Synthesizers

CatSynth Pic: Loki, Novation Bass Station, Korg Poly 800

Loki finds the purrfect spot on a Korg Poly 800 in front of a Novation Bass Station. From the thedigitalpurrgatory on Instagram.

Loki the Cat distracting me, once again, just after setting the synths for a jam.

You can see Loki’s previous appearances on CatSynth here.

The Novation Bass Station is quite a popular instrument at the moment, an analog mono bass synth in the spirit of Moog past and present, and in someways similar to the Arturia MiniBrute 2 that we use here at CatSynth studios. The Poly 800 is a small vintage synthesizer, a transition from Korg’s earlier “Mono/Poly” classic into their instruments of the 1980s. I was actually interested in the later Poly 800ii though never acquired one.

CatSynth pic: Studio Buddy (Moog and Nord)

A pic from the studio of our friend and collaborator Bill Wolter. His cat naps in front of a Nord Electro and Moog Sub 37.

Studio buddy. She’s my friend until I start playing drums.

Our cats are used to all sorts of crazy loud sounds emanating from the studio, but I suppose live drums is something altogether different from a psychoacoustic perspective.

You can see the many other posts on CatSynth featuring Bill here.

CatSynth Pic: Aria and Oberheim Matrix 12

Little Aria rests atop an Oberheim Matrix 12. We also see another Oberheim synth in the background.

The Matrix 12 was one of the great Oberheim analog synths of the mid 1980s, building on the sounds of the OB-X and OB-Xa but with greater programmability and MIDI. In particular, it including “matrix modulation” that can be found in a great many synthesizers today.

The Matrix 12 is similar to the Xpander and the lighter Matrix 6. But [it] is much fatter and more programmable than either. Every control can have an effect on some other parameter thanks to Oberheim’s flexible design. For example, there are 15 types of LFOs and VCAs per voice! And there’s plenty of diagrams drawn out on the front panel of the synth to help you figure out some signal routing. 

http://www.vintagesynth.com/oberheim/mat12.php

CatSynth Pic: Coco and TR-09

Coco gets ready to program her Roland TR-09 drum machine. Submitted by Daniel Warner via our Facebook page.

The TR-09 is a recreation of the Roland TR-909 as part of the Boutique series. It has the original controls and layout of the “909”, but in the Boutique form factor; plus some modern additions like USB.

You can see Coco’s previous appearance on CatSynth here.

CatSynth Pics: Mr. Maximillion returns

Mr. Maximillion returns to CatSynth, with some of his best studio poses to date. From our friend Charles Whiley via Facebook.

He certainly is a handsome fellow. And his synth collection grows more impressive all the time. We some Sequential (Dave Smith), Moog, JoMoX, Novation,

To see more of Mr. Maximillion’s appearances, please click here.

CatSynth Pic: Roland JD-Xi

Beautiful white cat with Roland JD-Xi synthesizer. Submitted by André Luiz via our Facebook page.

The JD-Xi is a small affordable synth that includes analog modeling, PCM-based sounds, and a vocoder. It seems in some ways similar to a couple of the Boutique line, though its interface is closer to that of the AIRA line. We at CatSynth are particularly curious about the vocoder features…