Cat showing off a Sequential Prophet 6. By maxeredussence on Instagram.
We at CatSynth are a bit envious of this kitty, as we covet the Prophet 6 (and the Rev 2). I love my Prophet 12, but these are completely different instruments and complement one another. You can read our NAMM 2015 review of the Prophet 6 here.
After a brief hiatus over the weekend, we’re back – more on that later. In the meantime, we have this cute photo of Zelda the Gray with a DSI Evolver, Arturia KeyStep, Native Instruments Maschine, and more 😺. From skaterdays on Instagram.
We have a brand-new CatSynth TV! This one demonstrates a couple of the hidden features of the Moog Sub Phatty synthesizer.
In particular, we look at filter-topology selection and Oscillator 2 beat frequencies. The filter selection makes the instrument much more powerful, moving between the extra crunchy 1 and 2-pole filters to the smooth 4-pole that is “quintessentially Moog”. The beat frequency is a bit more esoteric – it maintains beating frequencies across different pitches, leading to some odd detunings in different registers. But it can add a new timbral-metric component to compositions – something to explore in more depth.
We also look at the Editor/Librarian software from Moog, which is really handy for accessing these features as well as saving patches.
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This morning we bring you a beautiful black cat with green eyes (like our beloved late Luna), courtesy of our friends at polynominal.com.
We’re pretty sure this is Marcel, who has appeared on CatSynth before, You can see his previous appearances here. As he is the focus of this image optically and conceptually, we are unable to identify the modular synth in the back.
It seems like it is a week for Cats on Moogs, and in particular cats on Moog Sub 37. From Drew Millar via the Facebook group Synthesizer Freaks – part of the same thread that included Monday’s Cat-on-Sub-37 photo.
The Matzoh Man returns for Passover on CatSynth TV, this time accompanied by a Minimoog, Roland VP-03 vocoder and our trusty Nord Stage EX.
The Dayenu song is a tradition on Passover. The word dayenu approximately translates to “it would have been sufficient” and is used as a phrase of gratitude for each of the miracles recounted in the Passover Hagaddah.
Chag Pesach Sameach!
We bring you another from the latest series of cartoons by J.B., this featuring a classic Mellotron. In particular, it appears to be the iconic M400 model, or perhaps an Mk4.
You can read our recent review from the Mellotron booth at NAMM here. We also featured the instrument in a popular CatSynth TV episode.
Cat with Roland JP-8000 synthesizer. Submitted by Pedro Vieira via our Facebook page.
The JP-8000 was released in 1997 as virtual analog modeling synths came into vogue. In addition to modeling the sound, it sported full front panel of sliders and knobs reminiscent of Roland’s classic analog synths. I was more enamored with the follow-up module, the JP-8080, which I got to try out at AES in 1998, the same year I delivered a paper on an analog modeling technique. One can draw a line from these instruments to the Roland JP-08 Boutique Synth, which we often play at CatSynth HQ.
