A cat contemplates the brightness of the Novation Circuit. From Jackies Fridge on Facebook.
Thanks to an amazing seller on Facebook Marketplace, I finally have my very own Circuit! So far I really like it. The sounds are much better than I was led to expect, though I plan on digging into the synth editor soon, and I’ll probably swap out some samples. The cat thinks the LEDs are too bright for a dim room, and she might have a point.
I have a Novation control surface, and I can vouch for the brightness of the LEDs, but it does come in handy in a darkened performance space.
Eloy has found a nice napping spot on what appears to be a Roland RD series digital piano. Above is a vintage Multivox synth. Submitted by Brian T Geigner via our Facebook page.
Eloy deciding it’s comfy to sleep on the synth.
The Multivox synth appears to be the rare MX-202 string and bass synth from the 1970s.
The Multivox MX-202 is a string and brass ensemble keyboard. The instrument uses divide-down oscillation for its full polyphony. Multivox seemingly copied spec for spec of the Roland RS-202 string and brass instrument. However, users who have experience with both point out that the two instruments sound quite different.
I don’t know much about either RS-202 or the MX-202, though I have had some experience with Roland’s string synthesizers via the VP-03. If you have played either of these, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
A black cat in the studio, who seems rather unimpressed by the rather impressive 5U modular system. Said cat is also sitting some instrument from Oberheim.
Mother’s Day (the second Sunday in May) has become a celebration of motherhood and all things maternal. I enjoy seeing my friends’ photos of and with their moms; but also of feline moms, as in the photo above. Motherhood is one of those things that truly transcends species, and especially among fellow mammals, the patterns are instantly recognizable.
Sadly, mother cats who come to shelters with their kittens often find themselves left behind as their kittens are adopted out. The adult moms need love, too. When looking for a new feline friend, please consider adult and senior cats, and the moms left behind.
As for me, I’m content with my status as a cat mom (now the mom of two cats). And while I do my best to distinguish between this status my friends who are mothers to their own (human) children, I have on occasion been wished a “Happy Mother’s Day” and it makes me smile.
We have exciting news. Big Merp (aka “Marlon”) has come to live with us at CatSynth HQ!
That is a soulful face a cat who has seen a lot in his short life (our vet thinks he actually isn’t that old, but life on the streets can certainly age one quicky). Due to circumstances beyond the scope of this site, our buddy in Oakland found himself needing a new place to live – otherwise, he would be back out on the streets. We’ve come to know him and love him over the past year, so it seemed like the obvious solution to welcome him into our home. Things were rather tentative at first, a new place and concept in a new city.
But it didn’t take long for him to get comfortable, and now he practically owns the place.
Sam Sam, on the other hand, is not too pleased with this intruder into her idyllic life. She has been a bit nervous and skittish, often looking for places to hid and decompress.
She has mostly stayed on the upstairs level while Big Merp mostly stays downstairs for the time being. Their encounters to date haven’t been all that friendly, but Sam Sam is slowly gaining confidence. She prefers to stay upstairs, and I’m doing my best to shower her with affection and remind her that this is still her home and she is my special little girl.
Merp is a very friendly cat, but Sam Sam has had some bad experiences in her past and it’s understandable she’s taking a little longer to adjust. I certainly hope that in the long run, they get along.
A gorgeous house panther shows off her studio, which includes a MicroBrute and controllers from Arturia, an Elektron SidStation, and a Nintendo GameBoy. From Shaun Steven Struble on Facebook, who says this about the GameBoy:
My main composition machine. If I can write it in three voices on the gameboy and it sounds good, I know it’ll sound good when I expand it to the other synths.
We all know and love Big Merp, but he never had a “CatSynth pic”. Until now. Here we see him sitting in front of a Roland JD-Xi synthesizer.
The JD-XI is a cool little instrument, a hybrid analog-digital synth with a built-in vocoder. I haven’t had a chance to try the vocoder yet, but I’m curious how it compares to our VP-03 (also from Roland).
