By 1966, Buchla was selling the Buchla 100 commercially and did so until 1969, when CBS bought the rights to the instrument. CBS quickly dropped production after apparently deciding there was no potential in the synthesizer market.

Buchla would go onto to design the 200 series Electric Music Box. Released in 1970, the 200 was an upgraded version of the Buchla 100; each sound parameter was controlled by an outside sequential voltage source, also known as the first electronic sequencer. The 200 was a success, and sold commercially until 1985. (Buchla revamped the 200 series in 2004 and sold them as the 200e.)

Throughout the '70s, Buchla would design and manufacture several electronic musical instruments, including the 300 and 500 Series, as well as the Music Easel, a small, self-contained analog synthesizer intended for live performance. Housed in a small case, it featured the same patch-style controls of other Buchla synths but included a controller that looked like a keyboard, yet didn't have keys -- Buchla would later state that he thought keyboards on synths were "unnatural."

"Two years ago, we decided it was time to stop dreaming about a new electronic instrument and actually create one," Buchla wrote in the introduction of the Music Easel's manual, Programming and Meta-Programming in the Electro-Organism: An Operating Directive for the Music Easel.

"We weren't particularly interested in imitating any extant instruments, either functionally or acoustically," he added. "We did want the potential for expressive, real time performer-instrument interaction."

Buchla would end up designing a synthesizer that incorporated a more traditional style keyboard called the Touché in the late '70s. In the '80s, Buchla would design software-controlled instruments and several midi controllers.

Buchla sold his company to an Australian company, Sound-Music, in 2012. It was renamed Buchla Electronic Music Instruments and moved to Oregon, with Buchla still working with the company. After his stroke in 2014, Buchla was fired, which led to the designer suing the company the following year for wrongful termination. The suit was settled in arbitration earlier this year, according to court records.

After news of his death spread online, electronic musicians took to social media to express their condolences.