Oscillator
- Core Waveform: Sine wave to which you add harmonics through wave folding-a type of wave shaping (also found in Arturia's Brute hardware synth series) where the peak of a wave is cut off and folded back onto itself. The number of folds determines the harmonic content
- Induce further harmonics by crossfading that with a square, triangle or sawtooth wave
- The Complex Oscillator can either be under melodic keyboard control or fixed in pitch for rhythmic elements, drones and more
- Pitch and timbre can be modulated
- Dual Low Pass Gates
- 12 dB/octave voltage-controlled filters (VCFs) configured to behave like gates, in that the closed state is actually just a sub-sonic cutoff frequency
- You can switch each gate's mode between filter, gate, or combination
- Gate 1 is hardwired to the Complex Oscillator
- Gate 2 can be switched to process the preamp's output, Modulation Oscillator, or Complex Oscillator. In the latter case, the two gates operate serially for some unique effects
- Vactrols
- Buchla's gate design employs vactrols-optically coupled LEDs and light-sensitive resistors-exhibiting organic attack and decay properties ideal for imitating tuned percussion
- No two vactrols behave identically
- The modeled individual components offer control over their response characteristics in Arturia's commitment to completely and faithful reproduce this iconic sound
- Preamp
- The upgraded preamp offers more creative options
- Feedback option loops the output back into itself, making it possible to introduce overdriven analog resonances
- Where the original instrument lacked a noise generator, Arturia added one to the Easel V allowing you to use it as a source for percussive sounds, dirty atmospheres, and more
Modulations
- Envelope Generator
- Switchable operating modes
- Sustained Mode: Sustain portion has a minimal duration that can be extended as long as a note is held. In sustained mode, the envelope completes regardless of whether the key is briefly hit or durably held—handy for percussion patches
- Self mode: Causes the envelope to repeat endlessly, resulting in cyclic effects more complex than you can realize with LFOs. You can also set the envelope to be triggered by the Pulser or Sequential Voltage Source, providing you with a variety of unique methods of realizing sonic animations
- Switchable operating modes
- Pulser and Sequential Voltage Source
- Pulser: Provides a straightforward source for simple or repeated triggers that you can route a number of places, including options for free running, clock sync, and more
- Sequential Voltage Source: Outputs three to five programmable voltage steps you can collectively route to modulate various targets, such as pitch for melodic variations, modulation amount for timbral changes, amplitude for a series of gain steps, and more
- Additional Modulation
- Random Voltage Generator: Great for generating unpredictable voltages, including presenting different values simultaneously on each of its patchbay outputs
- Preset Voltage Source: Outputs one of four voltages according to the value you set for the associated pad—handy for performance functions like predictable transposition offsets
- The Easel V can be driven from external audio, such as using a DAW drum track to trigger parameters you connect to the Envelope Out of the built-in envelope follower
- Other patchable options include clock pulse, voltage inverter, and MIDI-to-CV outputs for velocity, wheel, and key follow
- Patchbay
- Almost all the Buchla Easel V's patch points appear in a common patchbay strip, making for much easier programming. They’re all color-coded for easy identification—and you’re only able to make the valid connections that illuminate as you’re dragging a patch cord
Advanced Features
- Left Hand
- Each of five independent Function Generators is capable of creating complex, predictable modulation of any of the Easel’s 76 modulation targets with accuracy
- Create up to 16 break points per Function Generator, each point having its own level, rate, slope, and randomization
- Curves can be bipolar, allowing the signal to modulate both above and below the baseline
- Select how each Function Generator is triggered, looped and clocked for complex animations
- Complex routing including Function Generators modulating other Function Generators
- Right Hand
- This piano-roll style sequencer lets you define an exact length up to 32 steps
- Each step accommodates up to four-note polyphony
- The intuitive graphic interface also allows you to easily drag notes to new positions and/or duration spanning multiple steps
- Each step can be offset by the virtual control voltage you've programmed into any of the four Preset Voltage Sources you've set on the virtual keyboard
- Control if and how your sequence loops, triggers and syncs to clock
- Randomization and master gate complete a uniquely elegant sequencer
- Gravity
- Gravity brings more erratic variations to your modulations through game physics
- Modulation is determined by X/Y position in Cartesian space, where you map two independent modulation destinations and amounts per axis to a myriad of destinations
- Use your keyboard, Pulser or Sequential Voltage Source to launch projectiles that bounce off the bounding horizons and objects you place, optionally triggering variable-length gates in the process
- Black holes, white holes and wormholes even attract, repel or transport projectiles in novel ways
- Gravity offers a universe of irregular modulation possibilities with plenty of options for retrigger, loop and clock
- Effects
- Easel V comes complete with an abundance of standard effects, allowing the process to be completely integral to your sound design process and saved patches
- Serial effects slots let you combine any two for complex designs like delaying a chorused signal or combining two analog delays to add motion with even more interesting timing