Published
Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 08:40
- A subsidiary company called Red Label has been set up for the new line of products.
Buchla USA will release a new line of modules under a subsidiary company called Red Label.
The brand that bought the rights to Don Buchla's name before the pioneering instrument designer's death in 2016 introduced the plan on Facebook yesterday. The idea is to roll out Buchla-branded Eurorack modules that are "priced within the reach of the average musician," starting with Buchla's 100 series line, which he designed and built in the '60s.
Nine modules are being released, including remakes of the 158 Dual Channel Oscillator, 112 Touch Controlled Voltage Source, 110 Quad Voltage Controlled Gate and 190 Dual Reverberator, all of which are set to become available in Spring 2019. (The name Red Panel appears to be a reference to a vintage Buchla 100 series module that was supposedly dipped in LSD.)
The Australian distributor Audio Supermarket Pty. Ltd. bought the rights to the Buchla brand in 2012 after a battle of cancer left him unable to run the company. In 2015, Buchla sued the new owners for not paying the full amount promised in the sale and unlawfully firing him as an employee. Buchla also alleged that a stroke he suffered in 2014 was in part caused by stress born from Audio Supermarket's “breaching activity and bad-faith conduct."
Buchla's synthesisers remain a pinnacle of 20th century instrument design. The philosophy and techniques behind his instruments, known as the West Coast approach to synthesis, have greatly influenced modern-day Eurorack module manufacturers like Make Noise, Verbos and many more.
Last week, KORG introduced a budget Volca synthesiser that copied Buchla's aesthetic and synthesis techniques.