This image was circulating on CatSynth with only the male musicians on the left-hand side. With the help of my friend Kitty Ookpik, a great electronic musician in her own right, we added the last line to reflect the fact that synth chicks with cats rule 😉
The 2nd Annual Oakland Internet Cat Video Festival took place a little over a week ago. Large numbers of cat lovers and cat-video enthusiasts descended on a block of West Grand Avenue along The Great Wall in celebration of cats, and of course your author was there, complete with crazy-cat-lady dress and bag.
The daytime part of the event had more of a street fair atmosphere, with numerous booths providing food and miscellaneous cat-themed products under a bright but cloudy sky. There were also numerous organizations involved in fostering and adoption of cats, including the East Bay SPCA (one of the main beneficiaries of the event) Cat Town, and Oakland-based group that finds foster and forever homes for local cats and is also opening what may be the first cat cafe in the United States!
Many of the organizations brought adoptable cats and kittens for viewing. We certainly hope some found homes that day.
The celebrity rock star of the event was Li’l Bub, who was on hand for visitors to meet.
Our friend Serena Toxicat of Protea performed a feline-themed set of music for voice and electronics. Among her songs was a tribute to the manual (or Pallas Cat) with the warning not to get too close to one despite its awesomeness.
Other daylight fun included a photo booth from the makers of 9lives cat food, inviting visitors to Instagram and tag themselves as #MorrisAndMe (and of course #catvidfest).
Finally, the sun set and the actual videos began. The videos were from a curated reel featured at the Minneapolis Cat Video Festival hosted at the Walker Art Center., and featured many familiar videos such as Henri the existential cat and Grumpy Cat, but also new discoveries.
What makes this experience unique is not the videos themselves, which so many of us know from our time on the Internet, but the act of getting together and watching them with others, and laughing together at the cat antics.
I am certainly looking forward to this event coming back again next year!
Via Paul Appliancide on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge.
I only know “Klee” to refer to the artist Paul Klee, whose work I admire. I was not familiar with the Klee sequencer module until now. It looks pretty intense.
From paul mungru on YouTube, via matrixsynth. Spot the kitten!
The DX7 a sonic legend. I have made this synthesizer my project for over 20 years. They said it was impossible to program. They were wrong. Its different but once you know the major sound shapers.
There is no pure synth in history that can surpass what a DX7 can do straight from its own engine. As always 100% DX7 sounds.
I still have a Yamaha TX81Z and TX802 in the studio, but rarely if ever used these days. Part of it is the tedium of programming, though a good editor/librarian can take care of that. It would be interesting to combine the TX81Z and analog synths in the same composition, something that was rarely if ever done in the 1980s.
From Appliancide.
“Cats are very into beefy terminal blocks.”
I was actually looking into the Ikea Rast as a hackable piece of studio furniture, but I’m not sure it is precisely what I need. If only there was a way to make it slightly wider…
We at CatSynth are happy to be hosting the Carnival of the Cats this weekend! It has been a while since we last hosted – indeed we have been a little remiss on participating of late. But we’re happy to be doing so today, and even updated our banner to reflect the changes underway with San Francisco’s street signs. But without further ado, let us get on to the cats.
Over at StrangeRanger Maddie teaches us about the use of resources. Sunshine should be applied in the proper places, otherwise it is wasted.
Meanwhile, our friends at Elvira reviews some great toys with an assist from Sneakers. In addition to the feather toy, there were mousies and balls as well, all from The Natural Pet Company. On a related note, we are sending good healthy thoughts and restful thoughts for our friend Daddy Kiril who greatly overdid it this past week. Cats fortunately make great nurses. But please stop by to leave some words of encouragement.
Some good news about our friend Moosey at Animal Shelter Volunteer! His tests came back good, and his health is improving. He is home relaxing and quite contented with his humans, our friends Kevin and Tracey. We wish them all well.
We will continue to update through tonight as submissions come in, so please leave a comment or contact us if you like to be included.
From F5D on SoundCloud, via matrixsynth.
“A texture sound that I programmed for DSI Prophet 08 analog synth. Watch your speaker levels for surprises!”
You can listen to the sound below.
First CatSynth post of the new year, this one features both Grumpy Cat and Keyboard Cat (in toy form).
Not surprisingly, I have one of those keyboard cat toys. I have used it in performance and it might make an appearance this Saturday at SOMArts’ 100 Performances For the Hole. Stop by between 7-8 to catch my 4-minute feline-themed set!
