Author: catsynth

Weekend Cat Blogging with Sam Sam: Geometry Studies

After several days of cold, wet, dreary weather, we finally have sunshine again.  Not that we can really complain compared to our friends on the east coast after the recent storm.  Sam Sam enjoys looking out the windows, though she hasn’t shown the same interest in venturing outside as Luna did.

I like the contrast of angular lines against Sam Sam’s natural shape in this one.  One can see more of this geometric contrast in this pose on the stairs.

It’s a treat to capture such an image.  But we also enjoy the everyday antics, such as Sam Sam’s patented “Scratch and roll.”  It’s her way of currying favor.

Sam Sam scratch and roll.

It’s always a good day with Sam Sam.  We hope you have a wonderful day, too.

 

Modular Synthesizer Demo for Purim

Purim is the “most synthesizer-y” of Jewish holidays, given that one of it’s central rituals is noisemaking. This year we created a synthesizer demo running sounds from a gragger through several modules.

The demo uses a mixture of pre-recorded gragger on the QuBit Nebulae and live sound via the Mikrophonie and Make Noise Echophon. The full list of modules used in the Purim demo is:

  • Make Noise Echophon
  • Qu-Bit Nebulae (v1)
  • Rossum Electro-Music Morpheus
  • Mikrophonie
  • Make Noise Maths
  • Make Noise Tempi
  • Malekko Heavy Industry Noisering

I do wish I already had a Qu-bit Nebulae v2 for this project.  You can see our review of v2 from NAMM 2018 here.

Purim is a holiday that commemorates the saving of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from the king’s wicked advisor Haman, as told in the book of Esther. Traditionally, the gragger is used to mask the name of Haman when said out loud during readings.

CatSynth Pic: Mr. Maximillion and Novation Peak

Mr. Maximillion returns, this time in a handsome portrait with a Novation Peak synthesizer.  By Charles Whiley via Facebook.  You can see Mr. Maximillion’s previous appearance here.

We were wondering what exactly an “Oxford Oscillator” is, as Novation chose to display the term prominently on the panel.  From their website:

The implementation of the FPGA opens the doors to a new type of oscillator design for Peak — The New Oxford Oscillator — the design of which stems from the analogue imperative. Peak’s raw waveforms are generated using an architecture designed and realised by Chris Huggett. It employs two waveform-generating techniques: Numerically Controlled Oscillators (NCOs) and wavetables.

The NCOs are used for the traditional subtractive-synthesis waveforms (e.g., saws, squares, pulses, and triangles).  The wavetable oscillators can morph between different source tables.   The architecture of the oscillators with traditional waveforms reminds me a bit of the Evolver from Dave Smith Instruments.  It is quite intriguing, including the fact that it is implemented on an FPGA.

CatSynth Pic: Rufus Meowing with Modular

Our ginger feline friend Rufus returns, courtesy of iamshadowdancer on Instagram.  He looks ready to serenade us with a new song.

He has a rather impressive modular setup!  The upper case is by Goike.  It contains a wide variety of modules – we see a classic Metasonix yellow, a Mordax DATA on the right, a Make Noise Maths, and many others that whose identification we leave as an exercise to the reader.