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Smokey in the Studio with Novation Summit, Elektron, Studio Electronics, and More

Smokey as a place of honor in this studio place of honor in this studio. On the right is a Novation Summit, in the center are offerings from Elektron. In the Upper left in the Studio Electronics Boomstar that we saw in a previous post with Smokey’s fellow feline Valentino, and on the left is a synth that we leave as an exercise to the ready.

From Patricia Wolf via Twitter.

Fifi with Polyend Tracker and Medusa

This cat is enjoying some scritches and beats from the Polyend Tracker and Medusa (itself a collaboration between Polyend and Deadbox). We enjoy the chill, almost Motown sound to the chords, with the synthesizer twist.

Video Isobutane via YouTube (seen on matrixsynth).

“Hey, some details about this beat. Im running a sequence of midi chords on the Tracker using the midi chord step fx. These are played back on Medusa. The synths output is connected to Tracker’s line input and runs through the onboard limiter, eq, and reverb. The wonky beat is live-recorded from one-shot samples using micro-timing while live-recording. The bassline is a looped and filtered sample of a square wave from my MS1 synth. The cat’s name is Fifi. Thanks for watching”

The Polyend Tracker seems to be having quite a moment, at least here on CatSynth. Perhaps something to investigate for a future video…

Frank with Strega Prototype

Frank naps against a prototype of the Strega, a collaboration between Alessandro Cortini and Make Noise.

2020, Frank dreaming of new ways of making sounds with a Strega Prototype. Miss this boy a lot.

https://twitter.com/blindoldfreak/status/1356779055803207682

The Strega sounds intriguing and we look forward to trying one here at CatSynth one of these ways. I wonder if Big Merp will nap on it.

Noise Cat (Line 6, Digitech, Boss)

Sasa gets ready to perform a noise set with pedals from Digitech, Boss and Line 6. From Mark Wilson via Facebook.

Of the three pedals, I am most familiar with the Line 6 DL 4 delay pedal. It was my go-to for many years for delay and loops, even acting as an extra oscillator when the feedback was turned up. One memorable show with the DL 4 was performing Polly Moller Springhorn’s piece Flip Quartet at Book Zoo in Oakland, one of a few times I played it.

#808Day and #WorldCatDay

Today is both 808 Day – after the Roland TR-808 drum machine – and World Cat Day. As a bonus, the date works in both American and international formats. Is there a greater confluence of this blog’s core themes than this date? 😸 🎹

The picture above was from an old Reddit post. We have featured a few cats with the TR-808’s successor, the TR-8, such as this post from 2017, courtesy of adrianhalo on Instagram.

They have a very different look – the TR-8 was part of Roland’s AIRA series with the glowing controls. The sound and technology is also different, but both instruments have found their way into a great variety of music.

CatSynth Pic: Casio in Bedroom Studio (Korg, iPad Pro)

Casio the tabby cat finds a comfy spot in this cozy bedroom studio. By Kris Nicholson via Facebook.

This little bedside studio is designed for me not to get out of bed and it’s not just a little music studio but also I can create my computer animations using Poser.

I’m using a Korg microSTATION Music Workstation and iPad Pro loaded with music apps and synthesizer apps and also you can see my cat her name is Casio.

CatSynth Pic: Lali and Juno 106

Sometimes Juno is the cat, sometimes Juno is the synth. Today it is the synth, as Miss Lali sits proudly atop a JUNO 106. Submitted by Caroline Sommer via our Facebook page.

Miss Lali with the Juno 😊🐈❤️

A little on the JUNO 106 from Vintage Synth Explorer:

The Juno-106 is a very common and widely used analog polysynth. It continues to be one of the most popular analog synths due to its great sound and easy programmability. It was the next major incarnation of the Juno-series, following the Juno-60. While it has virtually the same synth engine as the Juno-60, the 106 added extensive MIDI control making it one of Roland’s first MIDI-equipped synthesizers. There was also increased patch memory storage, up to 128 patches instead of the 56 patches available in the Juno-60. However, the Juno-60 is often said to have a slight sonic edge over the more advanced 106. The 60 had the ability to modulate oscillator pulse from its envelope and has a “punchier” sound quality.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/juno106.php