Building a West Coast percussion preset in Easel V

Let’s fire up Arturia’s colourful Buchla Easel V and patch together a trippy West Coast sequence

01 >

After loading the Default preset, we’ll head to the synth’s Sequential Voltage Source – a five-step sequencer – and drag the five sliders around to create a random sequence. We then patch two cables from the sequencer’s output into the Dual Lo Pass Gate’s two mod inputs.

02 >

Next, we pull down both of these mod amount sliders to around 2. The Dual Lo Pass Gate is now dampening the sequencer-triggered outputs of both the Complex (Gate 1) and Modulation (Gate 2) oscillators. We then crank up Master Volume for more level, and raise Reverb for some springy ambience.

03 >

The synth’s Pulser outputs a repeated trigger signal. We’ll patch its Frequency output into the Complex Oscillator’s Pitch modulation input. By flipping the Pulser’s Trigger Select to Pulser, then Mode to Free, this sharp signal randomly alters the first osc’s pitch.

04 >

Buchla Easel V features an Inverter, which can be used to flip a control signal around. We’ll patch the Pulser’s output into the Inverter’s input, then the inverter’s Output into the Modulation Oscillator’s Frequency mod input. The two oscillators’ pitches are now bubbling up and down in opposing directions.

05 >

Let’s now alter our percussive sequence’s timbre. We push up the Complex Oscillator’s Timbre slider for a more complex tone, and mix in a Square wave for density. After that, we adjust the Modulation Oscillator’s Frequency and Modulation amount over the Complex Oscillator.

06

From here, we flip the Modulation Oscillator to a Square wave for bite, and tweak the Dual Lo Pass Gate’s two modulation sliders to emphasise the sequence’s pluckiness. We also switch the Random Voltage generator to Pulser mode, then use this to modulate the Pulser’s Period amount.