Tweek with Arturia MiniBrute and OTO Biscuit

Tweek the kitten sits behind an Arturia MinIBrute synthesizer and OTO Biscuit 8-bit effects processor.

A young Tweek sits beyond an Arturia MiniBrute analog synthesizer (original edition) and OTO Biscuit 8-bit effects processor. A fine combination of cats and synths in a moody black-and-white photo.

Submitted by Antoine Marronclɘs via our Facebook page.

You can see Tweek’s previous appearances on CatSynth hhttps://www.catsynth.com/tag/tweekere.

Louis and Samson Patchbay

Louis is quite excited about this new Samson patchbay, or at least the box it came in. By Justin Saunders.

“Boring Gear Monday! My patchbay finally arrived. It’s cool how a simple device opens up possibilities for recording and effects chains. Also, Louis appreciates a new box now and then :-D”

Patchbays are among those under-appreciated but very useful pieces of studio gear, especially when one has a lot of synthesizers and I/O channels. I take mine for granted.

Pinkie and Ensoniq VFX

Pinkie the cat 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.

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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

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.