From sascha schwartz on YouTube.
some lofi jazz sampling mangling with the octatrack featuring Sima the best couch cat ever!
You can also check out a bit more of sascha schartz music on SoundCloud.
Cats
Weekend Cat Blogging with Sam Sam: The New Neighbor
It looks like we have a new neighbor at CatSynth!
We have been noticing a new feline presence around CatSynth HQ, through sounds and bits of motion. But this is the first time we saw him/her on the patio ledge. It’s a little tuxedo cat, like Sam Sam.
This cat presumably lives in one of the apartments just beyond our patio. We often see him sitting on the ledge behind this glass-brick window.
As one might imagine, Sam Sam is rather curious about this new cat outside her windows.
She is a bit anxious and agitated by the cat’s presence, and often jumps up on this sideboard and even the window ledge above! Her is always fully fluffed during these encounters. I suspect she is feeling both intrigued and territorial at the same time. (We have already started clearing off the most fragile items and tchotchkes from the glass table).
We hope you have a great weekend. And we’d love to hear about adventures your cats have with their feline neighbors 😺
CatSynth Pic: Elektron Digitone and Digitakt
Shelum the cat jams with both a Digitone and Digitakt from elektron. Photo via harpum1 on Instagram.
These two boxes from elektron have become quite popular, and they do make a nice self-contained system for beat-based music. I did have the opportunity to play them both at NAMM this year 😺
CatSynth Pic: Yoli and Moog Sub Phatty
Beautiful white cat Yoli is making a monophonic drone on a Moog Sub Phatty synthesizer. From yolanda.yolanda.yolanda on Instagram.
The Sub Phatty is perhaps the most under-appreciated member of Moog’s Phatty line of synthesizers, which includes the popular Sub37. We have one at CatSynth, and it has served us well both in the studio and in live performance. You can view my recent video on the hidden features of the instrument below.
It has been a frequent setting for CatSynth pics over the years featuring many different cats, including CatSynth Video: Moog Sub Phatty Purrs.
CatSynth Video: neu·ro·trans·mit·ter (Mr. Maximilion in the Studio)
A new video from our friends Mr. Maximillion and Charles Whiley, featuring a beat-based jam with sundry synthesizers.
Between the fast pans and cute shots of our feline friend, we at CatSynth were able to identify the following instruments:
- Novation Peak
- JoMox Alpha Base
- Arturia MatrixBrute
- Novation Super Nova
- Synthstrom Deluge
- Oberheim Matrix 6R
- Erica Synths Acid Box II
What other synths can you find in the video? 😺
CatSynth Pic: Black Cat and Elektron Analog Keys
Black cat with Elektron Analog Keys. Instagram by anika_or from St. Petersburg, Russia.
The Elektron Analog Keys is a four-voice analog synthesizer that can also be used as both a MIDI and CV keyboard controller. You can read more about it on Elektron’s website.
You can find more Elektron photos and our NAMM reviews via this link.
CatSynth Pic: Robotspeak
We espied this photo on the Facebook page of Robotspeak, our local synthesizer shop and informal gathering place for monthly shows here in San Francisco.
I have myself dropped quite a bit of hard-earned money there (but don’t regret any of it), and I have played there on a few occasions, including the Analog Ladies showcases. You can read about past visits to Robotspeak via this link.
CatSynth Pic: Nemo and Novation Bass Station
Meet Nemo! He is showing off an original Novation Bass Station keyboard synthesizer. Photo submitted by Arthur Schmitt via our Facebook page.
Many readers will be familiar with the popular Bass Station 2. The original Bass Station was released in the early 90s, first in this keyboard form and later in a more popular rack form. (It was the 90s, so we still all had collections of 1U-3U rackmount instruments and signal processors). From Vintage Synth Explorer:
Before the famous Novation Bass Station Rack module came the small and portable Bass Station keyboard! This synthesizer uses digitally synchronized analog oscillators (DCO’s) to reproduce the sounds of a monophonic dual-osc analog synthesizer with simple and intuitive controls via 17 knobs, 10 switches and 2 Moog-style pitch/mod wheels. Think EDP Wasp and ARP Odyssey.
CatSynth Pic: Gracie, Moog, PPG Wave, and More
Gracie returns! This time we see her testing out one of her Moog synthesizers (a Sub37 or Subsequent 37). We also see a Korg vocoder below, and an Oberheim in the back. In the background, we see a PPG Wave, a rare DK Synergy below it, and a few other synths that we leave as exercises to the reader. Gracie always has such an impressive collection 😸
From Alsún Ní Chasaide via Facebook.
Weekend Cat Blogging with Sam Sam: The Blanket (and Volca FM)
Those who follow our Instagram are regularly treated to photos and videos of Sam Sam and her adventures around CatSynth HQ. For those who don’t, we can assure you that she is doing well and is being spoiled rotten.
Sam Sam has made this blanket one of her favorite spots for napping and relaxing. It is quite warm and soft. In this video, we see her kneading it and purring up a storm.
It’s good to be the cat!
Here we see her posing with our Korg Volca FM sytnhesizer.
This photo was taken while preparing for our recent video on the Volca FM, which you can check out on YouTube. One of the nice things about these small battery-powered synths like the Korg Volcas and the Roland Boutiques is that we play them on the bed. And if I’m there playing a synth, reading, or napping, Sam Sam is likely to follow.
We hope you have a fun weekend, however you define it. And if you are Instagram, please do follow us 😻.