Buchla unveils Ziggy West Coast synth

Buchla has announced preorder status for its new West Coast synthesiser: Ziggy.

Formed around the Buchla ‘complex oscillator’ and featuring a new ‘unpatched’ instrument experience, it offers quick, gestural means of assigning modulation and composing music.

Many familiar technologies onboard include digital control over analog audio, additive synthesis, unique and musical interactions, and a focus on creating an instrument rather than purely a synthesiser.

It works great on its own or can be paired with a range of controllers and DAWs via MIDI, USB and 1v/octave CV.

Sound shaping can be done in a number of ways, including via the Cycler original modulation source acting like a combination of clock, envelope generator, LFO and random generator.

Music and sound design can often incorporate the element of surprise via buttons and sliders.

Ziggy’s oscillators and low-pass gate are purely analog, but digital control over these elements allow for program saving and creative modulation.

Specifications

• Fully analog Complex and Modulation oscillators. The Modulation oscillator can operate at low frequency or audible rates. The shape is selectable from Sawtooth, Square, or Triangle. 
• The Complex Oscillator’s initial shape is a sine wave. It can be frequency or amplitude modulated by the Modulation Oscillator, distorted by the Timbre wavefolder, and blended into a spike, square, or sawtooth wave. 
• Create, Save, and Recall over 100 available factory and user programs. 
• The low pass gate (LPG) operates as a VCA, Filter, or Both, with a Sallen Key filter architecture. Envelopes are blended shapes, rather than traditional ADSR, encouraging discovery, rather than precision. 
• The Cycler modulator has a variety of shapes that can be mixed. The Cycler is easily assigned to parameters to create living, breathing, electronic music. Uncertainty can modify the Cycler as much or as little as you like, encouraging surprise. The XLFO is an extra LFO with a triangle shape, applicable anywhere. 
• CV modulation, gate, and 1v/oct pitch make it easy to coordinate with eurorack synthesizers and the Buchla LEM218 controller. 
• MIDI control through USB-C, five pin DIN, and type A mini gives you complete control over playback and sound. 
• External audio can be mixed into the LPG with a mono 3.5mm input jack.
• Creative tuning and quantization for western and non-western scales.
• Digital effects include reverb, delay, chorus, pitch shift, and flanger variations, with a wet/dry control and simple macro “size” parameter. 
• Stereo sound is accessed through 3.5mm headphone output and two ¼” jacks.
• Powered over USB-C – use a power bank, computer, or wall adapter (not included). (When adapting USB-C to older USB connections with less power, Ziggy’s second USB-C input is provided for power if necessary)
• A web browser with WebMIDI can be used to edit and archive patches as well as update firmware as we improve it. 

Ziggy is now on pre-order with a RRP of $999, expected to ship in August 2026.