Where's the Easel? | Exploring the Buchla/TipTop 200T series
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- Ah, last jam of the month. I've been interested in the Easel for a long time. Today I finally found out that many of the Easel's components are present in the current 200T lineup. But for some reason, Easel performances almost always sound more musical. So why is that? I think the answer could be 'keys and attenuation'. Not sure. 50% of the Easel is a touch sensitive keyboard, while a case full of 200T modules will just bleep. So for this jam, I added a keyboard. Just don't expect it will sound like an Easel. This is just a day of training caught on video because it's #jamuary2024
Note: I ordered a Verbos Touch keyboard and I will try again with a MakeNoise Command Combo which is Tempi, Wogglebug, Maths, XPO, STO, ModDemix and DXG.
NOTE: I found a used Verbos Touch keyboard which is a bit closer to the Buchla keys. This journey is not over!
Update: got the keyboard and it doesn't work, doesn't track, is insensitive and doesn't add anything if it should have worked. F*cked.
Update: Calibrated the keyboard, works a bit, but I need to moist my fingers for it to ground. Same experience as with MakeNoise Rene V1...
I think TipTop has done a excellent job of bring it to the masses . Nice jam !
Definitely one of my most loved module collection. You'd imagine it would not sound any different from other eurorack VCO's and the control you'd get from utilities, but it always becomes clear where eurorack got their inspiration from.
That jam was intense, like being pursued down an alien corridor by sentient robots. Loved it❤️consistently the best synth channel. Thank you!
That's way too much credit but thanks for the compliment!
I think one aspect of the Easel that you didn't cover as much with this video is the amount of attenuation you have. Every input on the Easel has both attenuation, and offset. It's like having a 257t in front of every input. This is really useful for performance. The 257t is the first module from the Buchla lineup that I purchased 2 of. -- In terms of sound, the 259t will cover the complex oscillator on the 208 very well. Also important to note on the Easel is the Random has 4 different outputs, with varying degrees of random... so, while it seems simple, that module has a lot of variety. The other major missing items are the gate toggles for the sequencer outputs, the inverter, and envelope follower. (Also, the playability of switches on the Easel really is nice... it's truly a well rounded instrument) -- Love the jam, and always enjoy your videos!
I’ll add - the ease of live patching thanks to the shorting bar layout and switches + banana cables. Sliders… which I find much more inviting than knobs. The overall layout of the instrument and integration with the 218. And then there is the card slot… which opens whole other worlds. I own a 208c + 218 and owned the 200t modules. Both sound fantastic but I still much prefer the easel, it’s just much easier / immediate to play and patch for all the reasons mentioned.
Thanks for your comment! This helps explaining why the Easel is still attractive to me, sonically, while owning a big set of 200T modules. I totally skipped inversion/attenuation because I only saw one invert in/out and did not see the black terminals on every parameter. On the 200T that would mean a lot of stackables... I also did not realize there's a 259 in the easel. This explains a lot. The Quest continues :).
@@vincentedwardsdesign Thanks for sharing, this really helps my understanding of the Easel, which is still a bit of a mystery.
@@CinematicLaboratory The 259 is still uniquely different than the 208's complex oscillator, and the 208 can do things other oscillators don't. For example, the 259 has separate outputs for the waveshapes (sine and square), and for the wave folder. But, on the 208, the wave shaped output always runs through the wave folder (and has that cool spike wave waveform), so you may end up wavefolding a square or triangle wave instead. The AM and FM switches from the modulation oscillator on the 259 will also help mimic the routing on the 208. (The 259 wave folder is also much more complex than the 208, which makes the 259 one of my favorite all time oscillators).
One thing about the inverter that is very unique is how it handles inverting the signals. As opposed to an attenuverter, which inverts your voltage output, the Easel inverter starts at 10v, and any signal applied to that is then reduced. So to imitate that behavior, you have to have both a DC offset, and then use an attenuverter over that signal. (I think the 257 allows this behavior, but I need to go verify before I fully commit to that statement).
I would suggest using your DPO as a complex oscillator in a setup like this, which can sound very close to an Easel, or if you have a Verbos CO, also sounds very similar.
tiptop and buchla rules. so good to be able to afford a buchla system. thanks tiptop! x
Definitely one of the best things that happened to Eurorack, respectfully nodding to Verbos and Sputnik. But there's 'buchla' on the panels...
Great jam! And I love the free ambient jam at the end!
Melotus may be one of those underused firmwares when Desmodus is close, but wow.
Wow, precisely the question I've been dealing with for the past 5 years, since I first heard a Buchla Easel and wanted to recreate the sound on workman's salary. Thanks for the presentation and all your other TiptTop buchla videos. Didn't quite get the digression with the drum modules but anyhow ....
The first thing I was able to afford was the Arturia Easel software emulation, learned a lot about the Easel - great manual, and my first foray into hardware was a semi-modular Neutron, a happy ending case with an intellijel wavefolder. I've recently debated buying a Buchla Easel command but not at $4000.00 cdn. I asked for a 10% discount and didn't get it so I'm back to trying to get the TipTop Buchla modules - and anything else to build a faux Easel. I bought the first 6 TipTop Buchla modules and use them quite a bit and thanks again TipTop for making a Buchla system available to the plebes! The TT 245t pulse does not have a trigger-in so that doesn't quite work, I use the QFG 281t with no attack, it cycles and there's a cv for the decay. I haven't acquired an ASD envelope that cycles yet so I'm using a Befaco VC-ADSR to cv attack, sustain, and decay like the Easel command (but not on the original). I actually prefer the doepfer 101-2 LPG to the TT QLPG because it has a cv-in for level as well as for envelope (you can also cv LPG/combo/vca settings!). I love that chugging sound Todd Barton gets at low frequencies on the complex oscillator (in LPG mod?, on the original Easel) and the closest I've come to that is mixing the Dixie2 sine and triangle waves and sending them to the Joranalogue FLD6 in alt mode, 25% fold, 75% shape. Still not there but decent. I'm looking at theTriglav Timbre module now for wavefolding. You lose the ability to cv the wavemix but I don't believe the original Easel had that option. The TT dual oscillator is fine if I'm sticking with one waveform, again no triangle though. If not I just use my erica synths varishape oscillator. The TT 245t works fine as a 5 step sequencer. Lots of details I'm probably forgetting but as someone else said it's being forced to work within a pretty finite set of interesting functionalities that defines the Easel's character and thinking outside the box with what you have like sending the pulser cv back into itself for a more exponential envelope etc. I'm using my microfreak as a keyboard and actively using a keyboard certainly livens things up. Thanks for the video!
P.S. really interested in Triglav's clockwork 208 card for Easel these days, to get some Easel a la Charles Cohen. Trying to cobble a eurorack version with Pam's new workout and addac's 214 vc rotator!?
Thanks for the comment. I must admit you know way more about the subject than I do so I have to study your comment a bit more while copying it to a document. So much to check out. I am not sure about that 245T trigger in, which I assume you'd want to covert triggers to pulsers, but there's no input. I guess (not 100% sure) the 266T takes care of that while also offfering an alternate out. Also the 281T has ASD envelopes with the switch turned down, so you'd have a sustain while a key is pressed. I think I'll go for the Verbos keyboard in February to enhance my easel experience which I can then also take to the MN Shared System which is not far off of a 200 series too but adds a bit of the 21st century and probably the best 259 inspired oscillator.
Lots of details when you really break an Easel down into it's component parts/modules. I also have an intellijel springray spring reverb with a medium tank that also helps get that Easel sound. Then there's the polarity switches on the oscillators which I try to emulate with the 3xmia utility, attenuverter. Also the slightly different random voltages x 4 coming out of the Easel which I can't really seem to get with the SOU 266t - they seem like extremely wide voltage ranges which have to be clamped down (the doepfer 149-1 'seem's to do a better job but without all the other utilities in the 266t like noise which is available on the Easel. Then there's running the LPG's in series and feedback .... Hoping to stumble onto a happy accident, quasi Easel.@@CinematicLaboratory
Always thought that part of the Buchla sound is the process it incentivizes/forces you to use. This is especially true for the easel. Plus banana jacks and shorting plugs are bound to change the workflow. Wasn’t there some homogenization of jacks when they made the eurorack versions? I thought there was a difference between audio and other types of signals either in voltages or plugs. Anyway, I gotta imagine the approach is going to be different between the easel and a rack full of euro modules even if the basic components are the same.
The intended use of the Buchla design is still very clear with the coding of the CV jacks which looks like banana CV vs audio jacks. They work like a self explanatory manual too, which makes a lot more sense compared to obscure labels where you can't even figure out what goes in where and goes out what. So yes, that workflow makes perfect sense. However, these rules are not enforced and there's only voltage. On the 258T the CV FM input works differently from the Audio FM input, but they both accept both. So in a way you'd get into Serge territory, offering an expanded world of total freedom. I'll definitely try to use the new 207T to mix CV and pan it with audio, and use the monitor outs for send/return CV. Just for fun and because it's possible without voiding the warranty. But you're right. I needed to approach these 200T modules as an Easel to make it sound like one. But it's great to approach it as a big 200 series rig too :).
Great jam, as always. But ... Buy an Easel. A good one ;-) It's a physical experience, truly unique.
The new Easel reissues look great but I think I’m glad to have the Easel Command and keyboard as separates. The keyboard has CV outs and works great as a controller for the 200T modules (or the Red Panel 100 series!).
I wonder if some of the magic of the Easel sound is the “simplicity” of the single unit design that is harder to replicate even if a 200T system technicality offers everything and more, except maybe the real spring reverb…
While making this video I am convinced it has something to do with the 'too many options' challenge. The Easel has 'less is more' built in, together with a clear workflow. On the 200 everything is open for both opportunity and failure.
Ha this video is so timely for me. Having sold my Easel a few years ago, I’ve made various attempts at creating a Euro version. I have all the TTA Buchla ones and lately been using the KB-1, Pittsburg Modular to control it and the Doepfer spring reverb and the NLC Timbre. That keyboard doesn’t work for me. I’m in the process of setting up using the Push 3 to control these modules with MPE using an ES-8 via ADAT. Gonna try it today. I am still probably going to buy another easel one day. That little self contained Buchla machine truly is genius. Still loving your videos.
Yeah. I am pretty sure I'll end up with an easel one day but it will be an impulse buy and it may have more to do with love than reason. But I think I am going to give those Verbos keys a try. Probably the easiest route to a true Easel experience. But you're right. It's not the modules, it's the 'one package' that works so well.
@@CinematicLaboratory ❤️
I use an Arturia MicroFreak for my keyboard to get that pressure sensitive touchplate feel :)
Its an exciting time to be in eurorack.. I love my 281t/258t.. hitting them with black panels this weekend 😁
I did not know there were black panels. I'll take a look but honestly I am so happy they have the Buchla look.
Great idea to do this comparison. Been thinking about that also. But it's not just the individual functionality. In my experience my creativity also is influenced by the relative context of a module. In other words, the layout of the whole makes a difference. And yes, that keyboard..... it's a bit ridiculous to compare that buchla board to a keystep. Completely different muscle experience connecting to different neurons in your brain. But thanks, anyway for a great video!
You're right about that keystep! I am now looking at the Verbos keyboard which looks like a 1:1 port to eurorack.
brilliant jam, download available?
Thanks, Working on it. There will be an 'album' with the best tracks of Jam2024. This is definitely one of them.
I don’t suppose you can recall how you had the Melotus set, can you? I can often get 30s or so out of Mojave, but eight minutes…
The trick is to patch a gate or trigger to the FSU input (Flow on the Melotus panel) so you see a blue light. You pass in audio, and then experiment with Clk, Hld and Freeze (bottom switch). At some point, Melotus just starts playing from the buffer and it just goes on forever until you power down. It's a shame the buffer can't be cleared with a long press. Maybe it should, but it doesn't. It's also important to not change your scale while you play. There's a 'Melotus Unleased' video on my channel.
ua-cam.com/video/LMhOGVwPjBk/v-deo.html
microfreak? has a good keyboard for this. and cv outs!
Lovely vid!
Behringer working on making the eurorack 208.
Yes, the 'Enigma'. But they'll need to make a dual LPG and it's not easy to make them sound good. Only 10% of all home made vactrols (tiptop) make it to a 292T module. And it can't be imported into the EU. I am curious if they'll ever make one which will sound a 100% like a 208C and it may look like a fake Rolex.But people with a tight budget will love it. If I were Buchla, I'd let Tiptop make a 208T.
They need to do a tip top 261e
They should do all numbers!
Whalers the thing with LPG in the EU?
Vactrols are kind of banned from the EU because they contain cadmium (a bit radio active). So old stock can be sold, but new stock can't be imported. This is why there's still no 292T Quad Low Pass Gate in europe and MakeNoise switched to the DXG dual gate which is 'clean'. Sign of the times...
@@CinematicLaboratory oh! That sucks! Didn’t ever thought about how laws could affect music production and électronic instrument but it kinda make sense. Luthier have restriction on some woods and piano Keys are not made from ivory anymore!
@@CinematicLaboratoryIt’s not that cadmium is radioactive, it’s that it’s super-toxic and cannot be allowed into the environment (or the body!) because it never goes away. Never ever suck a vactrol. However, I saw someone else in the UK with one late last year and took a chance on buying one from Perfect Circuit- and as long as I paid a shed-load of tax UK Customs were happy to let me have it.
Still need the 296t though…
Interesting, however I do not get Buchla, seems to be great technology…but it’s beyond me, thanks for the video anyway
I can relate to that. Always stick to what feels good. People are often challenged to get out of their comfort zone, but it's called a comfort zone for a good reason.
Banana jacks make the hardware sound different
I believe you. We 'eurorack people' can only guess.
Oh I actually have a harsh noise device that has banana jacks. Sounds more grungky
Gunky gonky
No
It wasn't a closed question, but I am happy you disiked it.
💙