CATSYNTH

cats synthesizers music art opinion

Category: Cats

  • 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.

  • CatSynth video: MPC Cat

    From officialanticon on YouTube, via matrixsynth:

    “Doseone’s cat Purple takes inspiration from the keyboard cat.”

  • 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!

  • CatSynth pic

    From isaciongun on flickr:

    Anyone want to identify the modular units?

  • CatSynth pic: Uni on the keys

    Submitted by Torley, from his flickr photostream:

  • 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.

  • Singing Kitties

    A little light entertainment from rathergoodstuff, via matrixsynth:

    Cats with Autotune. If you are easily offended by Autotune, you probably don’t want to watch this video.

    This is the same rathergood.com that did this classic chillin’ kittens. I still like that one better – you can see it here.

  • CatSynth pic: Custom Fizmo

    From the sodium potassium pimp on flickr, via

    You can see the original Ensoniq Fizmo here.

    I was interested in some of the things the Fizmo (and other late model Ensoniqs) were doing with “trans wave” technology. But I think I have that an more with software-based granular synthesis.