RIP Don Buchla

Tough year!  At least he had a full life though.

Moshkito
Hi,
 
RIP
 
There was a special, I think it was something like "I Dream of Wires" or equivalent, and they showed and discussed the West Coast thing that he and Subotnik were about. It really felt like ... let's get stoned and enjoy the music ... and we're not talking Fillmore, either!

It was definitely covered in "I Dream of Wires".
 
Something I've been thinking about is why some of his classic designs haven't crossed over outside of the West Coast synth thing, despite being wonderful in more traditional musical contexts. 
 
For instance the Lo-pass gate (LPG*) is glorious for certain kinds of sounds, but you pretty much don't see it anywhere outside of modular (I was never familiar with it). And some of the waveshaping, envelope styles and other stuff is also completely appropriate for more traditional music played with a traditional keyboard. But I did some searching today and there's close to nothing in terms of Buchla style VST stuff, though I did see the newest Reaktor does at least feature an LPG and a few other Buchla-style Blocks.
 
 
*The Lo-pass gate or LPG combines a non-resonant low pass filter and VCA into one, such that the filter and volume roll off together. If "pinged" (triggered with an impulse instead of shaped with an envelope) the design is such that you get a sound very much like a plucked string kind of thing because there's some decay built into the design and the filter rolls off as it decays in a very natural sounding way - even with a very unnatural sound at the input.