West coast synthesis is a way of synthesising sounds through additive synthesis. This is when harmonics are added to simple waveforms as opposed to sculpting a sound from a more complicated waveform using a filter (subtractive synthesis). Above all west coast synthesis is a way of thinking, and approaching synthesis. Don Buchla, the pioneer of west coast synthesis repeatedly chose to explore different routes to achieve his goals. For example, on the Music Easel he decided to include a five step sequencer, an interesting choice considering most western music revolves around 4/4 or 3/4. As well as a touch plate which is pressure and movement sensitive. Buchla also created an array of different controllers for his creations, one of them being the Thunder. The Thunder consists of touch plates of varying size and shape, these could be assigned to any midi controller number or any note number on any midi channel. These keys responded to pressure and location allowing the synthesiser to feel more organic and real. Many people see piano playing, keyboards and synthesisers as mutually exclusive when this isn’t the case, his drive to stray away from the norms of synthesis is the reason why the sounds created by his instruments are so valued and sought after, as they are such a departure from the norms developed in the more used east coast synthesis during the mid to late 20th century.

After being interested in Buchla’s instruments and creations for a long time I decided to buy a complex oscillator in the eurorack modular format. A complex oscillator is composed of two separate oscillators, the carrier oscillator and modulator oscillator. The modulator oscillator modulates the carrier oscillator to create more complex waveforms and sounds. I decided to buy the Endorphin.es Furthrrr Generator which is based off the Buchla Model 259 complex oscillator. The module consists of the two oscillators mentioned above, you can choose how the modulator oscillator modulates the carrier oscillator via switches. The options are balanced (ring), AM, FM and ‘furthrrr modulation’. This will increase or decrease the amount of waveshaping that happens to the waveform. This leads on to the waveshaping section where there are two knobs for the symmetry and the order of the waveform. Playing around with these creates interesting and different tones similar to a filter with the resonance cranked up but without the removal of any frequencies.

The final aim when creating my eurorack case is combining the parts of different types of synthesis I enjoy together creating a hybrid case. For instance, I have west coast inspired modules like the make noise maths, a function generator that can act as an LFO, an AD (attack decay) and a host of many other utilitarian jobs. I have east coast synthesis inspired modules like having my filters and VCAs separate from each other when in west coast synthesis these are combined together in one module, called a low pass gate. I have a clone of mutable instruments clouds, a granular processor and I’m planning to get a module capable of karplus strong synthesis. Eventually I will have built a case that includes the parts of synthesis I most enjoy.