Suzanne Ciani on Buchla, quad sound and touring with a 200-series system

Synthtopia points to a new Signal Sounds video, an interview with pioneering synthesist Suzanne Ciani. She visited the Glasgow showroom of the shop behind the series before her performance at Sonica 2026, and two of their staff talked with her about her long career.

The conversation starts with what it means to be so closely tied to the Buchla name and then moves through her history, from building synths in California in the 1960s to collaborating with Actress and still touring the world with her 200-series system. The chapter list shows how wide it goes: working in quad and giving life to sound, how audiences have changed, living long enough for people to catch up with your work, and reacting against the male-dominated classical world.

For anyone interested in modular synthesis, there is also a segment comparing Buchla and Serge, followed by a look at her current live setup. That last part is probably the most useful for people who like to see how a performer actually patches on stage.

I enjoy interviews like this because they connect the modular instruments we buy today with the people who shaped the whole idea of playing a voltage-controlled system as an instrument. The video runs a little over half an hour, so it is a nice thing to put on while you tidy up your own patch cables.

Source: Synthtopia