Suzanne Ciani gives an in-depth demonstration of how she composes using the Buchla 200e for our latest Composer Magazine feature. composer.spitfireaudio.com/en... See our previous features here: composer.spitfireaudio.com/en
This only scratches the surface of this artist and her contributions to the electronic music genre. Suzanne is in world of her own making--a true artist!
I've never even heard of Suzanne before this video, it's a shame because she is super talented and over 40yrs experience in synthesis. Thanks Spitfire for sharing this video.
@@sweetvalerie7823 Yep. She is amazing. On a Sunday morning while you're relaxing, put on her album called "Buchla Concerts 1975". Its on Apple Music, Spotify, and RU-vid. Tan album cover with black art of a synthesizer.
Suzanne is so rad! So much love, enthusiasm, and so many ideas. Inspired and inspiring. Anyone notice that she's got patch cables around her neck during the whole thing? Even when they're doing the close-up interview shots? I'm imagining her walking downstairs to make morning coffee in fuzzy slippers with patch cables.
When I trained as a Telecommunications Technician around 1976, I was in a classroom lab that had VCOs and VCFs. I nearly died. If the period had not ended I would have just stayed there all day and into the night. I thought "There is no end to what you could do with these." Case in point here. What a lady! How did I not hear of her earlier?
I never knew about her until YT suggested a video where she was composing for pinball machines. Now this video came up and i'm a HUGE FAN. Thanks Spitfire!
10:28 She's such a genius - I love how she wears her patch cables like a necklace! Her thoughts on movement and space with sound are so inspiring to me, thank you! 💙
I've picked up so much about sequencer music composition from recent Ciani documentaries, and this is probably the best one so far. These techniques are somewhat guarded, there are so few people who know these instruments well enough to articulate composition technique, and I guess even fewer who have a platform for doing so; its so cool that she's illustrating all of these patches and going into so much detail on the Marf.
Suzanne is a master of synthesis in every sense of the meaning. Words cannot encapsulate how moving her soundscapes and theories truly are. I began exploring sound design through my semi-modular synth (Korg Volca Modular), and it provides me with joy that defies adequate definition. All of the tools available to us in these times are truly wonderful, and allow for exploration no matter your skill level, preferred workflow or understanding. Cheers to all who resonate with the idea that our sonic palates are without limits.
would you recommend the volca modular as an entry point into modular synthesis? I have a volca drum/sample as well as a sp404 and other various samplers drum machines. Got lots of experience with vst synthesis too
I'm older than a kid, but starting learning music late. Very grateful for the level of accessibility these days, and as eager to learn as Suzanne is to teach. Super rad to see all the tips and tutorials and lessons available online.
This is why I have always loved Ciani. Her reverence for the Buchla 200e has yielded some amazing work over these decades. The sum is far greater than the parts. Masterful work and a seemingly fathomless knowledge of her tools. This goes beyond just her passion for the Buchla. This is a love affair! Lucky for us, she made the affair public. Hats off to a true pioneer. Status: Legendary. 🥰😍🤩
I saw her do a master class at University of Michigan last fall. She was wonderful! She had the exact same kit at her performance there. It was all set up in quad and it sounded great!
Spitfire, thank you for letting her shine! What a lovely window into Suzanne as artist and educator. I'm completely smitten with the idea of making music directly from electricity like this. Listening to Suzanne compose and talk takes it to a whole next level of inspiration.
Thank you Suzanne. I love Seven Waves. It has been a constant companion for psychedelic experiences. It seems to me to be one of the most expressive uses of the synthesizer ever recorded. That album and As Falls Wichita So Falls Wichita Falls by Pat Metheny are my favorite tripping albums. Not only do I love them, but the entities in hyperspace seem to love them too. Of course, those entities may just be aspects of my consciousness. Hey, at least I know I love those albums to my very core. I'd also like to say that I am so happy that Suzanne is going back to her experimental roots and that she has worked with Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith.
I'm so happy to hear about an artist that's excited as I am about sound design. I've spent hours on a patch, working until I hear voices and choirs in the software TERA sound engine, which doesn't use samples. Doing it all with filter envelopes and PPG style waves. Knowing how the sound is generated with the gear you're using only gets you so far. Magic only happens when you're willing to experiment. I picked up a Montage when they came out so I could play with FM. FM was so frustrating to me until I got past the basics and decided to learn and then disregard the tutorials, freeing myself to experiment radically with very long pitch envelopes and motion sequencing. I can get 8 separate 8 operator voices with separate envelopes and motion sequences per voice, all running at the same time and I'm getting wild freeform but rhythmic stuff out of it. And I laugh when people can't believe it's coming from a Yamaha Montage, which everybody considers to be a boring conformist workstation rompler! Is it music? I don't care. It doesn't sound like anything else out there, and it's got a beat haha!
As I watch this today, it is only a few hours after the passing of Vangelis. I feel such gratitude for all of the pioneers. Thank you Spitfire for making this highly important feature on Suzanne.
Susan reminded me of how me and my friend would bring our Sony stereo cassette recorders to the beach, and record an hour of the ocean waves/swells moving through the rocks on the jetty or splashing up onto the beach. The water and the sound of seagulls, was something special to listen to, when back home. She has the appreciation for that kind of listening/playing that I find so uplifting. I am so glad to see this video, and learn more about her. I am also a big synthesizer enthusiast, since I was a tanager, currently building an Easel clone. I feel I can really relate to what she is saying/playing. Thanks very much for posting.
I once had to drive from LA to SF overnight, this station we were listening to stopped playing music at midnight and just sent out the sound of the ocean. It kept us going all the way.
I actually do the same thing but I record the sound of my cubical and the office on a cassette and then when I go to the beach I play it really loud so everyone around me can relax by the ocean.
Nicely done video. Suzanne really is a master musician of this artform. Interesting that she elaborated on the extreme cost of the earlier hardware. Still very pricey, but more accessible, with more functionality to many. Her modular setup is relatively minimal, compared to some others. "Analog is back" . . . yes it is! From 4+ decades ago, my own primordial experiments being spawned, and now it has come back to life.
I still remember reading her cover profile on Keyboard Magazine back in the 80's. I believed she mentioned she had vision of creating futuristic disco type environment. She is a lovely lady.
She's made a really good explanation of her composition method there, you should get a printout of her 'Buchla Cookbook ', from various sources online, which includes the sheet music for her 'Four Sequences ' , you could apply her method to keyboard synths and other instruments.
I love 18:50, but after 19:09 I ask myself "what's going on" - because the music is introducing a strange tone to the sounscape. The overall impression: it's the best of what I heard in mod. synth.
Long ago I had a sixteen panel Serge modular that i would make sounds . .or rather “try” to make sounds as well as this brilliant woman does. I miss it so much. There are no limits with a Buchla or a Serge.
I have always loved music. My parents both play instruments. Recently I wanted to understand and just plain experience music in a deeper way. Crazy thing is how fast I am already feeling it happen. Everything music is worth exploring and it’s incredibly vast.
