black control knobs, and black and red output jacks. With its control surfaces and patching apparatus standardized, and the signal paths of each module clearly embossed in heather green, with a small-capital sans serif font, modules flattened and abstracted the functionality Buchla’s of each module, no matter what was behind the front panel—be it a single, hand-soldered circuit board, or a large spring-reverb unit that stretched the width of the cabinet. instrument Buchla’s presented its user with a system of well-defined individual modules whose configuration was completely undefined. The configuration of instrument was, by 1963, a common feature “open system” Buchla’s in electronics design. Indeed, by the early 1960s, there were many models of electronic instruments that generated, controlled, and that signal was musical, transmitted “signal”, whether biometric, communicative, or otherwise. Still, designs show two unique paths taken to Buchla’s change these extant instruments into something uniquely new. He applied the open system design philosophy to the transmission of music as a and he evolved extant “signal”; machine interfaces into new configurations that were novel for the control of music. Sociologist Richard Sennett has argued that craftspeople—whether working with circuits, cloth, or a that emerges from the potentialities of their material at hand. “material consciousness” Craftspeople, like Buchla, interested in the things [they] can “become particularly change.” Sennett describes the process of that craftspeople undertake with their material, “metamorphosis” which generally follows two strategies: one incrementally evolves the of the “type-form” material at hand (such as cars, kilns, and radios); the other combines two technologies to make a new one, such as the combination of radio and telephony creating the cellular telephone. Buchla both metamorphosed materials (knobs, wires, loudspeakers), and combined technologies (voltage control, touch-capacitive input, electronic oscillators), using a design philosophy that imagined
black control knobs, and black and red output jacks. With its control surfaces and patching apparatus standardized, and the signal paths of each module clearly embossed in heather green, with a small-capital sans serif font, Buchla’s modules flattened and abstracted the functionality of each module, no matter what was behind the front panel—be it a single, hand-soldered circuit board, or a large spring-reverb unit that stretched the width of the cabinet. Buchla’s instrument presented its user with a system of well-defined individual modules whose configuration was completely undefined. The “open system” configuration of Buchla’s instrument was, by 1963, a common feature in electronics design. Indeed, by the early 1960s, there were many models of electronic instruments that generated, controlled, and transmitted “signal”, whether that signal was musical, biometric, communicative, or otherwise. Still, Buchla’s designs show two unique paths taken to change these extant instruments into something uniquely new. He applied the open system design philosophy to the transmission of music as a “signal”; and he evolved extant interfaces into new configurations that were novel for the control of music. Sociologist Richard Sennett has argued that craftspeople—whether working with circuits, cloth, or a “material consciousness” that emerges from the potentialities of their material at hand. Craftspeople, like Buchla, “become particularly interested in the things [they] can change.” Sennett describes the process of “metamorphosis” that craftspeople undertake with their material, which generally follows two strategies: one incrementally evolves the “type-form” of the material at hand (such as cars, kilns, and radios); the other combines two technologies to make a new one, such as the combination of radio and telephony creating the cellular telephone. Buchla both metamorphosed materials (knobs, wires, loudspeakers), and combined technologies (voltage control, touch-capacitive input, electronic oscillators), using a design philosophy that imagined machine