Buchla Pushes Back Ziggy, Its First Portable West Coast Synth

Ziggy is the company's first portable West Coast synth, aimed at bringing that lineage's semi-modular sound design to a smaller, more affordable format for the first time.

The instrument combines analog circuitry with digital control, built around a complex analog oscillator, a modulation oscillator with switchable waveforms, a timbre wavefolder for harmonic shaping, and a low-pass gate that works as both filter and amplifier. A cycling modulator and extended low-frequency oscillator round out the modulation options, while onboard digital effects add reverb, pitch shifting, flanging, delay, and distortion.

According to the company, the extra months went toward improving the signal-to-noise ratio, tightening build quality, swapping in custom-spec components, consolidating connectivity around a single USB-C port, reworking the modulation section, and expanding preset memory, alongside a browser-based editor for managing patches.

Ziggy carries over a hundred factory presets with room for user patches, plus 1V/octave pitch and gate CV inputs, USB-C, 5-pin DIN and 3.5mm MIDI, and standard audio jacks. It's listed for pre-order at $999 / €1,039, a price point clearly aimed at producers who've wanted Buchla's approach to synthesis without the modular price tag or the patch cable clutter.

Source: Synth Anatomy