I was very fortunate to have been asked to demo the Buchla 200e on it's second public appreance during the four days of the NAMM show in Anahiem in January 2005.

In a related stroke of luck, I spent the week before that with Donald Buchla in Berkeley coming up to speed on the machine prior to this launch. Both enlightening and productive, this week did have its share of anecdotes and allow me to share one in particular with you:

When I arrived at Chateau Buchla, Don greeted me at the door, invited me in and informed me that he was giving a demo on the instrument to Chris Adam of Emagic. As I entered the room where the beast resided, Chris Adam turned to me and asked if I was Peter Grenader, and then mentioned that he owned a Cynthia Milton Sequencer and 'loved it'. Although this alone is hardly anecdotal, and as its poppa I will admit that while the Milton Sequencer has it's innovations - you must keep in miind that I was not only in the house of, but standing NEXT TO the man who INVENTED the sequencer in 1963- Don Buchla.

d'OH!!

This embarrassing, albeit brief moment passed quickly and was all but forgotten until we sat down for lunch afterward, when Don casually asked 'So...what's a Milton", (d'OH!, squared). I then launched into an explanation of not only it's conventions, but the design architecture with the man who had ultimately made it all possible. THAT was real kick in the pants!