LA67 Mort’s Barge: 6U 5-module Buchla 100-series based modular synth
4,5 / 5,0 | 
LA67 brings together a classic array of modules made famous by Morton Subotnick for Mort’s Barge, the ultimate Buchla experience in a small modular system.
Mort’s Barge
There’s been some discussion in the comments over the “6U” sizing of the modular system which I incorrectly assumed referred to the height of the system. I am reliably informed by Dan from LA67 that 6U in Buchla nomenclature refers to “width units”. The height of the 100-series modules is actually 4U.
But ultimately, while it’s a fair bit bigger than a Eurorack system you’ve only got 5 different modules and so in terms of functionality, this is small and beautifully intense.
The modules in question are the Model 158 Dual Sine-Sawtooth Generator, the Model 110 Dual Voltage Controlled Gate, The Model 180 Dual Attack Generator, the Model 140 Timing Pulse Generator and the Model 123 Sequential Voltage Source. There’s a lot of duality going on to give you a couple of voices to play with or at least a dual oscillator voice.
LA67 Mort’s Barge
The Dual Voltage Controlled Gate definitely looks like it’s missing something. It only occupies the top half of the model. Couldn’t LA67 have squeezed something else in there like a wavefolder or effects module of some kind?
Anyway, there’s a YouTube demo of the system in action from a couple of months ago that gives you a fascinating indication of what’s possible with this beautiful collection of modules.
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LA67 has opened preorders for the quite reasonable price (for Buchla) of €1850 and aims to ship in late September. LA67 is based in Spain and if you are ordering outside the EU you will have to supply your own external power transformer.
What a fabulous thing. It looks enormous like you’re controlling the dials on an oven but in a good way! The sequencer is really interesting offering 3 channels of 8-steps. It uses the Model 140 Timing Pulse Generator as its clock which also fires the Dual Attack Generators. There’s a lot going on for just a handful of modules.
And here’s Morton himself.
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- LA67 Mort's Barge: LA67
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6 responses to “LA67 Mort’s Barge: 6U 5-module Buchla 100-series based modular synth”
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Are you sure about 6U? I know the 200 series modules are 4U – same as Serge. I’m pretty sure the 100 series were also 4U.
Well, the website says “Mort’s Barge is a 5 module, 6U 100 Series mini-system.” And if you look at the video you can see how huge the modules are compared to the fella’s fingers. So yeah, it appears to be 6U.
It’s 4U high. Width is 6 Buchla units.
You are indeed right – i’ve corrected the text.
Sorry – but their webpage is wrong. If you blow up image of the Barge until the rows of banana jacks are 0.75″ apart – which the Buchlas used, then the module height is exactly 7″ = 4u. This also matches up with the diameter of panel-mount banana jacks of 0.436″ ( https://tinyurl.com/rn9tmw4a ). I’ve also found other websites that specify that they are 7″ high ( http://www.theonehundreds.com/ ).
Finally, there was a long thread on modwiggler.com about the Barge and this very topic came up. Someone measured it and it was 7″ high. See the few posts starting here: https://www.modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3673808#p3673808
Why they called it 6u, I have no idea!
You are very convincing. I’ve reached out to Dan at LA67 for confirmation.