This cat has found a comfy spot atop a Korg Electribe Sampler. From yo_soy_loiloi on Instagram.
korg
CatSynth pic: Puma, JoMoX, and Korg
Puma the cat gets ready to lay down some beats with the JoMoX XBass 09 and microKORG. From Márcio Cunha via Facebook.
She prefers analog kick drums instead of that Ableton digital s#it (her words, not mine).
CatSynth pic: Cat and microKORG
Today we feature a local kitty cat from Oakland who owns the microKORG. From mindcocoon on Instagram.
Analog Ladies at Robotspeak
Today we look back at the recent Analog Ladies edition of the Church of the Superserge that took place in late June at Robotspeak in San Francisco.
The Analog Ladies show featured solo performances by five women on analog synthesizers (along with some additional items). It was a diverse cross-section of musical and performance styles, with each artist being different focus to her set. First up was series regular Elise Gargalikis performing on a Serge Modular synthesizer with along with vocal samples and loops.
Gargalikis, who often performs as part of the duo, Slope114, has a mellifluous voice that rises above some of the noise sounds from the modular synth, while blending as a high note in longer drones.
Next up was Miss Moist, an Oakland-based electronic musician who describes her music as “electro candy pop // tropical kitsch”. She combined analog electronics with a Korg Electribe and Mini-Kaoss Pad.
[Photo by Tom Djll.]
The result was a blend of rhythms and sweet tones that did indeed match the description, but also moments of harsh glitching and moderate noise hits before returning back to the main patterns.
The next set featured Jill Fraser performing on her vintage Serge modular synthesizer.
Jill Fraser’s set featured fully formed compositions ranging over different parts of her career all the way to very recent. Some were very abstract, but with intricately detailed sound design on the Serge. I’ve always been impressed with the woodwind-like sounds that some musicians have been able to get from this instrument. There were also some melodic and rhythmic pieces as well, reflective of her career in film and TV.
Next up was Mint Park, who performed with an analog modular synthesizer made composed primarily of TipTop Audio modules along with a laptop running Ableton Live!
Her performance was intense. A strong set of beats with punctuated breaks was feed through the modular with hard grating noise that worked well in context. She kept up the energy for the entire duration of the set.
Then it was time to take the stage as the final act of show.
[Photo by Dmitri SFC]
For this set, I brought the full analog modular system, including some recent acquisitions such as the Hexinverter.net Mutant-Hijats – I opened the set with the Hihats controlled by the Make Noise Rene and the Moog Theremini. The Theremini, used exclusively as a CV controller for the modular synth, was the centerpiece of the set as it enabled full embodied performance. I also brought along the Garrahand drum, which works well fed into the Make Noise Echophon.
You can here my full performance in this video.
Amanda Chaudhary at Analog Ladies, Robotspeak, San Francisco from CatSynth on Vimeo.
I always try to make sure there is a variety of textures and energy-levels and weave together a narrative structure even within improvisation. Overall, I was very pleased with this set and the response from the large crowd.
[Photo by Tom Djll.]
Indeed, all the artists were well received by the overflowing crowd at Robotspeak – it’s not a large place, but it was filled with synth enthusiasts and those who enjoy more adventurous music. This was the first Analog Ladies edition of the Church of the Super Serge, but I certainly hope it won’t be the last.
[Photo courtesy of Robotspeak.]
CatSynth pic: Korg Poly 800 and String Machine
From marullismo on Instagram. I’m familiar with the Korg Poly 800 but not the String Machine. If you have had experience with it, please comment.
CatSynth pic: ARP Odyssey and Korg Mono/Poly
CatSynth pic: Cat and microKORG
From thisispasserene on Instagram.
“Not posed. Found him like this. #synthcat 🎹🐱”
Next to a microKORG is a perfect place for a cat to pose.
CatSynth pic: Cat and Modular Synth
From bitreduction on Instagram.
“Slightly old picture of this cutie”
Cutie indeed! And quite a few familiar synth modules. We’ll leave naming those as an exercise to the reader 🙂
CatSynth pic: Uno Meow with KORG Poly-Ensemble
Via matrixsynth:
“Our cat Uno Meow claims his place atop the divide-down chain.”
Divide-down oscillators are indeed awesome, although it is my understanding that the Korg Poly-Ensemble did indeed have separate oscillators per key.
These photos are exceptionally cute 🙂
NAMM: New Korg Synths and ARP Odyssey clone
One of the big announcements before the show was Korg’s new clone of the ARP Odyssey. It was up there with the Moog Modular and Sequential Prophet 6. So I had to see and play this one for myself.
Like most of Korg’s recent reissues of classic analog instruments, this version of the ARP Odyssey is about 80% the size of the originally. I’m not sure what it is with Korg making things “just a little smaller” than the original. But it did have the sound of the original – I tried, somewhat poorly, to play some lines from Head Hunters. And I was happy to see that had the original industrial design, including the Helvetica-style red lettering on black background that remains very distinctive. It would be interesting to play this along side my vintage Octave CAT. At just under $1000, it’s even possible one day.
Another new offering from Korg this year was the MS20-M kit, a kit variation on the MS-20. It was paired with the new and very compact SQ-1 CV sequencer.
The MS-20M has no keyboard, but that’s not much of an impediment as one can control it via external CV.
At the small end of the spectrum there was the LittleBits SynthKit, a collaboration between Korg and LittleBits. We actually have one of these kits at CatSynth HQ.
