CatSynth pics: Pulsewidthmod

Some more photos from pulsewidthmod on flickr:

Not “cat and synthesizer” pics per se, but they do include equipment that is often overlooked but still vital to making music. The mound of tangled cables puts our messy cables at CatSynth HQ to shame. They also reminded me a bit of Christina Mazza’s drawings from the SF Recology Artists in Residence opening that I saw a few weeks ago.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Luna and Monome

This weekend we present a photo of Luna posing with the monome interface:

I like the desaturated grayscale version, but also the original color photo as well:

Notice that there is very little difference in the monome itself between the two photos. It is the new grayscale edition, with a silver front panel, white LED buttons and a black case. The monomes interface all have a very elegant minimalist design, but this edition is particularly well suited for our aesthetics.

I am hoping to use it tonight in a performance I am doing at a Lunar New Year party here in San Francisco.

Monome is a very small operation in the New York’s Catskills region. They design the interfaces and produce limited runs of each edition. We were fortunate to get one when they went on sale at the beginning of January. I thought this photo from their website, showing the team hard at work filling the orders, is quite appropriate:

Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by breadchick and LB at The Sour Dough.

Carnival of the Cats will be hosted by Nikita Cat on his blog Meowings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

CatSynth videos: Wicks Looper

From potterpaint2000 on YouTube, via matrixsynth:

“an improv featuring a KP3 processed Wicks Looper from Australia, a wonderful cacaphonous little device. Thanks Brian!…also a Nord Lead and a Stylophone Drumbeat”

I am not familiar with the Wicks Looper, but I did find some more info here, and another video:

Reconnaissance Fly at Studio 1510, Oakland

A few photos and thoughts from last Friday’s Reconnaissance Fly performance at Studio 1510 in Oakland.

I knew that Studio 1510 had a great acoustic piano, which I wanted to take advantage of particularly for our piece Emir Scamp Budge which features an extended jazz piano solo. But it turns that they also now have an actual Rhodes Stage Piano Mark II. I could pass up the opportunity to appropriate it for our set. Here is the Rhodes with the E-MU Proteus 2000 and Korg Kaos pad conveniently perched on top:

Together with the acoustic piano and MIDI keyboard for a rather massive keyboard setup:

Click the above picture to enlarge it and spot the cat!

Here we are getting ready to play the first note of our opening piece “Small Chinese Gong”.


[Photo by Tom Djll.]

The set went well from that point. I have not yet heard the recording, but I thought the first piece, as well as “One Should Never” (which was about as tight as I have heard us play it), “Ode to Steengo” – with the interplay of the text, the Kaos Pad, odd drum beats and Tim’s live electronic processing – and “Emir Scamp Budge” went particularly well.

Matt Davignon opened for us with a solo set featuring a live performance on drum machine and effects processors.

This was nominally a performance marking the release of his new CD Living Things, although none of the pieces in the performance were actually from the CD. But that was OK. I particularly remember the last piece in the set for a variety of reasons, including but limited to the subtle effects in the music.

Thanks to Scott Looney and Studio 1510 for hosting us!

Fun with Highways: Orange Crush Interchange

This afternoon we at CatSynth avoid our responsibilities by presenting another highway interchange.

This is the so-called “Orange Crush” interchange in Orange County, CA, where I-5 and state highways CA 22 and CA 57 meet.  You can see how the three freeways converge in this USGS map:

[click to enlarge]

I actually got to know this interchange quite well during my recent NAMM trip, and ended up at one point or another on each of the highways.

There is actually an ulterior motive in doing a highway post today.  I am planning on doing a few posts on the intersection of art and highways (no pun intended).  While I have collected a few examples myself, I would welcome suggestions from readers.