Gracie stands proudly atop a vintage Roland Jupiter 6. As the quality manager for Synthetic Dreamscapes, she always has access to some of the best instruments (including a few of ours that we have sent in for repair).
The Jupiter 6 was a somewhat scaled-down version of Roland’s flagship Jupiter 8 polyphonic analog synthesizer. But it did have a sound of its own, perhaps a little edgier, and it sported one of the earliest MIDI implementations. We at CatSynth enjoy its sound indirectly through Cherry Audio’s Mercury 6 virtual instrument.
A beautiful and captivating artwork with cats and synths. Reminds me a bit of Miro as well as Basquiat, who come from two different time periods and contexts.
By Martin Hůla via his Instagram temnysily. I am now a subscriber!
It’s that time when we at CatSynth post our traditional end-of-year image, along with a few stats and thoughts on the year that is coming to an end. It was a bit harder to settle on a set of images to represent this year given how much has happened. First, a few quick stats.
On the blog:
207 posts
142 “cat-and-synth” posts
On CatSynth TV
61 new videos
Most watched video made in 2022: Klaus Schulze: A tribute to his music and legacy
Second-most watched made in 2022: The Logistic Map: Attractors, Bifurcation, and Chaos (Part 1 of 2)
Although there were fewer videos produced this year, there were some ambitious ones, like the two “Red Robot Show” videos. We emphasized quality over quantity.
Compared to the previous two years, 2022 was active and busy. Even a bit chaotic and over-committed at times. Perhaps this is a form of “return to normalcy” after the deepest parts of the pandemic. We did continue the new tradition from last year of releasing at least one EP or album by the end of the year – I am quite proud of the way Merp Friendcame out. I also traveled farther and more frequently than in previous years, reconnected in person with more friends, and will be off to visit New York at the start 2023 for the first time in 3 years (the longest I’ve ever been away in my lifetime).
For this coming year, I already have a new album in the works and lots of ideas for the video channel. I would like to see CatSynth TV grow – and this website could use some serious updates. The challenge is sustainability between music, videos, my personal life, and my “day job”. Finding that balance has been at a time challenging this past year, and continuing to develop my new organization and meditation techniques will play a part. And I of course look forward to spending as much time with my cat family – Sam Sam and Big Merp – as I have these past two years. Working from home has truly been a blessing that came out of the challenges since 2020. As my good friend G Calvin Weston says, forward motion.
Wishing you all the best for 2023 – and we’ll keep doing what we do.
Orion shows off a complex patch on a Eurorack Serge system featuring modules by Random*Source. From Justin Sullivan (@justin3am) on Twitter.
We at CatSynth have long been curious about those Serge modules from Random*Source as a way of exploring Serge-style modular synthesis in more detail. The underlying premise is building up complexity from very simple building blocks like slope generators.
You can see all of Orion’s appearances via this tag.
I have remarked on numerous occasions that this year seemed to go by exceptionally fast. There was hope, excitement, optimism giving way to a mixture of frustration, cynicism and resolve as the pandemic and political situations dragged on and darkened. I have seen the goodness in many people, while I have witnessed the worst in others. But our personal year at CatSynth was a rich one filled with many experiences.
Most notably, the new album Meow Meow Band is out. I am really proud of the music, the presentation, the collaboration with other musicians and everything out it. Please do take a listen if you haven’t already. It was also a chance to reconnect with the city, go out on the road and into the desert, and start experiencing live music again. Of course, most of the time this year was spent here at HQ with our music, Sam Sam, and Big Merp. I always value time alone with my cats, music, and ideas and this moment in time has provided ample opportunity for that.
It’s been another strong year of growth for CatSynth TV. The most popular videos continue to be our synth demos and tutorials, but I’m also proud of music videos, highway videos, and expanded review series. There were fewer videos total this year. We took more time to get them right, but also time off to focus on other things (like the album). Trying to find that balance between the drive to always do more and the limits of time and resources will always be a challenge. We close out the year of videos by spending some time with Sam Sam and Big Merp.
We at CatSynth are grateful to all of you who chose to join or continue this journey with us in 2021, whether here on the blog, on CatSynth TV, or on social media. It is a fool’s errand to guess what will happen in the coming year, but we do have many goals, aspirations, and hopes; we will take each day as it comes.
Wishing you all a Happy New Year and health and joy in 2022.
