CATSYNTH

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Category: Cats

  • Carnival of the Cats #299

    Luna and I welcome everyone to Carnival of the Cats #299.

    We have unfortunately been experiencing technical difficulties with the main Blog Carnival submissions page. So this week’s Carnival is a little on the spare side. But we’re here for all the cats who made it, and we will leave the Carnival open for submissions through Monday by leaving a comment on this post. So without further adieu, here are the cats:

    First up, Nikita reports on his recent visit to the Vet at Musings of a MadMacedonian. Looks like Nikita survived the experience and came home with a little less fur, but a few more “rewards” waiting for him. We at CatSynth also like the artwork in his vet’s office.

    At Laurence Simon’s This Blog is Full of Crap, Piper is remembered and missed. Check out the video of Piper lashing her tail. “She was such a strange little cat.”

    At Mind of Mog, Meowza demonstrates advanced yoga positions as part of his Wordless Wednesday offering.  He also reminds us that cleanliness and wordlessness go together. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is his reaction to receiving his secret paws package today.

    One thing that comes with the holiday season is an increase in sickness. This seems to hold true not only for humans, but cats as well, and the cats a When Cats Attack are dealing with the own round of plague and pestilence. We certainly hope they recover soon.

    Sniffie and the other cats at Friends FurEver wish their canine family members a Happy 9th Birthday. We can’t think of a better present for a pair of handsome dogs than to be featured in a blog article devoted to cats :).

    Sounds like things are getting a bit cold in Houston, and although Momma Grace and Company received almost no snow, it sounds like they got a decent covering of frost. Frost and snow are certainly pretty, but the cats have the right idea by staying toasty warm inside.

    That concludes the Carnival of the Cats for now. If we missed you due to our technical difficulties, or you would like to be included, please let us know.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging: Preparing for next week’s performance

    Today I had a rehearsal for next week’s Pmocatat Ensemble performance at the Luggage Store Gallery. Pmocatat stands for “prerecorded music on cds and tapes and things”, and among the prerecorded sounds I plan to use this time are some recordings of Luna:

    The name of the microphone I used this morning to record her is also called Luna. It is a pretty decent microphone, though recording a cat is going to be challenging with any equipment. Here is a recording of her purring:

    You can hear a recording here.

    I also used the audio from Luna’s chattering videos.

    For those “in the business,” I would like to mention that using Pro Tools (my default option) to extract the sounds from the video did not work at all – it was difficult to do and produced really noisy results – while using Final Cut Pro plus the free program Audacity worked great.

    All this preparation work got us rather tired, so time for a nap:

    Weekend Cat Blogging #235 will be hosted by Kashim, who stepped in at the last minute.

    And don’t forget that Carnival of Cats will be hosted tomorrow right here at CatSynth! To participate, please submit your post here.

  • CatSynth pic: Mimi and Elka Synthex

    From our friend Eric Pochesci at Polynominal, another picture of Mimi, this time with an Elka Synthex:

    You can find out more about the Synthex here.

  • Reunion

    This morning I brought Luna home. She immediately went about reacquainting herself with her domain:

    In addition to being reunited, we marked her birthday with gifts and treats. She also received a card from a far-away friend of ours:

    Doesn’t the cat on the card bear a striking resemblance?

    We also had a belated Thanksgiving, complete with leftover turkey from New York:

    It’s great to be home together again.

  • Midnight Monday: Luna’s Birthday (in absentia)

    Today is Luna’s fifth birthday.

    Thanks to everyone who has already wished her a happy birthday. And I think it was quite appropriate for CatSynth that an art/music review was the vessel by which some of those wishes were received. We will actually celebrate tomorrow, when both of us will be back home.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #233: Away

    While I am away in New York this week, Luna is back at her deluxe boarding facility. She seemed to adjust relatively quickly after reacquainting herself with the place:

    Of course, she quickly found her little alcove where she can peer out.

    It’s always a little bittersweet to drop her off, but I know she will be well cared for.  And I have a sense this trip to New York will be good.   I expect to post some art and music reviews as time permits.

    Meanwhile Weekend Cat Blogging #233 is being hosted by Samantha at Life from a Cat’s perspective. We still hope that Mr. Tigger comes home.

    The Carnival of the Cats returns this Sunday to Pet’s Garden Blog.

    And of course Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • CatSynth pic: Cats & Gear 7

    Another from pulsewidthmod:

    In a previous post we met Plato, who apparently is quite fond of the theremin.

  • CatSynth pic: sequencer cat

    From twitter.com/adileen”>, via matrixsynth:

    “custom sequencer cat circuit bent casio mt240 jomox t resonator”

  • Preparing for Saturday performance

    I am busy preparing for the first of three upcoming performances this week. That primarily involves hastily assembling a collection of gear and cables:

    For this show, I will be using the Evolver, the Korg Kaos Pad, looping and effects software the MacBook, and several of my Chinese and Indian instruments, including the prayer bowl at the center of the photo. A challenge for readers: how many cats do you see in the photo above?

    Meanwhile, Luna sits nearby. She seems to be accustomed enough to the odd sounds from my musical instruments to remain relaxed and even take a nap.

    Appropriately enough, Weekend Cat Blogging #232 is being hosted by our audio-gear-savvy friends LB and breadchick at The Sour Dough.

    The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Artsy Catsy.

    And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

  • CatSynth video: My cat plays better synth than me.

    From blwvideo on YouTube, via matrixsynth:

    “My secret weapon for all two of my synthesizer videos is my cat, Buddy, who is a synthesizer virtuoso. He agreed to share one of his amazing jams with us. First he takes a stab at horror film fx, and then he goes slow and sultry with one of his more jazzy grooves.”

    You can also see a related synth video on matrixsynth.