Cats

Carnival of the Cats 290

We at CatSynth welcome everyone to the 290th Carnival of the Cats!

With our continued technical problems with CatSynth, it was a bit of a challenge to get this done before Sunday became a day other than Sunday, but here we are, and without further delay let us continue with the carnival…

First up, we have this textured and tender photograph from jams o donnell at The Poor Mouth.

More photography, this time a study in beige featuring Hakuna of Blog d’Elisson. Of course we prefer the official title of Latte e Cioccolatto.

At Elms in the Yard, Catschka is getting into all sorts of trouble. First she stalks an unsuspecting Her Ladyship, and then gets up on the neighbor’s sukkah without permission (for those unfamiliar with the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, go look it up). There is also a visit from Ms. Neighborcat.

Meowza’s activities are a bit more mundane, as he celebrates “Finally Friday” at Mind of Mog by washing himself.

Maddie of StrangeRanger has the right idea for this now-waning weekend: take it easy.

Diamond Emerald Eyes, who is also hosting Weekend Cat Blogging, has information on the HAPPY bill, a “very impurrrtant bill in House would allow pet caregivers to take a deduction on their tackes for pet care. We urge all humans, write to their representative supporting this bill!” It’s a start, but we at CatSynth would prefer to see the public option added to the bill.

At The Cat Post Intelligencer, there are lots of things the Cheysuli and family are thankful for this week, including this photo:

Autumn is coming, and Willow is enjoying the cooler weather, and very contentedly sits on the porch and watches for chipmunks.

Meanwhile, China Cat rediscovers her cozy bed as a preferred way to cope with the cooler weather. That certainly sounds like a good plan to us.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and sammawow presents Jeter’s Mom’s Breast Cancer 3-day walk, where is taking place here in San Francisco this weekend. Please visit and find out more about this great cause.

A final note, our friends and frequent hosts of Weekend Cat Blogging Samantha and Mr Tigger are missing! We are sending good thoughts and hope they are safely home again soon.

That concludes this week’s Carnival. Thanks for joining us. Next week, the carnival returns to Mind of Mog.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Service Disruption

We had a major service disruption on CatSynth today. Basically, an upgrade that our service provider did this week led to a series of problems with images, comments and writing new posts. Fortunately, the tech support team was on the case:

and we have everything restored. But there is still some difficulty with writing new posts. We are going to try and press ahead with hosting Carnival of the Cats tomorrow, just expect that it might be a bit late.

Meanwhile, Luna has been able to catch up some important napping:

Our friend Diamond Emerald Eyes is hosting Weekend Cat Blogging, and we definitely did not want to miss it.

Carnvial of the Cats will be right here at CatSynth tomorrow. You can use the handy BlogCarnival submission form&trade or visit the main site for more info.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

History of Cats and Synths at Retro Synth Ads

The blog Retro Synth Ads, featured an article on the Octave Electronics CAT this past Monday. In addition to the ad itself, it included an extensive discussion of the phenomenon of cat-and-synth pictures:

Looking at this ad, it got me thinking about the whole cat&synth meme that currently exists on the Web. As far back as I can remember, discussions about cats and synth gear have existed both on- and off-line. Members of forums and e-mail lists such as Analogue Heaven have exchanged stories at least as far back as 1999.

The article also features quotes from me as the author of CatSynth, and our friend matrix of matrixsynth.

Do check out the full article.

Coincidentally, we did feature another Octave CAT advertisement in a previous post.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Twisted

The theme of this weekend’s Photo Hunt is twisted, which works for another entanglement with Weekend Cat Blogging

We have of course seen many photos of Luna around our musical equipment (such as our analog delay pedal used for some twisted effects by raising the feedback level):

or sometimes hiding behind it:

Musical gear often means tangled wires, which seems to spontaneously happen despite our best efforts. Just a series of seemingly inevitable Reidemeister moves.

Luna is remarkably good about leaving the cables alone, but she does have a weekness for the cable ties, the device we use in a vain attempt prevent our cables from getting twisted.

Luna is fond of these and the twist ties that come with packaging, and I have caught her carrying them around. The ties are of course immediately confiscated (much to her disappointment). I do my best to keep them stored away as I don’t think they are safe for cats.

Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Sir Tristan Tabbycat Longtail at tabbylicious, who is also belatedly celebrating his “Gotcha Day.”

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at When Cats Attack. Next week COTC will be here at CatSynth!

And of course the Friday Ark is the modulator.

CatSynth video: arpeggicat – cat based note randomization

From ChrisLody on YouTube, via matrixsynth.

Okay, so this is one of my more strange experimental ideas. The keyboard at the top of the screen (a Yamaha SY-35) is midi’d into the lower keyboard (a Novation KS-5). The KS-5 is programmed with a simple arpeggio patch I created which can be played from the SY-35. Then I covered the keys of the SY-35 with cat biscuits and let my kitten Daisy loose on it. I was then able to control some aspects of the sound with conrols on the KS-5. I think she got wise to me about half way through as she stopped standing on the keys. Damn kitty!

Weekend Cat Blogging: Grass!

It seems like a fine weekend to enjoy some grass:

“Rosy’s” is our favorite brand, in part because of the little black cat on the tag. It has appeared previously on this site.

Luna had been obsessed lately with the grass growing the flower pots on our patio, so it seemed like she was really craving it. Perhaps this is a trait picked up from our friend Mickey.

(A bit of trivia: the photos in this article are scaled to 420 pixels.)

Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Samantha and Tigger of Life from a Cat’s Perspective, now at their new home in Texas.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at House Panthers, of which Luna is a proud member.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.