AN ARRAY OF CONTROL VOLTAGE INPUTS AND OUTPUTS permits the instrument's powerful control structure to interact with a variety of auxiliary equipment. 200 series modules may be used to augment the 400 for specialized applications, ranging from biofeedback control to signal processing of accompanying instruments. Pulse interconnections allow synchronization with external events, additional instruments, or other media; and individual voice outputs facilitate post-processing of signals.
To further assure ease of expansion of resources
and capabilities, the internal processor incorporates the industry standard
IEEE-696 bus. By adding readily available plug-in cards, the instrument can
be expanded into flexible computer system appropriate to applications such as
word processing, network communications or program development.
The instrument's operational language (MIDAS) is programmed in musicFORTH, a high level language distinguished by its transportability, extensibility and ease of user access. MIDAS presently combines a real-time score editor with a comprehensive instrument definer. New versions of MIDAS will add new capabilities, keeping the Buchla 400 a growing and vital instrument with ever-expanding resources.