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Buchla Thunder
Buchla Thunder is one of many in the family of MIDI controllers consisting of tactile control surfaces, which are manipulated by hand. Developed by electronic instrument designer Don Buchla in 1989, Thunder is a musical instrument controller with an array touch sensitive keys. Keys 1 to 9 respond to pressure and keys 10 to 25, with the feather graphic respond to both pressure AND location. Thunder's software — known as “STORM” — allows assignment of any key's touch, pressure and/or location to any MIDI controller number or note number on any MIDI channel. Keys can also be assigned to start and stop “Riffs" that might be programmed as part of the preset. (“Riffs" precede and are similar to “clips” in Ableton Live.) Early versions had LEDs and photodiodes on a circuit board below a reflective drum membrane. It sensed the velocity of the taps as well as tracked X, Y, and pressure of each finger on the membrane. Later versions used capacitive technology to sense t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MIDI Controller
A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They most often use a musical keyboard to send data about the pitch of notes to play, although a MIDI controller may trigger lighting and other effects. A wind controller has a sensor that converts breath pressure to volume information and lip pressure to control pitch. Controllers for percussion and stringed instruments exist, as well as specialized and experimental devices. Some MIDI controllers are used in association with specific digital audio workstation software. The original MIDI specification has been extended to include a greater range of control features. Features MIDI controllers usually do not create or produce musical sounds by themselves. MIDI controllers typically have some type of interface that the performer presses, strikes, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audio Control Surface
In the domain of digital audio, a control surface is a human interface device (HID) which allows the user to control a digital audio workstation or other digital audio application. Generally, a control surface will contain one or more controls that can be assigned to parameters in the software, allowing tactile control of the software. As digital audio software is complex and can play any number of functions in the audio chain, control surfaces can be used to control many aspects of music production, including virtual instruments, samplers, signal processors, mixers, DJ software, and music sequencers. Since control surfaces are designed to perform different functions, they vary widely in size, shape and number and type of controls. A basic control surface for mixing resembles a traditional analogue mixing console, featuring faders, knobs (rotary encoders), and buttons that can be assigned to parameters in the software. Other control surfaces are designed to give a musician control ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound Generator
A sound generator is a vibrating object which produces a sound. There are two main kinds of sound generators (thus, two main kinds of musical instruments). A full cycle of a sound wave will be described in each example which consists of initial normal conditions (no fluctuations in atmospheric pressure), an increase of air pressure, a subsequent decrease in air pressure which brings it back to normal, a decrease in air pressure (less pressure than initial conditions), and lastly, an increase which brings atmospheric pressure back to normal again. Therefore, the final conditions are the same as the initial, at-rest conditions. The first kind is simple and is called the vibrating or oscillating piston. Examples of this type of sound generator include the soundboard of a piano, the surfaces of drums and cymbals, the diaphragm of loudspeakers, etc. The forward movement of something through the atmosphere causes an immediate increase in air pressure (compression) or condensati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Buchla
Donald Buchla (April 17, 1937 – September 14, 2016) was an American pioneer in the field of sound synthesis. Buchla popularized the "West Coast" style of synthesis. He was co-inventor of the voltage controlled modular synthesizer along with Robert Moog, the two working independently in the early 1960s. Biography Buchla was born in South Gate, California on April 17, 1937, and grew up in California and New Jersey. He studied physics, physiology, and music at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1959 as a physics major. Buchla formed his electronic music equipment company, Buchla and Associates, in 1962 in Berkeley, California. He was commissioned by composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender, both of the San Francisco Tape Music Center, to create an electronic instrument for live performance. Buchla began designing his first modules for the Tape Music Center in 1963. With partial funding from a $500 Rockefeller Foundation grant made to the Tape Music Center, Buchla assembled his modules ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buchla Lightning
The Buchla Lightning is the second in a series of MIDI controllers developed by Don Buchla. It consists of two independent hand-held electronic wands and a box unit that enable a player to initiate sounds and to manipulate those sounds spatially. Description The basic concept behind Buchla Lightning (1, 2 and 3) is that you program the unit to assign certain MIDI events/messages to wand gestures. These MIDI messages become sounds as determined by the user. You perform these gestures while holding one wand in each hand. There is a separate box/unit that picks up the gestures you make with the wands and then the sound is produced. In technical terms. The two wands emit infrared light that is detected by optics. The optics (photo-sensors) "see" the wands to determine two-dimensional location and whether the button on the wand is depressed. By analyzing location information in real-time, the Lightning can determine acceleration and direction changes and turn these gestures into MIDI ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marimba Lumina
Marimba Lumina is a MIDI controller developed by American engineer Don Buchla that lets a musician play music via a control surface based on the layout of a marimba. Joel Davel and Mark Goldstein were the co-developers of the design and implementation of the hardware and software. The defining characteristic is its use of RF technology for the recognition of location along the key/bar and recognition of each of four mallets as a potentially unique input—allowing it to play stylistically conventional or unconventional music. The curved 4-1/3 octave Marimba Lumina "Gold" was first introduced in 1999 and played by Buchla “associate” Joel Davel at the Bell-Atlantic Jazz Festival in New York City. Later versions introduced in 2000 and 2001 were produced in collaboration with Nearfield Multimedia and include a 3.5 and 2.5 octave range. Performers known for playing the Marimba Lumina include Joel Davel of the Paul Dresher Ensemble, Vessela Stoyanova of Bury Me Standing and Goli, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buchla Synthesizers
Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments (BEMI) was a manufacturer of synthesizers and unique MIDI controllers. The origins of the company could be found in Buchla & Associates, created in 1963 by synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla of Berkeley, California. In 2012 the original company led by Don Buchla was acquired by a group of Australian investors trading as Audio Supermarket Pty. Ltd. The company was renamed Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments as part of the acquisition. In 2018 the assets of BEMI were acquired by a new entity, Buchla U.S.A., and the company continues under new ownership. Company origin Buchla's first modular electronic music system was the result of a San Francisco Tape Music Center commission by composers Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick in 1963, who later allotted $500 from a Rockefeller Foundation grant to Buchla in 1964. Subotnick envisioned a voltage-controlled instrument that would allow musicians and composers to create sounds suited to their own specificati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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