Bucky and Modular

Bucky poses handsomely next to an impressive modular system. We see many familiar modules, including Mr. Grassi, the Rossum Panharmonium, Erica Synths, Mordax DATA, and more. Bucky is certainly going to have some fun exploring these modules.

From our good friend alphastare via Mastodon

Are we doing cats and synths, is that a thing here? Let’s go!
Meet Buckminster aka “Bucky”!
He also has a sister who I’ll introduce soon.
#cats #catstodon #JoinIn #catsofmastodon #catsandsynths #kitties #ModularSynthesizers #Eurorack #Synthesizers

“Cats and synths” will always be a thing for us on every social-media platform, and we look forward to meeting Bucky’s feline sister.

Sekhmet, Erica Synths SYNTRX, Roland Jupiter-X, Arturia Keystep

Sekhmet poses proudly with an Erica Synths SYNTRX, Roland Jupiter-X, Arturia Keystep, and more. Submitted by Robert Saint John via our Twitter account.

We at CatSynth are particularly envious of Sekhmet’s SYNTRX, a reimagining of the infamous EMS Synthi AKS, and hope to try one out someday.

Satie, Modular, 0-Ctrl

Satie joins us again. This time he has a Make Noise 0-Ctrl, an impressive modular system that includes offerings from Erica Synths, Mutable Instruments, Make Noise, Intellijel, and Bear Modules. There are also a couple of intriguing DIY instruments at Satie’s disposal.

From Antoine Marronclɘs of DAFAKE, via Facebook.

Vanilla and Modular

Vanilla the cat joins us from Guangzhou, China, with an impressive modular system. We see an Erica Synths Plasma Drive, numerous offerings from Endorphines and Make Noise, including a 0-coast; 4MS, Noise Engineering, the popular SQ-1 sequencer from Korg, and even a box from Elektron.

From complexwaveform on Instagram.

Cat and Modular (Make Noise, Instruo, SOMA Laboratory, Erica Synths, more)

A very pretty cat framed by a wide variety of modular synthesizers, including offerings from Make Noise, SOMA Laboratory (the Lyra-8 in the lower left corner), Instruo, Erica Synths, Mutable Instruments, and many more.

From Simon RD via Facebook. You can see this cat’s previous appearance here.

CatSynth Video: Cat rings service bell to make dark ambient music with a modular synthesizer

Cat rings a service bell to that is fed into an audio signal chain as part of this ambient electronic composition.

By Andor Polgar on YouTube, via matrixsynth.

The signal path: Poes rings the service Bell for food, the microphone picks up the sound, which then goes through a stereo volume pedal (it’s for attenuating the chewing sounds). Make Noise Maths is used as an envelope follower, which controls the sound of the Erica Synth Black Wavetable Oscillator.

https://instagram.com/_andormade
http://andor.cool

We at CatSynth absolutely adore this video and feline performance.  And we are thinking about ways to get Sam Sam into a live synthesizer performance 😸

CatSynth Video: neu·ro·trans·mit·ter (Mr. Maximilion in the Studio)

A new video from our friends Mr. Maximillion and Charles Whiley, featuring a beat-based jam with sundry synthesizers.

Between the fast pans and cute shots of our feline friend, we at CatSynth were able to identify the following instruments:

  • Novation Peak
  • JoMox Alpha Base
  • Arturia MatrixBrute
  • Novation Super Nova
  • Synthstrom Deluge
  • Oberheim Matrix 6R
  • Erica Synths Acid Box II

What other synths can you find in the video? 😺

NAMM 2018: Erica Synths Drum Sequencer and More

We continue to work our way slowly through the embarrassment of riches from NAMM 2018 with a look at new modules from Erica Synths.

The biggest of the new modules, both physically and in terms of garnered attention, was the Drum Sequencer module.  It has an attractive retro look and feel with a raised keypad and red LED display, reminiscent of instruments and studio gear from the 1980s.  It also features 12 independent trigger outputs and 12 separate accent outputs – of course in the context of a modular synth one need not use the accent outputs for “accents”.

Erica Synths drum sequencer

The sequencer itself is full-featured with separate meter and length per track as well as independent shuffle and probability per step.  The probabilistic step function is intriguing, and one I did not have a proper opportunity to explore at NAMM, so hopefully I will get a chance to do so in the not too distant future.

The Graphic VCO returns to a more contemporary design found in many digital Eurorack modules.

Erica Synths Graphic VCO

This module allows the user to draw his or her own waveforms Etch-a-sketch style to use in two simultaneous wavetable oscillators.  In addition to mixing, they can be arranged in different topologies for FM, ring modulation, waveshaping and more.  The waveform selections and configurations can be sequenced for continuously morphing sounds.  It would be interesting to use with the Drum Sequencer.

The final module we looked at was the Resonant Equalizer.  It is basically a 12-band bandpass filter with each band independently controllable via CV.  One can also control all the bands with a single CV input for sequencer-based changes.  Again, this feels like a module that would work well in tandem with the Drum Sequencer.  It also has an attractive visual look for live performance use.

Erica Synths Resonant Equalizer

You can see all these modules in action in our recent video, which also features a “virtual appearance” by Tuna, the official Erica Synths cat 😺

We congratulate Tuna and rest of the team from Erica Synths on their offerings for this year’s show, and hope to someday visit them in Latvia.

For more information, please visit http://www.ericasynths.lv/