Title link takes you to the post by Carbon111 on Synthwire."The Serge is kind of hard to nail-down and quantify because, depending on how they're patched, some modules can be many different things - this is called "patch programmable" in serge-speak.
Most notable in this regard is the Dual Universal Slope Generator, it can be any of the following things:
-Non-linear lowpass filter
-Envelope follower
-Sub-harmonic generator
-Linear portamento
etc..."
Fascinating when you think about it. What other modulars can do this?
yes of course, 100 and 200 series buchla is of the same mindset... of course this is becaouse serge was working with don, ripped off loads of his future concepts, cut down the ones he couldn't sort on his own and started serge.
ReplyDeletehistorically, serge is fundamentally buchla... truth lost in between the lines of history. i remember years ago don being upset at this... ask him today what he thinks of serge and he will respond like: "it was fun to design it."
That is such utter bullshit. When we were hand building the first modulars with Serge it was fairly obvious who the circuit designs came from.
ReplyDeletego compare circuits between the 180 and the dtg and come back. or the 192 and the vcfs.
ReplyDeleteThe Buchla Wave Multiplier Module?? I don't think so! ;)
ReplyDeleteA Buchla filter with resonance?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so?
Jeez, guys, settle down. Serge was obviously influenced by Don when he was at CalArts. I don't think its a case of outright stealing at all. Most of the Serge modules, including the famous DTG and DSG were assembled from slew generators which has a fairly uniform circuit topology. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteDon's rigid segragation of audio and CV was in stark contrast to Serge's all in one philosophy. They are very different systems with different modules and different working methods, period.
"go compare circuits between the 180 and the dtg and come back. or the 192 and the vcfs."
ReplyDeletei just double checked for fun, and its suprising how UNlike these are! the 192 is a MANUAL lopass filter. no voltage control, no resonance control, no variable slope. basically nothing in common with the awesome serge vcfs variable slope filter. and i wont even go into the 180.
doctor future rears his ignorant head again. both the 291 and the 291e feature resonance.
ReplyDeleteOkay, its my turn. ^_^
ReplyDeleteThe 180 is nothing like a DTG. Where is the audio input? Without it, there's no envelope follower, filtering or ASR functionality. Where is the gate output? Without it there is no LFO or repeat functionality. Where are the CV inputs for slope angles?
Its sad to see "true believers" arguing over which God tastes better, especially when they've obviously never eaten the fruit.
Sooner or later, all modulars will do what all other have done. Plan-B covers some of the old Buchla stuff and Banalogue has the Slope Generator and sooner or later will copy the rest.
ReplyDeletei love em all!
ReplyDeleteA hissy fit over the banjos in a box, lol, you guys are funny :-)
ReplyDeleteTo the anonymous one who said "The Buchla Wave Multiplier Module?? I don't think so! ;)"
ReplyDeleteThe Timbre section of a Music Easel, an old 259, or a current 261e is certainly in the same class of modifier as the wave multiplier. It's tied to the output of an oscillator, so you can't process with it, but in general, it is a similar sort of thing.
As far as I know, part of the genesis of the Serge system was as a "people's synthesizer", because the Buchla was deemed too expensive. What emerged was a new system that incorporated a lot of the same sort of concepts as the Buchla, but priced so that students could afford it.
ReplyDeleteI had a four panel Serge from 1976 to about 1983, and it was a great system. Unfortunately, it was shortly after I got my Serge that I had an opportunity to spend a lot of quality time with a Buchla 200/300 system, courtesy of Bob Beede who taught electronic music at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. The 1976 vintage Buchla was a very impressive system. At the time I comforted myself with the thought that my Serge was way cheaper than the Buchla.
During the period between when Serge was in San Francisco and now, the Serge prices have gone up so much that they are rapidly approaching Buchla range. Given this, I think that people will just resonate with one system or the other, and that will be the system for them. For me that is Buchla, although I still have fondness for Serge systems, and have some regrets about selling it when I did.