Uninterested Synth Cat in uninterested.
From Pittsburgh Modular Synthesizers, via matrixsynth:
“Playing with one of the Pittsburgh Modular cases headed to NAMM in a few weeks.”
Looking forward to seeing this and much more at NAMM 🙂
Synthesizers
CatSynth pic: Turn (Taro and Mopho)
CatSynth video: Cat Watching a MiniBrute Video
Original title en français: Miss Papée qui prend des cours avec Franco
From francolamuerte·159 on YouTube, via matrixsynth.
“Teaser ! Savoir comment accorder un oscillateur analogique sur toute l’étendue de sa plage d’octave, ça vous intéresse ? En tout cas, moi j’ai connais une que ça intéresse vivement : ma fidèle et unique Miss Papée !”
It looks like Miss Papée wants to touch the MiniBrute 🙂
Weekend Cat Blogging with Luna: Minimoog!
Luna is inspecting the latest musical acquisition here at CatSynth HQ, a vintage Minimoog synth. She is always curious to check new arrivals out, with some close sniffing along with visual inspections. Then she looses interest. She is, after all, a cat.
The astute (and synth-savvy) observer may also notice a Mixtape Alpha sitting on top of the Minimoog. Both instruments offer interesting possibilities, the the tiny Mixtape Alpha is more practical for live performance.
CatSynth video: Grumpy Cat gets Keyboard Cat toy
First CatSynth post of the new year, this one features both Grumpy Cat and Keyboard Cat (in toy form).
Not surprisingly, I have one of those keyboard cat toys. I have used it in performance and it might make an appearance this Saturday at SOMArts’ 100 Performances For the Hole. Stop by between 7-8 to catch my 4-minute feline-themed set!
CatSynth pic: Skye the Bad Cat
Performance at Harvestworks with Rachel Mason and The Use
Today we look at the second of my two performances in New York this past November. This one took place at Harvestworks, a non-profit organization in lower Manhattan that supports musicians and helps them work with technology. It was also a bit of a homecoming for me, as I had interned at Harvestworks in the summer of 1993 – yes, 20 years ago!
The concert was actually part of artist-in-residence Rachel Mason’s ongoing work, and featured a collaborative performance with Michael Durek of The Use that exploited Harvestworks’ surround-sound system. The piece included a mixture of videos, both found online and created specifically by Mason, and live music that featured electronics from Durek and voice by Mason. You can see their full performance in this video.
Rachel Mason and Michael Durek, Harvestworks, November 30, 2013 from CatSynth; on Vimeo.
It opens with a found video of an odd fellow talking about using electro-magnetism to detect ghosts. He explains basic electronics to the video (at one point getting his units wrong), with Durek slowly entering with discrete tones on the theremin. Soon the texture becomes thicker and moves into more beat-based music that I have heard in The Use’s more recent work. Rachel Mason’s vocals were quite expressive and melodic. The videos changed to show Mason in interesting costumes walking around both Brooklyn and Joshua Tree, two particular favorite environments of mine.
Then it was time for me to take the stage. I also used video, a very simple live-processing patch in Jitter that combined generated images with live input. For this piece, I had a set of cat-themed playing cards, which I would draw, show via the video processing, and then interpret for the next section of music, either as a literal specification for a patch on the Dave Smith Evolver, or more abstractly with the analog modular synth and Garrahand drum. You can see the full performance in the following video.
Amar Chaudhary at Harvestworks, November 30, 2013 from CatSynth; on Vimeo.
Overall, it was a great show, and we managed to have a full house, which is always a nice experience as a performer. I certainly hope to be able to work with these artists and with Harvestworks again in the future.
CatSynth pic and video: Zafo the Sub Phatty Cat
From Jonh Wei-Haas and our friends at Moog Music, Inc., we present Zafo, the Sub Phatty Cat.
By now, we’ve all seen Keyboard Cat. In the original video from 1984, a cat named “Fatso” plays a decade-approriate jam on his electronic keyboard. Nearly 30 years and 30 million views later, we have a successor to the Keyboard Cat throne. Armed with only a Moog synthesizer and plento of gusto, “Zafo” the Sub Phatty Cat treats his audience to 53 seconds of incredibly decade-appropriate jams in the video below.
For more videos by John Wei-Haas, please visit his YouTube page.
