Buchla Ziggy: the complex oscillator gets a friendly standalone synth

It’s been decades in coming: what if you took the best parts of the classic Buchla complex oscillator with its, well, ziggy waveshapes, and built a friendly compact synth around it? It’s all that modular fun, but in a package that lets you tweak right away without connecting a single patch cord.

From Éliane Radigue to West Coast, Homework is a patchable wonder

It’s a modular week, yes, but here are things you can never have too much of: great food, open beaches, modular environments, and Giorgio Sancristoforo sound playgrounds. So here’s Homework, a 4-track cassette recorder, retro effects including granular processor and tape echo, and modular synths inspired by Buchla and ARP. It’s all you need to recreate some Éliane Radigue-inspired drones and float away on a sea of noise.

Peter Kirn - May 4, 2026

Soundbites: the music inventions of NAMM, Buchla and Friends

Gear-mas comes but once a year. But with swirling doom and gloom, just how is the world of making musical instruments? We sent Nadia Says, along with Burak Yerebakan, Portrait XO, Franck Martin, and Mehdi Hassine to find out, at the mighty NAMM show in Anaheim — and the indie Buchla & Friends in LA, too. Here’s the show viewed through artists and makers alike, one portrait at a time.

Nadia Says - January 30, 2026

GForce just made a West Coast, MPE-playable synth playground

Peter Kirn - October 28, 2025

Here are the best Labor Day Weekend deals right now, shipped in USA

Peter Kirn - August 30, 2025

El Jaguar: re-amped Colombian Picó sound systems as instrument

Peter Kirn - May 22, 2025

Go watch this video on Buchla, Spectraphon, and spectral animation

Peter Kirn - January 3, 2025

The low pass gate, now in stereophonic sound: Make Noise unveils DXG

Peter Kirn - January 8, 2024

CDM Deals: Independence Day edition

Peter Kirn - July 3, 2023