Don Buchla declared war on the keyboard, viewing it as a 19th-century relic. His modular systems with touch plates created the "West Coast Synthesis" philosophy, where timbre matters more than notes.
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Buchla's approach (West Coast Synthesis) relied not on filtering, but on creating timbres from scratch via FM modulation and waveshaping. Instead of a keyboard, he used touch plates sensitive to finger pressure.
The main innovation was the sequencer. Buchla was the first to propose an instrument that plays itself. The musician didn't press notes but set up a system generating infinite, self-evolving rhythms. The artist's role shifted from performer to designer.
node.music - an interactive map of the history of electronic sound
From the Telharmonium, which streamed sound over telephone wires at the end of the 19th century, to music written by AI.
Scroll down - that is how you move through time in a straight line. The [INFLUENCE] mode in the top menu shows connections: who begat whom and how concepts shaped each other. To explore the influences deeper, switch to [HORIZON VIEW].
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Black lines are direct links: technology, descent, founding, rivalry.Grey lines are looser: ideas, techniques, collaborations.Hover over a line to see what it connects.
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node.music
Interactive timeline of electronic music history, from the 200-ton Telharmonium (1897) to neural audio.
> SEARCH — Find an event by title or author
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CLICK / PLAY / WATCH / NOISE / SWEEP — SYSTEM SOUNDS. CLOSING STOPS AUDIO.
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