Library Instrument
Buchla 100
Don Buchla's modular voltage-controlled synthesizer, commissioned by the San Francisco Tape Music Center in the early 1960s.
Commissioned by the San Francisco Tape Music Center — Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender wanted an instrument for composition and performance rather than a laboratory tool — Don Buchla’s 100 series, built through the early 1960s, was among the first voltage-controlled modular synthesizers. Its touch-plate keying, complex-waveform oscillators, and sequencer-driven approach set it apart from Robert Moog’s contemporary, keyboard-based instruments, establishing what became known as “West Coast” synthesis.