CatSynth

Perhaps my favorite new instrument of the show, the OP-1 from Teenage Engineering:

Among the attractive features are its small size, the tape mode (shown in the picture above), and the user interface which uses color coding to visually map the parameters being edited to one of the four colored knobs. The color coding was present in all the modes, including the tape mode, the sampler, the pulse-wave synthesizer, envelope generator and others.

I might have bought one had it already been available.

More info at the Teenage Engineering website.

I could definitely see the utility for one of these in my live shows. It is a bit like a Casio SK-1, but with more up-to-date features in terms of ability to control and play samples, including multiple samples, and arranging them into beats and layouts on the keyboard. And of course higher quality sound.

Also, check out the new Kaoscillator Pro:

More at the Korg website.

I have been pondering a replacement for my aging Roland A80 keyboard. The VAX77 MIDI Keyboard Controller from Infinite Response seems like a possible candidate:

This was the model with the heavier weighted keys (closer to a piano keyboard). It is one of the first I have seen since the A80 and the Ensoniq keyboards that has polyphonic aftertouch, as well as release velocity. I also liked how it folded down to have size and fit into a bag. It’s still a heavy keyboard, but it’s at least “schlepable”.

One caveat is the controller section, which is handled via the touch screen. I am interested in seeing touch-screen technologies grow in use, but there is a part of me that still wants physical knobs and sliders for my real-time controllers.

For National Feral Cat Day, we at CatSynth feature a picture of a former stray cat with a keyboard. From Poekie on flickr:

This is Mama, a stray cat, who has spent the last 2 years at the animal-shelter, where she gave birth to her son Zoen.
Mama ( we’re already calling her Mama Cat ), is very shy …. she doesn’t like anybody getting too close and spends most of her time in a dark, out-of-the-way corner…… we were warned she will be ” a bit of a challenge ”
Once the door of the cat-carrier opened, Mama Cat shot out in a flash and cowered in the dark, at the bottom of our cupboard, amoungst the cobwebs and wires, behind A.’s piano and synthesizer……. and there she still is !!!!

Mama is very slowly growing accustomed to us. She still
won’t let us touch her, but she has left her hidingplace and
now enjoys roaming around outside. Allthough she doesn’t
sleep indoors, she does come home to eat a few times a day,
so she must consider us to be her ‘home-base’.
She may never again be a lapcat, but as long as she seems
to be happy, so are we

Submitted by fellow Reconnaissance Fly band-member Bill Wolter, the Three Keyboard Cat Moon T-Shirt:

You can see the some of the Keyboard Cat videos here and here.

You can also visit the original Keyboard Cat site.

Submitted by Eddy Thalassis-Butler:

The synth is a Crumar Bit99.

We have seen Jesty before here at CatSynth.

And check out yesterday’s black cat synth video if you have not seen it yet.

From judebuffum on YouTube:

One of my favorite Keyboard Cat videos to date. And it does tie in nicely to my current series on Japan. Consider this scene from a store in Akiabara, Tokyo:

From BrotatoChip on YouTube, via Ferrara Brain Pan:

From chriswatkins on flickr, via matrixsynth.

“Cosmo loves inserting hairs into delicate electronic equipment. (CameraPhone)”

From our friends polynominal, more photos featuring Mim?:

Here Mim? plays the Yamaha CS01. “Little toy for little cat.”