analog

CatSynth pic: little cat and modular

From sduck409 at flickr, via matrixsynth:

Quote from sduck409:

This little cat was a real spark plug when we got him back in January of 2006. He would jump up and into anything.

Like matrix, we are reminded of Moogy the Moggy

Funny how this photo is tinted blue, and only a day or so ago we had a catsynth photo tinted red…





CatSynth pics: Mimì and Polyvoks

Remember Mimì, our intrepid little synth programmer?
Now she's taking her paws to the Russian (Soviet era) Polyvoks synthesizer.


Thanks as always to Eric of polynominal for submitting these photos of Mimì.

You can hear some samples of a Polyvoks at sequencer.de.

Seems approrpiate to feature a Russian synthesizer today, with the news of the passing of Boris Yeltsin today…

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.”








Octave The Cat

Well, after months of trying to track one of these down, I finally have in my posession an Octave CAT!

Of course, I find myself wanting to write “Octave the Cat” because of the main “Octave / The Cat” fan site, and repetition of the phrase at matrixsynth and elsewhere.

It turns out to be in fantastic shape, both cosmetically and functionally. I brought it in to work on the grounds that it might need a little work, and instead we've been having a great time playing with it. No repair work necessary. A wonderful addition to the collection (and quite appropriate for this site, don't you think?)





CatSynth pic: Mimì and TB-303

Submitted by polynominal from Italy:

Mimì is a 8 years old female cat, born in the island
of Sardenia in Italy.
Her name is from a character of the opera “la Bohème”
composed by Puccini, although I could never bring her to the lyrical
theatre “La Scala” of Milan,
the city where I live and have my recording studio.
Mimì likes to stay in the studio for the warmy
heat produced by analog machines, perfect for little
cozy naps!
In the snapshot she's thinking of a way to sync a tb303
to an Elka Synthex's sequencer!
I hope she'll find out soon! 🙂

Besides being a classic analog instrument for techno and dance music, the TB-303 is quite a comfy location for a nap. Who knew?