midnight monday

CatSynth video: Black Cat Synth

From stylinghead on YouTube.

CatSynth pic: Yamaha CS15

Via matrixsynth (originally from an auction).

Close-up of just the cat.

CatSynth pic: Sequential Circuits Pro One

From an auction, via matrixsynth:

“It’s the J-wire version, with the good power supply.”
cat not included?

Thoughts for Mickey

We are posting this for our friend Mickey. He and his mom (who famously feeds him one blade of grass at a time) are regular visitors to this site and have been very supportive over the past couple of years. Mickey’s health has taken a serious turn for the worse in recent days. He and and is family are in our thoughts.

Some preparation for March 4 concert

A late evening preparing for the upcoming Regents’ Lecture concert, with an assist from Luna:

Here Luna poses with TouchOSC on the iPad, which is becoming one of the main control surfaces I will be using to control Open Sound World. Last night I was building the synthesis infrastructure for the new piece, a combination of drum sampling and spatialized additive synthesis – at least four separate additive synthesis models that are algorithmically generated based on input from the iPad. Against this will be electronic drum sounds and an Afro-Cuban rhythm detail. I really won’t know the exact shape of this piece until I work with CNMAT’s speaker array.

I also learned from the Saturday’s performance in Oakland that I will need to refine the control on TouchOSC for the new implementation of my piece Charmer:Firmament. It was very well received, with descriptions like “beautiful” and “meditative”, but it was difficult to control compared to the Wacom graphics tablet. I will try a different mix of controls on the iPad to see if it works better.

CatSynth pic: Cat and Rhodes

From suitandtieguy on an old thread on Muff Wiggler’s forum.

Some of the photos have appeared here before, but some have not. I am pretty sure this is one that hasn’t.

Can anyone identify the synths and other gear between the Rhodes and the cat?

CatSynth pic: Yamaha Electric Organ

This is a vintage late-1970s Yamaha electric organ that I played at a jam session yesterday evening. I am not sure of the exact model, but I think is a B40 from 1977.

Organs can be a bit of a challenge to play if one is trained on piano and synthesizer. Basically, I just try to find a few settings that work and stick with them. Nonetheless, it was a good session, with talented drummers including one out-of-town visitor. The only harmonic instruments were organ and bass guitar, so essentially we were just a giant rhythm section. And we were able to get some interesting rhythms, including a 6/4 version of John Coltraine’s Equinox, and an extended minor blues that moved freely among different rhythmic styles and pulses while maintaining a beat.