CATSYNTH

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Tag: Synthesizers

  • Pitta of the Mind and Mezzacappa-Phillips Duo, Luggage Store Gallery

    Today we look back at my latest performance with Pitta of the Mind at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, a show that also featured a set by the Mezzacappa-Phillips duo.

    Pitta of the Mind is my music-and-poetry duo with poet Maw Shein Win. It was our fourth performance as a duo, and probably our most polished to date. As with our previous performance at last year’s Skronkathon, we selected a color as the overarching theme for the set. That time it was silver, this time it was blue, which was reflected in our costumes, props (including a little blue tree), and the content of some of the poems. The selections were a bit darker and melancholy than at the Skronkathon, and overall the set had a more serious feel. There were, however, humorous moments in both words and interpretive dance moves from Maw. For the music behind the poems, I used a variety of iPad apps including Sunrizer, Animoog and Bebot. The challenge was to provide sound that fit with the poems without overpowering them.


    [Maw Shein Win. Photo: PeterBKaars.com.]

    After the main course of our poetry-and-music set, I played a solo improvisation on the analog modular system as dessert.


    [Photo: PeterBKaars.com.]

    A subpatch with the E350 Morphing Terrarium from Synthesis Technology, the Make Noise Maths, and the KOMA Eletronik SVF-201 filter formed the foundation, with other modules patched in and out during the course of the performance. I was aiming for noisy rhythmic patterns, and sometimes succeed, while at other times allowed the sound to move in the direction of longer drones or unstable chaos.


    [Click to enlarge.]

    The set was well received by the small but appreciated audience, and we got quite a few positive comments for both words, music and our coordinated blue outfits.

    Lisa Mezzacappa and Noah Phillips opened with with a set of improvised music for upright base and guitar, respectively. Both are virtuosic improvisers, and I expected good things from their set. They explored a wide variety of extended techniques, some percussive and some more drone-like, and moving freely between more structured and free-form rhythms. Overall, the timbres, harmonies and textures were quite beautiful and visually evocative.


    [Noah Phillips and Lisa Mezzacappa. Photo: PeterBKaars.com.]

    Interestingly, this was not the first time we shared the bill with the Mezzacappa-Phillips duo. We were all together at a show in Oakland in 2011. I’m glad we had the change to perform together again.

  • CatSynth pic: Cat – Synth – Space (Eurorack Modular)

    By musicalgeometry on flickr.

    This cat has quite the collection in this Eurorack modular system. I see several modules that I have as well, including the Make Noise Maths, and 4ms Pingable Envlope Generator. I also have the outboard version of the Kenton MIDI->CV converter.

  • CatSynth video: makey makey midi with kitty

    That is one patient cat! How would your cats react to this?

    Via matrixsynth, where you can see additional videos. The Makey Makey is actually a board that maps any electrical signals into standard keyboard events.

  • CatSynth pic: Back Home From NAMM with Tiptop

    From @muffwiggler who manned the Tiptop Audio booth this year. http://tiptopaudio.com

    Via matrixsynth.

  • CatSynth pic: Minime and Axiom 25

    Submitted by Aais Plex via our Facebook page.

    “Mimine ‘the drummer’ taking a short nap on her favourite spot: the Axiom 25 keyboard. Favourite instrument: the TR-909 drumkit”

  • CatSynth pic: Cat and Keyboard

    Submitted by Christy Purrrlington via Twitter.

    “how can I play properly when mom leaves her rubbish all over the keys?”

  • House Panther CatSynth pic

    Submitted by Piotr Majewski via our Facebook page. If you can identify the red device next to the handsome black cat, please leave a comment below. Of course, if you can’t identify it, feel free to leave a comment as well 🙂

  • NAMM: Analogue Haven

    The visit the Analogue Haven booth is another of the annual pilgrimages at the NAMM show. The highlight of my visit this year was a performance by Richard Devine on a system consisting exclusively of Make Noise modules.

    This virtuosic performance showed what these modules are truly capable of with practice. The music moved between rhythmic staccato textures and longer resonant tones in multiple layers. It was also a showcase for the DPO, Make Noise’s oscillator, which was the only tone generator in this system. I have a Make Noise Maths and an Ecophon, and the performance inspired me to practice these along with the other modules to get more complex musical results.

    Analog video is looking like a potential area of creative expansion, and LZX Industries was prominently demonstrating their video modules. Here we see our mascot being processed live.

    One thing I would like to see more in video synthesis is interaction between analog audio, video and control signals.

    On the opposite end from the modules was the massive Schmidt Eightvoice Polyphonic Synthesizer. A beautiful looking instrument with an interesting set of filters inspired be Moog and Oberheim:

    This synthesizer is truly a labor of love by its creator Stefan Schmidt, who spent many years on this project. It remains to be seen if it will sell.

    Other quick views from around the Analogue Haven booth included this demo of modules from Snazzy FX:

    Percussion modules and a novel sequencer from Delptronics:

    And the distinctive orange controls of the Harvestman modules.

    There were three new releases from Harvestman, including a new Hertz Donut.

    And the distinctive clean white design of Koma Elektronik, including the SVF-201 Vactrol Filter module and their infrared controller.

    It is great to see the popularity of the analog instruments and new designs coming each year. If there are any drawbacks, it is that the field of available modules and effects boxes has become quite bewildering, and that the Analogue Haven booth is always quite crowded.

  • NAMM: Big City Music (Swarmatron, Jomox, Metasonix, and more)

    Once again, one of my main destinations at NAMM was the booth of Big City Music, where I can always find analog synthesizers and exotic electronic musical instruments that defy categorization. There certainly was no shortage of modular systems, including this scary looking yellow box full of Metasonix modules.

    Because Metasonix modules, especially the R55 VCO, take a huge amount of current, this case can handle a ridiculous 7500mA. That is half of a standard home electrical line. Other manufacturers besides Metasonix were represented as well. Just to the left of the case one can see the new vactrol filter from Koma Electronic, a module I recently acquired.

    On the more exotic end, Leon Dewan of Dewanatron was on hand again this year to demonstrate the Swarmatron (watch as our feline mascot nearly gets carted away on the nearby Mellotron):

    I tried my hand at it as well. The ribbon controllers feel different from anything else I have tried playing, but once I got used to the feel I was able to start using the instrument expressively.

    Perhaps the most visually intriguing but confounding instrument at the booth was this little geometric puzzle with lighted transparent tubes sticking out in all directions:

    It turned out to be a prototype for the Akasha synthsizer from Jomox. Today, Jürgen Michaelis from Jomox demonstrated his new device:

    In the corner behind the Jomox devices was an increasingly rare analog TV monotor, which was displaying audio from Critter and Guitari instruments rendered using an audio-to-video converter (also by Critter and Guitari).

    The simple video converter caught my interest, especially if I decide to do more with video synthesis in the near future.

    Thanks as always to the folks at Big City Music for being very hospitable and supportive of CatSynth!

  • Moog Music Sub Phatty and Voyager

    Moog Music introduced its latest synthesizer, the Sub Phatty at NAMM this year. Like the Korg MS-20 mini, this was a much discussed instrument in the weeks leading up to the show. And here it is:

    As a basic bass analog synth with sub-octaves, it reminded me a bit of my classic Octave Cat, although the filter sound was unmistakably Moog. The feature that made this synth different was the “Multidrive”, which added a timbrally rich but harsher sound that worked well with resonance. It’s definitely grittier than the usually smooth Moog sound.

    I did get a video demo of the instrument while at the booth, but unfortunately my video recorder was having issues, but you can find some video demos at MATRIXSYNTH’s NAMM coverage. The MSRP for the Sub Phatty is $999 USD, which isn’t bad.

    This was also the 10th anniversary of the flagship Moog Voyager Synth, and for the occasion they had a couple of special editions, including this one with crystal and gold controls:

    Of course, I did not get to play this one.