Thanks to Don Hassler for contacting me out of the blue and mentioning Buchla. I am not a music geek (well, ok, buy me a beer and we can discuss it) — I didn’t know about these people until I looked it up. Basically, I really don’t know anything about music/sound producing devices, regardless of how much I like the stuff, and regardless of how much I keep talking about (sometimes just to myself) sound installation ideas and whatnot. I just starting reading a Jorge Luis Borges writings collection, so in keeping with that spirit, I am declaring my favorite Buchla device to be the Model 250e pictured here.
What on earth does the Model 250e do, you ask? Well, it is, quite simply, the ARBITRARY FUNCTION GENERATOR. I know, I’m making a big deal out of it, but I’m seriously considering making mock business cards with the job title “Arbitrary Function Generator.” It’s at once obtuse and accurate, and I have to say, quite frankly, kicks the ass out of the job title that I was interested in at Razorfish back in 1996-7 (which was “Swiss Army Knife”) (and incidentally, my job title at AvenueA-Razorfish in 2005-6 wasn’t nearly as snazzy). The other benefit of “Arbitrary Function Generator” is that its just obtuse enough that people won’t bother asking for an explanation.
As for the 250e — I also like the fact that its got a bunch of identical round knobs in concentric circle formations.