Tiptop Audio Buchla Model 281t

Very snappy and fast AD envelopes with lots of possibilities. Its fun to use easy to achive complex stuff. Compared to other similair quad envelopes this is very fast and versatile, and makes my good old Qbit quad AD envelope act like snail. The quality is TIP TOP, nothing too fancy but it sure does its job better than many other gear. Like in Buchla stuff general, also this module has some tricks and a slight learning curve to crack its secrets but once it deliveres its magic, happiness is granted.

first thing, when put it in my case the module was still a bit loose and moved even with the screws fully tightened when pushing the switches upwards.so i swapped the screws with some doepfer ones and that fixed the problem.

ive never seen a "real" buchla so i cant compare it, but it is a lot of fun to play with and experiment with. it can work as 4 independant envelopes or (sort of) lfos but the real fun is cascading them and modulating the attack/decay with lfos to get random stuff going on as they send cv to pitch/pwm of vcos. the attack and decay knobs are hard to reach when its all cabled up but because the knobs dont resist as much as other modules knobs you can move them just with your fingers.

also, when the function generator is in cycle mode it goes up into self oscillation, so this module is also (sort of) 4 oscillators...with a catch. if you send a volt per octave cv from a keyboard into the attack or decay you can play it from a keyboard (completely atonally, but thats ok cus i like atonality), but the pitch is backwards. high notes are at the bottom and low notes at the top of the keyboard. they work better as sound sources if the incoming cv comes from a sample and hold through an attenuator and you can also just drone them. ok thats not a main feature of this module but it is fun to experiment with.

overall i love this and i hope i can get other tiptop/buchla modules in the future.

Ich habe das Modul direkt nach der Ankündigung im Februar bestellt und nun 7 Monate später erhalten. Was soll ich sagen? Das Warten hat sich gelohnt. 4 Sektionen die sich als VCO, LFO und Hüllkurve nutzen lassen. Dazu interne Patchmöglichkeiten durch EOC. Einfach super. Dazu für ein Modul mit diesem Funktionsumfang zu einem relativ günstigen Preis. Der Traum nach dem Verkauf meines Easels vor einigen Jahren wieder einen Buchla zu besitzen kommt näher.