The Buchla system made live real-time electronic performance possible by removing the tape-splice workflow

Before the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System (1966), electronic music was built by a laborious tape process: set frequency, start recorder, stop recorder, measure, cut, splice, repeat. Buchla’s first design objective was to eliminate this by giving ‘direct, immediate control of musical parameters’ so instruments could be played in real time. The 1966 brochure states that live, on-line, real-time performance of electronic music without tape buffering was, to their knowledge, unprecedented, and notes the system had already been played on stage in Bay Area concerts. The point matters historically: it marks the shift from studio tape-composition to live electronic performance as a practice.

Examples

‘Live, on-line, real-time performance of electronic music without tape buffering is, to our knowledge, unprecedented.’ The note-forming routine it replaced: ‘set frequency-start recorder-stop recorder-measure-cut-splice-repeat.‘

Assessment

Explain what the tape-splice workflow was and why real-time voltage control of parameters made it obsolete for performance.