Paint outside
the lines
A vehicle for avant-garde expeditions. A totally different take on synthesis. Welcome to the West Coast.
Don Buchla is the father of the ‘West Coast’ approach to electronic music; rather than using synthesizers to imitate other instruments, one sees electricity itself as the instrument. This approach captivated Suzanne Ciani, Morton Subotnick, Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails), Richard Devine, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, and many other cutting-edge composers. We modeled the Music Easel, Buchla’s suitcase-style modular system, at the component level, then added powerful modulation and sequencing extras to reinvigorate the Buchla spirit.
Briefcase Full of Inspiration
A turn here, a patch there. In the Easel, simple adjustments tend to create sonic surprises that are sure to generate new musical ideas.
Soundscape Sandbox
Complex oscillators. AM and FM synthesis. Percussive filter/gate combos. Ways to modulate nearly every parameter. You won’t run out of territory to explore anytime soon.
The Synthesizer Plays You
Like the Buchla hardware that inspired it, Easel V offers unique possibilities for complex, evolving passages and generative music.
Master In Minutes
The Easel’s logical layout means you’ll be creating sounds in no time. Its sheer depth means you’ll still enjoy creating them years later.
Don Buchla:
the Nikola Tesla of synth designers
While most synth makers pursued commercial musical uses, Buchla felt electronics should empower us to rethink composition from the ground up and free us from stale traditions.
In fact, for a long time he refused to add a piano-style keyboard to most of his modular systems before the Easel. But the most adventurous sonic explorers wanted a portable instrument they could play whenever and wherever inspiration struck — like a painter’s easel.
In 1965, Buchla was commissioned to build an electronic instrument for the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Electronic oscillators so far had been clunky affairs that could not be played or modulated in real time, just adjusted with a single pitch dial
Discover the history of Buchla Easel
Buchla developed a voltage-controlled oscillator, then other modules to control it, leading to the 100 series. It blew composers’ minds compared to existing tools and appeared on Morton Subotnick’s “Silver Apples of the Moon” and Buffy St. Marie’s “Illuminations,” both historic works of electronic music.
The 200-series (1970) was a major evolution, both in the types of modules available and the number of voltage-controllable parameters. Suzanne Ciani created the “pop and pour” sound of the classic ’70s Coca-Cola commercial on a Buchla, as well as FX for Meco’s chart-topping disco version of the “Star Wars” theme.
Buchla would then make a number of computer-controlled instruments, but it was the portable Easel (1973) that made his vision most accessible. It packed his most popular modules into a briefcase with a touchplate keyboard that — importantly for Don — could be untethered from the 12-note chromatic scale.
The combination hit a sweet spot, generating an incredible range of timbres from just a handful of modules. Easel V is both an authentic tribute and a continuation of Don Buchla’s exploratory ethic.
Zen and the Art
of Synth Design
We stayed true to the Music Easel’s interface, putting your hands on the definitive sound sources that brought a new perspective to analog synthesis.
It’s definitely different, but that difference lets you create sounds you won’t hear any other way. Easel V invites you to leave all your preconceptions about synths at the door and updates the Music Easel for the MIDI age.
_1
_2
_3
_4
_5
_6
01. The Main Tone Source
The Complex Oscillator generates harmonically rich tones by folding a waveform’s peaks and valleys back on themselves.
02. Patch Perfect
Easel V’s click-and-drag patch bay keeps cables from obscuring the controls. Outputs are color-coded to match different modulation sources; inputs are black.
03. Modulation Maker
Use the Modulation Oscillator as an LFO, or dial it into the audio range and patch up FM and AM textures from gentle to clangorous.
04. Stepped Voltages
Like a sequencer for modulation, the Sequential Voltage Source features five steps and multiple trigger sources, and can modulate any of 76 targets in Easel V.
05. Original Keyboard
We’ve duplicated the Model 218 keyboard to a tee and even added an arpeggiator. Access all its dimensions of touch and more in the Advanced Panel.
06. Voltage Presets
These can octave shift the keyboard or send four different, steady control voltages to any destination you choose.
Where No Buchla
Has Gone Before
Dive even deeper into Easel V’s mind-expanding universe of sound design with functions that keep you in the creative zone.
It has been said that the best musical experiences combine just the right amounts of predictability and surprise. That was our philosophy when adding advanced features we hope will help create your own magnum opus of electronica.
Craft complex control curves for up to five separate destinations. Each can loop, play one-shot, free-run, and sync to master tempo.
The 32-step tempo-syncable sequencer is ideal for playing melodic passages as you explore, tweak, and sculpt the sound itself.
Modulate target parameters as if they were spaceships being attracted by planets, slingshotting around stars, and teleported through wormholes.
Easel V puts the physics in physical modeling with control over the force and randomness of your spaceship’s trek. You can also adjust how long a gate is generated when it collides.
Dual effects slots with 10 FX choices each include stereo ping-pong delay, reverb, parametric EQ, and even a lo-fi sonic destroyer.
Unique sound generation
à la Buchla
Through meticulous analysis, reverse-engineering, and our exclusive TAE® technology, Buchla Easel V brings you the limitless potential of the original Easel’s outside-the-box design coveted by synth aficionados since the ‘70s. Covet no more.
The Buchla Easel set out to do synthesis a little differently. By changing the mindset and the approach, the sonic results were radically different. Geared towards pure sonic experimentation and exploration, there’s still nothing that makes sound quite like the Buchla does. That’s the magic that we set out to faithfully capture with Buchla Easel V.
Totally distinct sound sources that go from smooth analog tones to bubbling modulated textures in an instant. Signal processing that goes against the grain to offer unprecedented and surprising routing options. Unique modulation methods that produce timbres that sound as futuristic otherworldly today as they did decades ago. That coveted spring reverb that concludes it all with that echoing, distant, surreal atmosphere.
Molécule
Texture and sound with Buchla Easel V
Meet Molécule, an experimental musician who pushes the boundaries of electronic music with a focus on live performance, and a love of extremes.
Read the StoryHear it
in action
If talking about music is like dancing about architecture, that’s doubly true of the Music Easel.
Fortunately it’s easier to show you than tell you, which is exactly what these artists’ original compositions do.
Session
Commuter
Noto 101
Jean-Baptiste Arthus
Down
Maxime Dangles
Cortom
Tom Hall
Beachla
Jean-Baptiste Arthus
Cristalline
Simon Gallifet
Presets
Easel V serves up timbres from soothing to whimsical to downright pokes in the ear.
Its 350 presets cover all these bases and everything in between. Here is a prime selection of sequence, lead, and SFX sound examples.
Artistscorner
Included in
V collection
Legendary Keyboards Reinvented
This instrument is also part of the V Collection -your complete dream line-up of the legendary synths, organs, pianos and more that made keyboard history. They’re modeled with the most advanced technologies for authentic realism, and enhanced with new creative options. Whether you use it as DAW plugins in the studio or standalone at gigs, V Collection puts the greatest keys of all time at your fingertips for instant inspiration.
Learn More
主な特長
必要です
各パラメーターからサウンドデザイナーによるヒントまで、インストゥルメントのあらゆる側面について統合されたアプリ内チュートリアルがガイドしてくれますので、クリエイティブな作業に集中できます。こんなに簡単なことはありません！
Arturia Software Centerでは、すべてのArturiaソフトウェアタイトルのダウンロード、整理、アップデートをワンストップで行えます。ものごとはシンプルに。
Arturiaのバーチャルインストゥルメントとプラグインは、あなたのセットアップに簡単にフィットするように設計されています。制作スタイルを問わず、WindowsとMacOSの両方で、主要なDAWとの完全な互換性を楽しみながらサウンドを探求できます。
インテリジェントで効率的なプリセットブラウジングで、頭の中にあるサウンドを即座に見つけることができます。キーワードで検索したり、楽器の種類や音楽スタイルで探したり、お気に入りを登録して後ですぐに呼び出すこともできます。
Arturiaのクラシックなインストゥルメント・エミュレーションの視覚的な没入感を存分に味わいたい方にも、貴重なスクリーン面積を節約したい方にも、Arturiaのすべてのバーチャルインストゥルメントのインターフェイスは、用途に合ったサイズに変更できます。
Arturiaのインストゥルメントは、KeyLabシリーズにシームレスにマッピングされていますが、他のMIDIコントローラーとの相性も抜群です。即座にサウンドをエディットできるマクロ、簡単なDAW統合、スタンドアローン動作も簡単です。
TAE® Powered
The exclusive analog modeling technology that makes our emulations indistinguishable from the originals.
By accurately mimicking the characteristics of analog oscillators, filters, and soft clipping, we can provide astonishing component-accurate detail and authentic analog charm in equal measure.
Learn more
Gallery
Main Features
A component-level model of the Buchla Music Easel
Complex and Modulation oscillators, dual Low Pass Gates, output section with spring reverb modelling
Modulation sources perfecly 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. Control the sound with the movement of a projectile flying among planets and worm holes!
10 effects, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Overdrive, Delay, ...
Control on the Vactrol modelling for fast, medium or slow response
Up to 4 voices of polyphony
256 factory presets
Platform specifications
Windows
- Win 10+ (64bit)
- 4 GB RAM
- 4コア、3.4GHz (ターボブースト時4.0GHz) 以上のCPU
- 3GB以上のディスク空き容量
- OpenGL 2.0互換のGPU
- ARMプロセッサーはWindowsではサポートされていません
対応プラグイン形式
- スタンドアローンまたはVST、AAX、Audio Unit、NKS (64ビットDAWのみ) の各プラグイン形式で動作
Apple
- Mac OS 11+
- 4 GB RAM
- 4コア、3.4GHz (ターボブースト時4.0GHz) 以上のCPU、またはM1 CPU
- 3GB以上のディスク空き容量
- OpenGL 2.0互換のGPU
ASCとの動作
- Arturiaソフトウェア・インストゥルメントのインストール、アクティベーション、アップデートを支援するエレガントでシンプルなソリューションです。
このページに記載のメーカー名および製品名は各社に帰属する商標であり、Arturiaとは一切関係ありません。他のメーカーの商標は、開発中にその特徴やサウンドを研究したメーカーの製品を識別するためだけに使用しています。すべての機器名、発明者名、製造者名は、説明および教育目的のためにのみ記載しており、いかなる機器の発明者や製造者との提携や助言を示唆するものではありません。