Buchla Thunder is one of many in the family of MIDI controllers consisting of tactile control surfaces , which are manipulated by hand.
8-516: Developed by electronic instrument designer Don Buchla in 1989, Thunder is a musical instrument controller with an array touch sensitive keys. Keys 1 to 9 respond to pressure and keys 10 to 25, with the feather graphic respond to both pressure AND location. Thunder's software — known as “STORM” — allows assignment of any key's touch, pressure and/or location to any MIDI controller number or note number on any MIDI channel. Keys can also be assigned to start and stop “Riffs" that might be programmed as part of
16-581: A footswitch, a footpedal, and a memory card slot for backup. Thunder has a sophisticated built-in user interface, employing an 80-character displaying menus that get selected from small hexagon touch keys below the display and data entry using the “Thunder” strip below that. Thunder is a pure controller, with no internal sound generator of its own. As designed, it could either use the MIDI protocol or Buchla's own more flexible WIMP (Wideband Instrument Musical Protocol). Perhaps because of its uninspiring name, WIMP
24-430: A subsequent decrease in air pressure which brings it back to normal, a decrease in air pressure (less pressure than initial conditions), and lastly, an increase which brings atmospheric pressure back to normal again. Therefore, the final conditions are the same as the initial, at-rest conditions. The first kind is simple and is called the vibrating or oscillating piston. Examples of this type of sound generator include
32-405: A trumpet) is partially open and a short stream of air under pressure is released. In the second step of a full cycle, the valve is completely open and pressure is at a maximum. In the third cycle, the valve is partially closed, and the pressure has decreased from the maximum value. Then, the valve is closed and the pressure is the same as normal undisturbed atmospheric pressure. Thus, a full cycle
40-488: The preset. (“Riffs" precede and are similar to “clips” in Ableton Live.) Early versions had LEDs and photodiodes on a circuit board below a reflective drum membrane. It sensed the velocity of the taps as well as tracked X, Y, and pressure of each finger on the membrane. Later versions used capacitive technology to sense the deformation of the grounded graphic overlay. There are 8 user presets. Other inputs include
48-405: The pressure is back to normal, and a following decrease in air pressure called rarefaction . One complete cycle is produced when a drum is hit once with force. The second kind of sound generator is the method utilized by wind instruments , such as trumpets . At the beginning of the cycle, sound pressure is normal. Then, an opening called an aperture (such as the opening on the mouthpiece of
56-413: The soundboard of a piano , the surfaces of drums and cymbals , the diaphragm of loudspeakers , etc. The forward movement of something through the atmosphere causes an immediate increase in air pressure ( compression ) or condensation in the air adjacent to the piston. A complete cycle, or one complete soundwave, consists of an increase of pressure in the air, a subsequent decrease of pressure so that
64-465: Was never adopted. The CPU is a TMS320. Ahead of its time, there were fewer than 100 made. Sound generator A sound generator is a vibrating object which produces a sound. There are two main kinds of sound generators (thus, two main kinds of musical instruments ). A full cycle of a sound wave will be described in each example which consists of initial normal conditions (no fluctuations in atmospheric pressure), an increase of air pressure,
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