This cat has some amusing photos in front of a Moog modular. The images are also rather…green. You can see more in the Instagram post from dj.wadada embedded below.
Green Cat and Moog Modular
Cats
Milali and Roland Juno-106
Milali returns, this time strolling atop a Roland Juno-106. We also see a Roland SH-101, and the MS-20 and Future Retro Revolution from her previous appearance.
From midiride via Instagram.
Korg Poly 800 and Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man
Tom Petty (the cat) lounges on a Korg Poly 800, We also see an Eletro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man near by. It looks like he is getting ready to for some serious drone music.
From nonbinarysynthesis via Instagram.
Drone master 😭
Pinkie and Ensoniq VFX
Pinkie has just written a new sound patch on the Ensoniq VFX and she is very proud of it 
. Submitted by Edda Jayne Hill via our Facebook page.
She will probably switch on the Atari ST and get a sequence going next
Sounds like a great combination. The VFX was the successor to the Ensoniq SQ-80, a flexible wavetable synthesizer that could achieve complex timbres by shifting through different waveforms, a technique pioneered by the PPG Wave. It was released at about the same time as I got my Ensoniq EPS (as I was very focused on sampling at the time). But the VFX is particularly intriguing now as we are in the midst of a proliferation of wavetable-based instruments.
The Atari ST is another interesting electronic-music artifact from the late 1980s, but that’s a story for another time.
Happy Gotcha Day Big Merp!
It was two years ago that Marlon, aka “Big Merp” came to live with us at CatSynth HQ! We had already known him for a while, but circumstances arose where he needed to find a new permanent home, and we were more than happy to oblige.
We first met him in 2018. He was living on the street in the Temescal section of Oakland, California.
Life on the streets can be rough, and it showed on his face. But he was incredibly friendly and loved people, and enjoyed coming indoors to hang out. He was clearly a former house cat, likely abandoned. We’re glad we found him and gave him a home. The posh indoor life has been good to him.
Big Merp is a “synth cat” – he loves to get up on the main instrument desk to be close to the action. There is the iconic photo lounging with the Novation LaunchPad Pro and Arturia MicroFreak above, as well as many others.
Although he bonded with the humans right away (including visitors), things were a bit more difficult with Sam Sam. She was not happy with this newcomer to her home and tried her best to avoid him for quite a while. Over time, however, her confidence returned and the two grew more comfortable with each other’s presence. They may not be the best of friends, but they do at least accept one another and share space.
Please join us in wishing Big Merp a very happy second Gotcha Day!
Cat Pianist
I love you kitty pianist 🥺♥️ pic.twitter.com/1Y7gk7T3or
— out of context cats (@contextkittens) April 14, 2021
Remember the Jeffin Rodegheri and Cat duo from a couple of weeks ago? Here is another video featuring the same feline pianist. Once again, the playing is quite musical, and the cat’s adorable cooing adds a nice touch.
Regular readers know I have long been intrigued by these feline musicians. This is one of the best musically, along with Nora. Nue and the rest of the Rock cats are a lot of fun. The OG Keyboard cat was human-directed, so not quite the same (though I adore him and his successors as well). Do you have any favorite musical cats?
Vanilla and Modular
Vanilla the cat joins us from Guangzhou, China, with an impressive modular system. We see an Erica Synths Plasma Drive, numerous offerings from Endorphines and Make Noise, including a 0-coast; 4MS, Noise Engineering, the popular SQ-1 sequencer from Korg, and even a box from Elektron.
From complexwaveform on Instagram.
CatSynth Pic: Hydrasynth
Our beautiful Maine Coon friend is big, this time with a brand new ASM Hydrasynth! I am sure she will have a lot of fun with it. From lwxbeats on Instagram.
#hydrasynth has just arrived and she can’t wait to play those awesome pads 😃
We at CatSynth are also quite interested in the Hydrasynth, as it brings novel synthesis features along with polyphonic aftertouch. You can see our demo with the lead engineer from ASM in this video from NAMM 2020.
Lola and Roland MC-202 Rhythm Composer
Lola (the calico cat) is inspecting a Roland MC-202 rhythm composer. From exfade_electronics via Instagram.
More accent? Lola (the cat) probably has a better grasp of the sequencer than I do!
The MC-202 was among Roland’s first grooveboxes. It has a synthesizer architecture (and visual look) similar to the original SH-101, but also looked ahead to the TB-303.
White Cat with Nerdseq and Massive Modular
A beautiful white friend returns, longing behind a Nerdseq tracker-sequencer and in front of the same massive modular system from this post. We also see modules on the vertical section from Rossum Electro-music, Make Noise, Mutable Instruments, Intellijel, TipTop Audio, SSF, Random Source “EuroSerge”, as well as Catalyst Audio, Ciat Lombarde, and Mystic Circuits.
From blush_response via Instagram.
The Nerdseq is an intriguing instrument, essentially an old 90s-style “tracker” sequencer in Eurorack form. The boxes on the screen would be familiar to anyone who worked with trackers and MOD files, but the flexibility and possibilities of CV input and output.