Artist Spotlight: Musical Fungus - Eleusis | Source Of Uncertainty: A Buchla Podcast 4U

The first time I ever saw a Buchla system I was curious and intrigued. When I first heard a Buchla system I instantly fell in love with the timbres and have been exploring Don's circuits ever since. The sound of the Easel's Complex Oscillator or the Programmable Complex Waveform Generator Model 259 are unlike any other oscillator I have ever used. And the in depth interconnected relationship with their Modulation Oscillators makes them instruments in their own right. There is truly something magical in Don's designs. Something that attracts and inspires musicians from all corners of the world and all walks of life, to push their boundaries and think outside the musical status quo.

In my mind the Buchla ecosystem is the perfect platform for live musical improvisation. Raw stream of consciousness materialized by the musicians creativity and rewarded through careful exploration of the system. My favorite quote from Don is "Anything is possible. We're not limited by technology; we're not limited by instruments. We're limited only by our mindsets." Its this quote that continues to inspire me to explore new ideas in the creation of sound and to be fearless in my approach to improvised live performance. This piece of music is a manifestation of that quote and a glimpse into my creative mindset. An eclectic mix composed of various patches reflecting and archiving where I was and what I was feeling during that moment in time.

One of my favorite ways to create music is to wake up, fire up the Buchla, hit record, and just explore the endless possibilities. Whether I end up liking the patch or not I always make it a habit of documenting the results and adding it to my personal sonic journal. I love the places I go and the emotions I experience when freely improvising on my Buchla. I believe I produce my best work with this method and it has personally become a powerful creative technique that I continue to explore.

All sounds heard in this piece were one take recordings with no overdubbing or multi tracking. Recorded between March and December of 2020 straight from the mixer to a Zoom H4n Pro. While I have a growing collection of 200 series clones that were used in these recordings from time to time. This piece of music was done almost entirely on a Music Easel through various outboard effect units.

Modules used in performance:

- 2016 Bemi Music Easel (208 and 218e)

- Progammable Complex Waveform Generator Model 259r

- Source of Uncertainty Model 266

- Mixer/Preamplifer Model 207r

-Quad Lopass Gate Model 292c

- Quad Function Generator Model 281r

- Dual Voltage Processor Model 257r

Effects used in performance:

- Sony TC-366 reel to reel (for tape delay)

-Strymon Timeline

-Strymon Big Sky