synth

CatSynth pic: Mimì and TB-303

Submitted by polynominal from Italy:

Mimì is a 8 years old female cat, born in the island
of Sardenia in Italy.
Her name is from a character of the opera “la Bohème”
composed by Puccini, although I could never bring her to the lyrical
theatre “La Scala” of Milan,
the city where I live and have my recording studio.
Mimì likes to stay in the studio for the warmy
heat produced by analog machines, perfect for little
cozy naps!
In the snapshot she's thinking of a way to sync a tb303
to an Elka Synthex's sequencer!
I hope she'll find out soon! 🙂

Besides being a classic analog instrument for techno and dance music, the TB-303 is quite a comfy location for a nap. Who knew?





CatSynth pic: synth studio, with cat

Another from our friend Knox Bronson at SunPopBlue:

This is a rather abstract representation of his “almost all-analogue synth studio.” Mars kitty can be seen in the bubble at the lower right (and in the enlarged clip to the right). The overall composition suggests a blend of the CatSynth banner with my Music of the (Blue) Spheres graphic artwork.

The original photo is from 2002, and Mars has since passed away. You can also see a close-up video at the original SunPopBlue posting.






CatSynth pic: Freddie chilling on the Serge

Submitted by Knox Bronson at SunPopBlue:

Bronson has collaborated with Gustvo Lanzas (who provided the recent video of Apu the “Acid Cat”) on an interesting improvisation featuring the Serge (and an E-MU SP-1200!) called Where The Bees Are. Check out the free mp3.

And there is still more fun with Freddie at SunPopBlue. Check out his video Sleep (An Homage to Andy Warhol):

Ah, wasn't it only a day or so ago that we were again reminiscing about New York in the 1970s?






CatSynth Pic: Waldorf Pulse and Cats

This cute photo is originally from synx508 over at flickr comes to us via matrixsynth,

Looks like we have mutual posts this week – in addition to our picking up the above photo, matrix has reposted Teodor Revolution from here.

The cats-and-synths meme is growing! It's in our name, it's a frequent topic here, at matrixsynth and elsewhere, and the number of photos and videos of cats with synthesizers seems to be on the rise. What is it that makes cats and synthesizers go together? Or in some cases, not go together – there are several boorish comments posted on matrixsynth under Teodor Revolution. That aside, it might simply be the case that “synth people” tend to be “cat people.” Cats are small and curious and likely to explore our large racks of gear, finding warm nooks within. Additionally, cats are less likely to be banned from home studio environments. Certainly, Luna is a welcome presence in my studio. I would never extend the same priveledge to a dog (then again, I doubt I would let a dog enter my house at all).

Please feel free to share you thoughts on the cat-synthesizer relationship below.







CatSynth pic: Teodor Revolution

This photo comes to us from altermark at flickr. To quote: “Definitely a cat on synth picture for once!”

Teodor is a lovely siberian cat, and the synth upon which he stands is a Future Retro Revolution. The Revolution is a very visually attractive instrument – I have seen it at NAMM several times. I don't really have a sense for it as a musical instrument, however. How does a Revolution compare to my Evolver, for example? The Evolver has four oscillators (plus a “fifth” via feedback that I often use), multiple filter options, and other timbral features, while the sequencer is somewhat awkward to use. It seems at first glance, the Revolution flips the balance between synthesizer and sequencer in favor of sequencing, which does have its place.

Perhaps you can judge for yourself by listening to the audio examples. Certainly, we recently saw that Apu enjoys the “acid sounds” from the Revolution.






CatSynth video: Apu the "Acid Cat"

Gustavo (aka “audioel” on YouTube) submitted this rather appropriate (and very cute) video:

Apu really likes the TB-303 acid sounds of the Future-Retro Revolution demos

Of course, he is a cat and tries to use “kitty science” uncover the source of the sound, but to no avail.

Looks like the laptop is a black macbook, similar (or the same) as the one I got last December. I'm wondering whether the tb303 track is just a recording, or a softsynth running on the macbook.






CatSynth pic: Moogy

From our friends at matrixsynth, here is Moogy the moggy!

Moogy is actually the feline companion of Corky Burger. You can hear a “collaboration” of theirs entitled Moogy Boogie. Apparently Moogy enjoys hiding in the gaps between analog synth modules. I hesitate to think what would happen if Hercules attempted to fit in there.

Matrix had been campaigning for Moogy to win a contest featuring cute animals with electronic gadgets. She definitely got my vote. Unfortunately, the contest is now over and it appears that Moogy lost out to a chinchilla. We will have to launch a better coordinated campaign next time…