Buchla Thunder Overlay

Designed for expressive electronic music.

Legendary Expression Comes To The Morph

When it comes to expressive and unique instrument design, Buchla is a towering legend. 30 years ago, with the release of the Thunder, Don Buchla introduced a musical playing interface inspired by Native American art and the natural playing positions of the human hands and fingers.

Now, we’re thrilled to partner with Buchla U.S.A. to bring the Thunder to the Morph, for a modern update that combines the genius of Don Buchla’s ergonomic designs with the unparalleled force sensitivity of the Morph.

Put Play In Your Music

The Buchla Thunder Overlay is uniquely well-suited to a variety of instruments - from synthesizers with rich and evolving timbres, to acoustic samples that benefit from a more “human” touch, to hardware synthesizers like the legendary Buchla Easel. You can witness the richness of expression in this example of different instruments, reimagined with the Morph.

A Deep Collaboration with Buchla

Along with our friends at Buchla U.S.A., we dedicated extra care and engineering to making the Buchla Thunder Overlay a smooth and expressive experience worthy of the Buchla legacy.

30 Years In The Making

We worked closely with the team at Buchla on the feel, design, color, and sizing to respect history and take full advantage of the Morph platform. Each of the 27 areas of the Buchla Thunder Overlay transmits a dedicated note and can be used with any instrument that accepts MIDI or MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) input. The Buchla Thunder Overlay can further be customized to transmit any of the protocols supported by the Sensel App, including HID for gaming, computer keyboard commands, and more.

Native to MPE

The Buchla Thunder Overlay exclusively features a new preset system to the Morph. Using the preset button and the numerical keys, you can easily and instantly switch between nine mappings without needing to open the SenselApp. Need to go from an instrument controller to a virtual mixer? Want to choose from a variety of scales? Presets add a seamless extension of customization and expressive control to the Buchla Thunder Overlay.

Not So Soft

The Morph integrates beautifully with control voltage (CV) using USB-to-CV devices like the Snyderphonics MantaMate, the Expert Sleepers FH-2, the Endorphin.es Shuttle, and more.

You can also put new life in your old DX7 or brand new Prophet with a USB-MIDI host, such as those from Kenton and ExcelValley.

It's even part of a package with the new Buchla Easel Command. Learn more here.

You can find a current list of all hardware we've tested with the Morph here.