CATSYNTH

cats synthesizers music art opinion

Category: Music

  • CatSynth video: Steele the Siamese Synth Cat

    From tardis454, via matrixsynth:

    Not quite as sophisticated as Nora's piano performances, but still a little feline musical performance.



  • Bloggers Choice Award Nominations

    Well, it looks like we've been nominated for Blogger's Choice Awards in three categories:

    My site was nominated for Best Geek Blog!

    My site was nominated for Best Animal Blogger!

    My site was nominated for Best Blog About Stuff!

    Of course, half of all the sites I visit these days are nominated for Blogger's Choice Awards. But nonetheless, we at CatSynth ask for your support, if nothing else it's a bit of fun. I think our best chance is in the Geek Blog category. In the Animal Blogger category, there's very little chance of competing with sites like Cute Overload, dailykitten or the lolcats.

    From the nominating statement:

    “cats, synthesizers, music, art, opinion” Yes, it's a blog about cats and synths, a strange combination that seems to work. Lots of cute photos of cats posing with, and occasionally playing, music gear. Also features frequent appearances by the lovely black kitty Luna, pretty much the *star* of the site. This site is quite informative, in terms of various global issues, such as pet food recalls, interesting stats of highways, information about people and places (ie New Orleans). This website has many visitors, especially kitty lovers and those people who like music and synthesizers as well. It's got class, it's got variety, best of all, it's got kitties!

    I'm glad someone out there appreciates my “highways” posts.

  • New Podcast: Synth Summit at Luggage Store Gallery, July 2004

    Tonight's podcast is an excerpt from the “Synthesizer Summit” at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco. Basically, the performance is an improvisation by several artists playing hardware synths. If I recall correctly, the artists and their respective synths were:

    Synthia Payne: Roland JP8000
    Amar Chaudhary: E-MU Proteus 2000 (Mo'Phatt + Vintage) and Morpheus
    LX Rudis: Oberheim Matrix 12
    Jim Ryan: Arp 2600
    Will Grant: E-MU UltraProteus

    Note: many subscribers may have heard another excerpt fromt the Synthesizer Summit that I accidentally released a few weeks back instead of the advertised Woodstockhausen 2003 performance (that has since been corrected).












  • Podcast correction

    A serious “mybad moment” with the podcast series. The March 25 release “Charmer:Firmament from Woodstockhausen 2003” had the wrong audio file. I have now corrected the situation, and the proper audio is linked in.

    Those who have already subscribed and downloaded the March 25 episode will probably have to either unsubscribe (as I did in iTunes) or perform some other acrobatics to get the updated audio.

    The “incorrect” piece was an ensemble improv from 2004 that I may release in an upcoming episode, this time properly labeled and attributed.





  • New Podcast: Improvisation with Octave The Cat

    Another Sunday, another podcast release. Tonight I present a short improvisation on the recently acquired Octave CAT synthesizer. I have been playing with this instrument now for several days and getting a better feel for both it's timbres, it can do some really smooth analog sounds and really glitchy complex elements as well. I try to cover both qualities in this performance. Enjoy!

    I am also rolling out the new logo, part of reintroducing the podcast as “The CatSynth Channel.”








  • Cat and Toy Piano photo

    This one was submitted by both elba (who enjoys one of my favorite activites: not shopping at WalMart) as well as brrer:

    A bengal with the “very analog” instrument: a classic Jaymar toy piano. My parents found one of these on someone's curbside several years ago – it's amazing what people throw out. When I tried it out, I immediately recognized it as the instrument used in recordings of John Cage's Suite for Toy Piano.

    Thanks to everyone who has been submitting photos in the past week or so. I'm a little backlogged at the moment, but I will get to posting them all, among all the other articles I want to write for this forum.





  • RPM Listening Party

    Actually, the “party” has already started. You can try and listen in on the main website, though last I checked, the server wasn't accepting any new connections.

    If you're not in the mood for the party tonight (or can't sign on), hopefully they will soon post the Jukebox with samples from all the 2007 recordings.


  • New Podcast: Charmer:Firmament live at Woodstockhausen 2003

    Well, my latest experiment with sampled piano was a flop, and a close friend and fellow crazy experimental musician is currently in my thoughts, so it seems a good time to release one of my live performances from the Woodstockhausen 2003 festival. In this case, it is a live version of Charmer:Firmament, a piece for digital computer controlled live by a graphics tablet. A recorded version of this piece also appears on my CD Aquatic (you know, the one that none of you are buying).

    As always, enjoy!





  • (co)sine – LIVE – Luna's Cafe … and Mimì makes the rounds

    From sendling we have this video of artist (co)sine. Great stuff, and it's at Luna's Cafe! How could I not repost.

    Scrolling down one post earlier at sendling, we see a familiar face. Remember Mimì? Well, it seems that she's been making the rounds since her debut here at CatSynth, popping up at sendling and matrix. Go Mimì!









  • New Podcast Release: "Four Days"

    A special treat for listeners of my podcast this Sunday! I am releasing a full-length (but lower fidelity) track from my RPM Challenge album, 2 1/2.

    “Four Days” is a piece in the style of musique concrete, and fits into the overal narrative theme of the album 2 1/2. It has a really captivating and eerie quality, perhaps even a little spooky.

    Enjoy!

    (and please check out the current recordings available if you like it)