Saturday & Sunday November 4-5, 2023

Spend the weekend with composer and synthesist Suzanne Ciani at Panoramic House in West Marin, CA as she builds a patch on her Buchla 200e series modular synthesizer culminating in a short performance on the last evening of daylight savings time as the sun sets. After the performance we’ll have a spaghetti dinner for all particpants.

Strictly limited to 15 participants, register now to reserve your spot!

-Day 1: Suzanne will create a patch from scratch on her Buchla while explaining her process as she goes along. She will also be integrating her iPad and the AniMoog app and two Eventide H9 effects processors into her performance. Periodical Q&A sessions will be included and moderated by Claire George. During the breaks, there will be a few synthesizer demo stations set up with synths from the Panoramic House and Suzanne’s collection for the attendees to demo including instruments from Buchla, Moog and more.

-Day 2: Suzanne will finish up her patch and after a short break, she will do a performance in Quad which will be recorded as the sun sets over the pacific ocean. After the performance spaghetti dinner will be served.

Cost: $500 per person which includes dinner on the second night.

email john@tapeop.com to register or if you have any questions.

Approximate times each day will be from 11am to 7pm day 1 and 11am to 9pm day 2.

About Suzanne Ciani:

Suzanne is a five-time Grammy award-nominated composer, electronic music pioneer, and neo-classical recording artist who has released over 20 solo albums including "Seven Waves," and "The Velocity of Love," along with a landmark quad LP “LIVE Quadraphonic,” which restarted her Buchla modular performances. Her work has been featured in films, games, and countless commercials as well.

 She was inducted into the first class of Keyboard Magazine's Hall of Fame alongside other synth luminaries, including Bob Moog, Don Buchla and Dave Smith and received the Moog Innovation Award. Most recently, she is the recipient of the Independent Icon Award from A2IM.

Suzanne has provided the voice and sounds for Bally's groundbreaking "Xenon" pinball machine, created Coca-Cola’s pop-and-pour sound, designed logos for Fortune 500 companies, and carved out a niche as one of the most creatively successful female composers in the world. A Life in Waves, a documentary about Ciani’s life and work, debuted at SXSW in 2017 and is available to watch on all digital platforms.

Panoramic House is 45 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA in West Marin county. The studio overlooks the Pacific Ocean where Suzanne will be talking and performing.

About the Buchla 200e series synthesizer:

The hybrid analog (sound generation) and digital (control) modular Buchla synthesizer is one of the most complex and expressive synthesizers ever made. Designed and built by Don Buchla in the San Francisco bay area, his synthesizers came to define what is now known as the West Coast synthesis style. While the East Coast style was defined by Bob Moog and used a filters to subtractively take complex harmonics out of a complex waveform, the Buchla uses a two oscillator design with a modulator oscillator creating complex waveforms, hence it’s name the “Complex Waveform Generator.”

About Panoramic House:

Panoramic House is a private recording studio at the base of Mt. Tamalpais overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

About Claire George:

Claire George is a recording artist and producer whose last album, The Land Beyond The Light, was released on Cascine records. Claire also works at Ableton, the makers of Ableton Live, where she handles Partnerships for the Americas region. Learn more about her music here: www.claire-george.com

lodging is not included. Some links to local lodging are below.

Thanks to our friends at Waveform Magazine for helping us get the word out about this event. Check out Waveform for lots of great interviews and reviews with folks making music and synths: waveformmagazine.com


Schedule:

Day 1:

11am: Introduction

11:30 : Suzanne starts her patch on the Buchla

2:30 pm: 1 hour lunch break

3:30 -7: Suzanne continues work on the Buchla

Day 2:

11am: Q&A session

11:30 am : Suzanne continues working on the patch.

2:00 pm: 1 hour lunch break

3:00 pm: Last Q&A session.

4:00 pm: break

5:00 pm: performance

6:00 pm: dinner

Note: Participants will need to bring their own lunch each day or go into town (5 minutes away) and buy lunch

Dinner will be very simple: Salad, garlic bread and a vegetarian or meat based spaghetti dinner. Any dietary restrictions beyond vegetarian (Vegan, gluten free, etc.) will not be able to be accomodated and you will need to bring your own pre-cooked food or buy some food in town.

Alcohol will not be served, but if you are of drinking age and want to bring a moderate amount of beer or wine that is fine.

LODGING

We are in Stinson Beach about an hour from San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, San Rafael and Novato.

If you want to combine the workshop with a beachside vacation, there are two hotels in town and lots of vacation rentals. Bolinas the next town over (15 minutes by car) has more lodging options.

If you want to drive into the workshop each day, there are lots more lodging options in the surrounding area in Mill Valley, San Rafael, Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Novato

https://www.sandpiperstinsonbeach.com/

https://www.surflodgestinsonbeach.com

https://smileyssaloon.com/hotel/

https://www.airbnb.com/a/stays/Stinson-Beach--California--United-States

https://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/california/san-francisco-bay-ar/stinson-beach

There are two restaurants in town that serve lunch and dinner and small market.