Jasper shares his latest composition on the Yamaha DX7ii classic FM synthesizer. We also see an Ensoniq ESQ1 on the lower shelf. Submitted by Samuel Mills.
Little more avant garde than I was looking for, dude. Let’s take it from the top.
cat
Gracie and PPG Wave
Gracie shows proudly shows off a PPG Wave. Clearly putting her paw of approval as Quality Manager for Synthetic Dreamscapes.
Submitted via our Facebook page. You can see all of Gracie’s features on CatSynth via her tag.
With wavetable synthesis very much in vogue again, it’s a good time to look back at the PPG Wave, which was the OG for this type of synthesis using large palettes of small, carefully crafted waveforms to create rich timbres at the oscillator level, before the signal goes to any filters, amplifiers or such. Gracie is fortunate to have one of these originals to play.
Carl with Moog Mother-32 and DFAM
Carl is getting ready to try out his patch on the Moog Moth-32 and DFAM.
Submitted by Austin Pierce via our Facebook page.
Milo and Custom DIY VCS3
Milo proudly sits next to a freshly built version of the classic (EMS Synthi) VCS3. Submitted by Keith Winstanley via our Facebook page.
As mentioned, this is not an original VCS3, but a modern custom build that Winstanley recently completed.
It’s one I’ve been building on and off for about 10 years, just bought and installed the Ghielmetti patchbay, pin park and Predtopatch socket 🙂 It has a lot of features the original hadn’t but using original components and circuitry 🙂
We hope that Keith and Milo have a lot of fun playing their new instrument!
Rubia, Sequential Six-Trak, Korg MS-10, Casio VZ-1
Rubia sits atop a vintage Sequential Six-Trak synthesizer and looks ready to pounce on the Casio VZ-1 (to the left). Above her, we see a Korg MS-10 analog synthesizer and in the lower right corner a vintage Rhodes.
From AxWax via Mastodon. AxWax and Rubia also have a new sample pack out featuring samples from a 40-year old Casiotone MT-70 keyboard. We at CatSynth look forward to checking that out.
Indy and Micromoog
Indy proudly sits atop a vintage Micromoog synthesizer. Submitted by CRaig Flory via our Facebook page.
Most readers are quite familiar with the Minimoog, but what about the Micromoog? It’s a somewhat smaller, single-oscillator synthesizer with a filter that is nearly identical to the Minimoog. It accepts external audio into the filter, so it makes a great processor as well. Finally, it has a pitch bend ribbon (like the CS-80), something its larger sibling did not have.
Bread, Teenage Engineering OP-1, Polyend Tracker
Our friend Bread has his paws on a Teenage Engineering OP-1, which is safely beneath an acrylic cover. Both Bread and the OP-1 sit atop a Polyend Tracker.
Submitted by Anton Gabriel Largoza-Maza via our Facebook page. Regular readers might know him better as thedigitalpurrgatory on Instagram.
Gracie and Ensoniq SQ-80
The indomitable Gracie is back, this time with an Ensoniq SQ-80 waveform hybrid synthesizer. She is clearly taking her quality-control inspection duties seriously! From our friends at Synthetic Dreamscapes.
The SQ-80 allowed one to mix up to three waveforms at once (e.g., a transient and a long time), along with an analog four-pole VCF and a VCA. It was a successor to the popular ESQ-1, and paved the way for modern wavetable synths.
Arturia created the SQ-80 V virtual version of this classic, which we reviewed here at CatSynth.
