Synthesizers

CatSynth pic: Merce and Roland SH-1000

Our friend Merce the cat with a Roland SH-1000 synthesizer. Submitted via Twitter.

It was in response to a via matrixsynth, originally from Electronic Musician. It described the many years of synth innovations from Ikutaro Kakehashi, one of the visionary elders of the synthesizer world and founder of Roland. He passed away earlier this week.

CatSynth: The App! 2.5.0 for iOS Released

We have a new version of CatSynth: The App! available on the Apple App Store. This is a tremendous update. The best version of CatSynth: The App! ever. We have rethought the user experience while preserving the distinctive style. It also happens to match Sam Sam’s markings quite nicely.

It is smoother and simpler to browse and read articles on your mobile device. And for the built-in Mystery Synths, we have added MIDI input support!

You can play the synths with an external MIDI controller or sequencer using either the network or (on iPads) a class-compliant MIDI USB device. We will have some video demos of this soon.

If you have an iOS device, please do try out the app and let us know what you think! 😺


CatSynth: The App! on iTunes

CatSynth video: Cleo and microKORG

Adorable black kitten with a microKORG synthesizer. By Duck (@duckband_uk) on Twitter, submitted to @catsynth on Twitter via Dan Kletter.

Hi Cleo, so nice to meet you 😺

CatSynth Audio: “Side Hookah” from Hookah the Cat

We have a new audio release from our friend Hookah the Cat! 😺

Hello, my first official release came out this week. I played every sound on it, my human merely recorded it. Availabe as digital or on a split cassette with the lasse jensen trio. https://stilletid.bandcamp.com/track/side-hookah

Alice-in-Wonderland-Themed Anti-Drug PSA with Synth Soundtrack

Via Dangerous Minds, we have this rather trippy PSA from 1971 using Alice in Wonderland as a frame for discussing the dangers of drugs.

The original was created by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (forerunner to the current Health and Human Services department) and can be found in the National Archives.

In hindsight, the video probably fails miserably at its mission – indeed, much of past decades’ anti-drug campaigns seem rather foolish in hindsight. But the imagery is gorgeous and quite captivating, as is the soundtrack. We at CatSynth in particular quite light the sparse synth music. And the cats, both the Cheshire Cat and the real-life cat that appears at the beginning and end 😺. Anyone care to identify the synth(s) used?