Published
Wed, Mar 25, 2015, 15:25
- The iconic synth maker claims the company he sold his brand to, Audio Supermarket Pty. Ltd., hasn't lived up to the terms of their 2012 deal.
Don Buchla has filed a lawsuit in California agains the brand that bears his name.
Buchla's famed Series 100, the modular beast that Morton Subotnick used on the '60s electronic classic Silver Apples Of The Moon, made him a mythical figure in the world of synthesizers, and contemporary Buchlas like the 200e are still a hot commodity among producers like Max Loderbauer. But as FACT reported earlier today, Buchla sold his original company, Buchla & Associates, in 2012, while he was battling cancer. Buchla was owed $440,000 and named chief technology officer of the new company, Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments, as part of the deal with the new owners, Audio Supermarket Pty. Ltd. But Buchla alleges that the company reneged on both counts: Audio Supermarket is more than $300,000 short of their promised payment, the suit says, and they let him go from his CTO position in 2013 "without good cause."
The goal of the suit is to get back much of what Audio Supermarket got out of the 2012 deal, plus damages for breaching that agreement and for the stroke Buchla had in 2014, which he says was caused by stress stemming from the situation. You can dive into the case documents here.