From Jeff Donovick via our Facebook page.
The photo features the cat Otava sitting on the command chair in front of a Roland A80 keyboard controller. The controller is connected to Native Instruments Reaktor with RAZOR and SKANNER synths.
keyboard
CatSynth pic: Video on the Wurlitzer Electric Piano
Another picture of Video the cat relaxing on the Wurlitzer 200e electric piano. Submitted by The Wiggly Tendrils via our Facebook page.
CatSynth pic: Video on a Wurlitzer Electric Piano
“Video” the Cat takes a stroll on a Wurlitzer 200e electric piano. Submitted by The Wiggly Tendrils via our facebook page.
One may argue that a Wurlitzer electric piano isn’t a “synthesizer” per se. But electromechanical pianos (Wurlitzer and Rhodes) are among my favorite instruments and feline pictures with them are always welcome here!
Me too. I bought this one in Oshkosh Wisconsin years ago at the music store that time forgot. The guy was renting them out to piano students who didn’t have pianos at home. (their original purpose) I eventually talked him into selling me one. I love it. I also briefly had a Yamaha CP-70 but had to sell it when I moved from Philly to Berkeley.
NAMM: Waldorf Zarenbourg and Blofeld
I have to admit I was a bit dejected at first when I started my systematic wandering of NAMM Hall A. A lot of solid recording and computer gear, but one can only feign so much interest in one soft synth and digital mixer or latest incarnation of a popular digital workstation. My mood lightened when I came to the Waldorf Zarnenbourg.
Yes, it is just another digital modeling synth, albeit in a pretty package reminiscent of a Rhodes suitcase piano. But it was very playable, and immediately left behind the initial overstimulation and monotony by firing up the Wurlitzer electric-piano model and playing jazz/blues/funk riffs for a few minutes. In some ways it was even more convincing than my workhorse Nord Stage (although that remains an excellent electric-piano model, too). The electric-pianos were physical modeling synths, while the acoustic piano was sample-based. The effect sections are also more versatile, in particular the auto-wah. The Blofeld was connected to the Zarenbourg’s audio input so the instruments were mixed together in the piano’s built-in speakers for a fun combination of classic 70s riffing and esoteric electronic sounds. The Blofeld can get a bit intense at times, and it seems like one of the booth agents was having a little fun with the next unsuspecting soul who tried turning it on.
Weekend Cat Blogging: Return to the Beginning
For our first Weekend Cat Blogging of 2012, we reprise the original photo that launched this site. Here is Luna with the Novation keyboard on the beanbag chair near the turn of the new year.
Luna is all grown up compared to the youngster in the original photo in 2006, but she still has the same fur and eyes. And she still favors this particular beanbag chair as her own. Indeed, it’s a favorite napping spot here in the studio area:
I didn’t realize until looking at the original against these photos how similar the windows look, even though the original was in a completely different place.
The studio is a currently a focus of attention here at CatSynth HQ in that I am trying to further make it into a better organized laboratory for musical and visual creativity. And it also has to continue to double as the office, the place where the computers sit and where I pay the bills. I expect that Luna will continue to spend lots of time here as well.
Weekend Cat Blogging #344 is hosted by Mog with assists from Meowza and Ritzi at Mind of Mog.
The Carnival of the Cats well be hosted by Kashim, Othello and Salome in Vienna.
And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.
CatSynth pic: Ring Mod Sync
From Sawa Masaki on flickr.
“Yoko who pushes the RING MOD SYNC button”
If you would like to submit your cat-and-music photo or video, you can share it with us via our Facebook page, tweet us @catsynth, or contact us.
CatSynth pic: Missy and Nord
Submitted by Addz Vindicare Milner via our facebook page.
“My cat Missy getting some zeds Nord style :)”
CatSynth pic: Theo’s Lullaby
Another from Julian Dreißig via our facebook page.
“Since Theo made it right into the blog, here’s another picture featuring his favorite musical activity: practicing Lullabies :).”
CatSynth pic: Theo
Submitted by Julian Dreißig on facebook.
“Scales exercises for four paws.
Theo from Berlin says Hello.”
CatSynth 5th Anniversary!
Today we mark the 5th Anniversary of CatSynth!
I started this site on July 19, 2006 as a novelty when a friend and former colleague at E-MU systems suggested that I “should make a website about cats and synths.”
Every anniversary we feature the photo of Luna from the inaugural post.
I still have that Novation keyboard, though it does not get used as often of late. Luna of course still is very territorial about that beanbag chair. Times have changed a bit, here is an iconic photo of Luna from this past year, this time with an iPad app (in this case, the Smule Magic Piano):
Another quirky way we like to celebrate is with statistics. First the basics:
1559 posts.
0.85 posts per day.
8784 comments.
5.63 comments per post.
476 posts featuring cats and synthesizers.
195 reviews (and gig reports).
381,735 visitors.
Even after five years, people from around the world continue to send us pictures of cats and music gear. These days most of those come via our Facebook, which together with twitter has become a major way people engage with this site.
From Google Analytics (which we finally got working properly over the past year), here is an overview of where our visitors come from around the world.
By far and away most of our visitors are from the United States, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, France and Germany. I’m gratified to see so many visitors from India, though I’m curious why we never receive any comments from there…
It’s also interesting to look at cities.
Not surprisingly, the top cities are San Francisco and New York. In Google, it’s SF followed by NYC, while in Facebook, New York is the top city.
Our most popular posts judged by number of visitors are the annual endangered wild cats on earth day. Over the past year, our most commented posts were:
Our top commenters the past year:
| Kitty | 199 |
| Mickey, Georgia and Tillie | 146 |
| Gattina | 94 |
| CatSynth | 90 |
| The Chair Speaks | 66 |
| meowmeowmans | 65 |
| Snowcatcher | 56 |
| AVCr8teur | 51 |
| Daisy the Curly Cat | 48 |
| Cats of Wildcat Woods | 41 |
| Beth @ 990 Square | 40 |
Thanks to all our friends (in time zones earlier than U.S. Pacific Daylight Time) who already sent in comments for the anniversary, and to the Cat Blogosphere for their anniversary shout-out!
And while we will continue to keep doing what we do, it has been more of a challenge over this past year to keep up with posts, especially the longer-form reviews. There is a trade between doing music and art, and writing about people doing music and art. But I still love doing everything here, and will find a way…