catsynth.com mp3 kitty cat synthesizer music

Wordless Wednesday: Beach Cliffs

amar — Wed, 14 May 2008 04:45:43 GMT

CatSynth pic: Wildfreshness (Cholula)

amar — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:35:39 GMT

A second photo from Ned of wildfreshness:

Cholula poses on an Ensoniq ESQ-1.

Check out more [bCats On Tuesday at meeyauw.

cat synthesizer ensoniq cats on tuesday

Primary Highways: West Virginia

amar — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:22:45 GMT

Well, this is probably the most difficult state we've had to write about since beginning this series. Even harder than Indiana last week.

I did travel through West Virginia a couple of times on family road trips in my youth. We definitely passed through the panhandle on I-81, an area that probably now identifies more with the DC and Baltimore metropolitan area than with the rest of the state. I do recall signs welcoming us to "Wild, Wonderful West Virginia."

The capital and largest city, Charleston, has a population smaller than my former hometown, Santa Cruz. The state is synonymous with coal mining; and with some rather harsh stereotypes that have surfaced in the last weeks, especially with the demographic issues in the current campaign. We at CatSynth would prefer to consider the state's striking landscape and beauty as suggested by its iconic New River Gorge Bridge:

The New River Gorge Bridge carries U.S. Highway 19 over the New River. At a height of 876 feet (267 m), it is the highest vehicular bridge in the Americas, and the second highest in the world. This section of Highway 19 forms a rather spectacular bypass of Charleston and connects two of the states major highways, I-77 and I-79.

Situated in the Appalachian region, West Virginia is full of mountains and canyons, but altogether different from those one finds in the western U.S. The landscape isn't quite as "stark," and its features are much older than the Sierra Nevada or the Rocky Mountains or the canyons of the southwest. Indeed, the Appalachians are one of the oldest mountain ranges that can still be considered "mountains."

There is also Spruce Knob, the highest point in the state. And this cable-stayed bridge over the Ohio River introduces a more "industrial Midwestern" area altogether different from the New River Gorge.

Quite a geographical diversity for such a small state. And perhaps appropriate given its history as a border region and breakaway state during the American Civil War. West Virginia pulled off the trick of seceding from a secessionist state, Virginia. It was admitted in 1863 under somewhat controversial circumstances, but has managed to forge an identity of its own.

highways west virginia presidential primaries I-81 US 19 I-77 I-79 new river gorge bridge

Midnight Monday: Gallery Cat

amar — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:21:12 GMT

No, this is not Luna. This is the unofficial "gallery cat" at the Luggage Store Gallery.
He came over to check out my gear as I loaded in on Thursday.

It's always a good sign to see a cat, especially a black cat, before playing.

Check out more Midnight Monday on House Panthers.

cat electronic music performance luggage store san francisco black cat midnight monday

Fun with stats: 100th Anniversary of Mother's Day

amar — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:18:35 GMT

From the Associated Press:

55 percent of mothers are between the ages of 15 and 44.

81 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 44 are mothers. In 1976, 90 percent of women in that age group were mothers.

94.1 births per 1,000 is the number of births in Utah in 2006, the nation's highest. Vermont was the lowest with 52.2. West Virginia's was 58.3

10.4 million single mothers live with children younger than 18, up from 3.4 million in 1970.

83 percent of mothers who went back to work within a year of their child's birth returned to the same employer.

5.6 million is the number of stay-at-home moms in 2006.

statistics stats mothers day 100th anniversary fun with stats

Weekend Cat Blogging: A Busy Week

amar — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:32:29 GMT

Every week is a busy week here at CatSynth, but this past week has been exceptionally so. Of course, there was the show and all the preparations. Work was more intense than usual as well. Also a fun this week, good food and drink and friends; and a volunteer activity. And lest we forget, the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos last weekend.

But in the midst of all of that, Luna makes sure to get the attention she deserves:

As the studio takes shape, old activities return, like pawing at my chair for attention, and resting in the beanbag.

And now, we rest:

Some very sad news from our friends Megan and the Bad Kitty Cats. Braum Kitty and Rimbaud have passed away in tragic circumstances, and are dearly missed by their family. There is joy as well, with the new kittens the "Three Blind Mice." And they will be hosting the Carnival of the Cats this weekend.

The Cat Blogosphere has this wonderful tribute to mothers, feline and humans.

More food and friends. Weekend Cat Blogging #153 is being hosted by sher and Laura and Pumpkin. Laura is growing and looking more like Luna.

The Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is being hosted by Sleeping Mommy. And of course the Friday Ark #190 is at the modulator.

cats Luna WCB WCB153 weekend cat blogging carnival of the cats bad kitty cats festival of chaos

Preparing for tomorrow's performance

amar — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:37:32 GMT

Well, the first big solo show since moving to the city is nearly upon us. And it's a big one, at least in terms of the setup and preparation. Indeed, this is the largest and most complex setup I have used for a live show in quite a while, with both Mac and PC laptops, the tablet, MIDI keyboard, the Evolver synth, and the Proteus 2000 module. And of course the rather byzantine wiring and signal routing to keep it all together.

In the photo, one can see not only the equipment, but a couple of the acoustic instruments I will be playing including the ektar and the gopichand.

Why such a complex setup? Well, I wanted to a variety of pieces for this performance, combining both the newer simplified performances (such as those I did last year on tour with Polly Moller and Company), with some of the older more complex works. I also wanted to play the tablet, which I haven't done in a while, and it only runs on the older PC laptop; and include a couple of pieces from the CD, including Chimera and a variation on Xi. I was a little bit concerned about pulling out the old laptop for this performance, but after some effort it's running decently, and it's great to be able to blend elements from my older performances with the more recent ones. And in truth some of the older pieces are more fun to play, such as Chimera on the tablet, and the patch that responds to live drumming (officially called "drummer boy").

Luna has of course had to make her presence felt during the rehearsals, as you can see here.

After a shaky start, the program has come together quite nicely in the last few days, and I am now looking forward to performing tomorrow.

For those interested, the time and location is:

Thursday, May 8, 8PM
Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
@ 6th Street
San Francisco, California

More details can be found here.

performance electronic music synthesizer laptop evolver proteus emulator x ektar gopichand graphics tablet

WW: Luna inspects the equipment

amar — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:18:17 GMT

cat luna electronic music performance synthesizer keyboard laptop

Primary Highways: Indiana

amar — Tue, 06 May 2008 05:22:35 GMT

It has been a really busy week at CatSynth, but we're taking some time to continue our "primary highways" series with a visit to the state of Indiana. Appropriately for our series, Indiana is nicknamed the "Crossroads of America." And that is how many of us know the state, passing from one place to another. It boasts eight major interstate highways: I-69, I-65, I-94, I-70, I-74, I-64, I-80, and I-90. These are indeed crossroads among major U.S. cities, New York, Baltimore, Washington, Boston, Chicago. Detroit, Seattle and are hometown San Francisco.

I have traveled through Indiana en route from New York to San Francisco multiple times on I-80, which is part of the Indiana Toll Road. (Anyone surprised that we are once again traveling along I-80 during this series?)This highway runs along the extreme northern section of the state, passing through farmland, old industrial cities, and the suburbs of Chicago to the west. One can imagine along this landscape the demographic divisions currently being portrayed in the media. One can also observe Indiana's well-known reputation for being flat, particularly in the north. Though in the south, towards Kentucky, the landscape becomes more hilly.

In the northwest, near Chicago, I-80 shares its path with I-94. To the west, I-94 splits off to become the major freeway in downtown Chicago; beyond that it heads towards Milwaukee, then Minneapolis and the northern plains. In Indiana, it hugs the coast of Lake Michigan "before heading east on the long road to Detroit".

A bit of amusing highway trivia involves I-69, which extends from Indianapolis north to Michigan and eventually the Canadian border. There have been plans for a while to extend I-69 south all the way to Texas and the Mexican border, creating another north-south transcontinental route. Former representative John Hostettler from Indiana was a strong supporter of the extension of I-69, but he also led a campaign to change its designation. Apparently, some "religious conservatives believe 'I-69' sounds too risqué". And of course stamping out anything sexually suggestive is far more important than say, actually maintaining our aging infrastructure (let alone dealing with a war and a deeply troubled economy). It should be noted that Hostettler lost his seat in the 2006 election.

indiana highways presidential primaries I-80 I-69 I-94 crossroads of america hostettler

Midnight Monday: Beanbag

amar — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:35:53 GMT

The beanbag is back - and Luna has rediscovered it:

It's a great spot to relax by the window, and also supervise as I get ready for the show on Thursday.

Check out more Midnight Monday on House Panthers.

cat luna midnight monday black cat beanbag studio

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos #43

amar — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:36 GMT

We welcome everyone to the 43rd Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos. And, not surprisingly, we have some chaos with the official Blog Carnival site being out of service as the weekend began. But we still have many cats who joined us, so let's get started.

The theme of the week's festival is music, art and technology. And the cat boys Kashim and Othello get us started with their talents in singing and music criticism.

Over at Life from a Cat's Perspective, Samantha shows off her skills in the visual arts. Meanwhile, Mr. Tigger goes techno.

The kittens at Sleeping Mommy are all extremely cute . But Colby has found a pair of headphones, for some music and relaxation.

It looks to us like Cece is about to break into song at iInfidel. But he prefers this photo to the one posted at Mind of Mog.

Gree reminds us that "a sleeping cat is a work of art" at the House of the (Mostly) Black Cats.

Cheysuli takes to the road and presents Find Chey Friday posted at Chey's Place.

We're not the only ones who thing about wild cats. As wild cats move into cities, it raises some significant issues. A few of these are discussed on Everyone Needs Therapy/

Meanwhile, at Pet's Garden Blog, SonnyBob wants to know .. where are da fishies.Why wont they come out to play?

Well, the probably don't want to meet the fate of the sardines at What Did You Eat. Little black kitten Laura enjoyed some fresh sardines with sher and some guests. Looks like she's growing, and with such fun cuisine we're not surprised.

That concludes this edition, for now. We'll continue to post entries as the come in through Monday. Thanks to everyone who participated.

bad kitty cats festival of chaos cats luna

Upcoming Concert: Luggage Store Gallery (San Francisco), May 8

amar — Sun, 04 May 2008 18:50:55 GMT

An announcement for upcoming show in the city:

Thursday, May 8, 8PM

Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market St.
@ 6th Street
San Francisco, California
Admission $6-10 sliding scale.

I will be performing a live electronic set, with two laptops, standalone
synths, "circuit-bent" toys and my collection of Indian instruments.
Mostly ambient and experimental, with bits of rhythm, beats and familiar
sounds thrown in.

I might even pull out the old graphics tablet, which I haven't really used
in the last year and a half!

Regular readers may recognize the Luggage Store Gallery from previous articles, including music reviews and my show w/ Polly Moller and Company in Feburary.

There's a lot going into this show, which is my first solo in a while. Watch for some more details during the week...

electronic music experimental ambient synthesizers laptops san francisco luggage store

Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos is coming to CatSynth

amar — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:17:03 GMT

We are going to be hosting the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos here at CatSynth this weekend.

The optional theme is music, art, or technology.

To participate, ~~submit your aticle~~, submit your post to festivalofchaos at gmail dot com or contact us.

More fun can be found at Weekend Cat Blogging with Kashim and Othello and Astrid.

The Carnival of the Cats is coming this Sunday to Grace and Kittens.

And of course the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

cat luna bad kitty cats festival of chaos

Wordless Wednesday: Unfinished

amar — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:21:07 GMT

wordless wednesday I-80 US 101 san francisco highways overpass

CatSynth pic: Wildfreshness

amar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:14:08 GMT

Submitted by Ned of wildfreshness:

Clementine, the tortie, poses next to a Kurzweill keyboard.

If you haven't already visited our post on wild cats, please do so.

You can also check out more Cat on Tuesday.

cat tortie kurzweill synthesizer keyboard cats on tuesday

Midnight Monday: Luna at Play

amar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:05:26 GMT

Check out more Midnight Monday on House Panthers.

cat luna toy midnight monday

Weekend events in San Francisco (Music, Art and Cats)

amar — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:29:31 GMT

Another busy weekend, especially with the number of things going on. We only have time for a partial review...

First, there a quick stop at downtown pub to see some friends/colleagues. Then a rush to BART to get across the bay to Berkeley and my old stomping ground, the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT).

I was a few minutes late, but still had plenty of time to hear Joker Neils and Gino Robair performing a improvised duet. Robair has an amazing talent for getting electronic-like sounds out of acoustic percussion instruments, and did so again on this evening. Neils was primarily using custom synthesizers, both professional instruments as well as circuit-bent toys. We have discussed circuit bending previously here at CatSynth. He brought several well-crafted examples, including Suziki Omnichords with contact-resistance interfaces; and he also brought a tremendous enthusiasm to his performance and to his discussion of circuit bending in between sets.

Also presenting was Rob Hordijk, who designs custom synthesizers (or "works of art" as he described them). Among the technologies he employed in the "Blippobox" that he presented were chaotic oscillator pairs, where two oscillators feed back into one another to create non-linear modulation, and a filter that he called the "twin peaks" filter (presumably because it has two resonant peaks).

Amy X Newburg lent her vocal and electronic-music talents during the presentation and in the second half of the show - readers may remember her from a a recent music festival that we reviewed.

I had some interesting conversions with both Amy X Newburg and Joker Neils following the performances, which is always a nice coda to a concert.

It was another exceptionally warm weekend in San Francisco (I wouldn't mind it becoming less exceptional), so more opportunities for walking events. First off I finally made the trip to the San Francisco SPCA to inquire about volunteer opportunities and see their much touted adoption center. The cat area featured large rooms, "kitty condos" as well as comfy areas to hide - it actually seemed on par with the "cat resorts" where I looked into boarding Luna. The SPCA is actually a short work away from CatSynth HQ (well, it's at least short from my perspective).

Another short walk in the opposite direction from CatSynth HQ led to the Yerba Buena Gallery Walk. Open studios and gallery events are pretty regular occurrences, even within walking distance. Plus, there's often free food and drink. I didn't see too many things that truly interested me, except for some abstract paintings at 111 Minna that I had already seen during the first Thursday earlier this month. But that doesn't mean the afternoon wasn't without its attractions. Some of the galleries, such as Varnish, were in very interesting spaces, such as converted industrial buildings from the early 20th century. A view of Varnish is in the photo to the left. Additionally, some of the sights on a gallery tour aren't the works of art, but the people viewing them - and this is even more true on a warm sunny day. Finally, I did have a delightful conversation with Jesse Allen at Chandler Fine Art - his very psychedelic/natural works aren't what I am usually drawn to, but some of them did include abstract representations of cats and other animals and one "wild cat" in particular caught my attention.

More art on Sunday, this time photography. This Sunday was "Pinhole Photography Day" (who knew?) and the RayKo Photo center featured an exhibit, demonstrations, and most notably a ride on the Bus Obscura a school bus converted into a large camera obscura.

The bus obscura toured our South-of-Market neighborhood, providing a unique view via the pinhole-camera images. Small dots of blurry light would suddenly come into focus as a sidewalk or car or storefront.

Because the image were so localized, it wasn't always clear exactly where the bus was, though every so often a familiar landmark would emerge. The ride was accompanied by live acoustic and electronic music, adding to the experience and making it different from the regular "tours" of our neighborhood.

san francisco cnmat electronic music circuit bending spca cats soma south of market art galleries photography camera obscura

Weekend Cat Blogging: Wildcats, House Panthers and "erf day"

amar — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:06:30 GMT

Luna continues to enjoy her "House Panther" status and all the warm compliments. But this weekend, we celebrate cats both domestic and wild, just as we did last year on Earth Day (or "erf day").

We start again with the Cat Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (CSG), but focusing on something positive. They are featuring a study of the jungle cat (Felis chaus) and leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), pictured to the right:

The family Felidae is well represented in India, with 15 species occurring here, making it the richest in cats worldwide. However, except for the large cats the rest figure very poorly in research and conservation policies in the country, probably because of their rarity and elusive nocturnal habits, coupled with cumbersome bureaucratic formalities in studying rare species. Fortunately, in the past few years non-invasive molecular techniques have been introduced in wildlife research in India, which has made small cat research easier.

Another endangered cat of India and Southeast Asia is the Fishing Cat. It is a close relative of the leopard cat, and shares some of the same habitat. However, the fishing cat (not surprisingly) is better adapted to hunting and eating fish, and is an excellent swimmer.

The fishing cat is one of many species featured in The Smithsonian National Zoo's Cat Conservation Project.

Note that these are all "small cats", which often do not get the attention of the larger cat species, which are of course magnificent and also seriously endangered in many cases. Certainly, the small cats share some of the endearing qualities in appearance to our domestic felines (which are believed to be descendants of African wild cats).

Few wild cats resemble their domestic counterparts more than the Oncilla of South America. However, it seems relatively little is known about this species of cat. According to the CSG, it has never been studied in the wild, and little is known about its behavior or population. However, it is been trapped in the past for the fur trade:

n 1971, 28,000 pelts were counted in Brazilian warehouses, and in 1983, 84,500 skins were exported from Paraguay (Broad 1988)

The Oncilla closely resembles the better known Margay, which inhabits both Central and South America, and is not considered endangered. They are skillful tree climbers, and sometimes referred to as "Tree Ocelots," taking the name from one of the more well-known wild cats of the Americas.

If you interested in this topic, please visit last year's article, which discusses some of the worlds most endangered cats, including the Iberian Lynx, which continues to be the most endangered in the world, with an estimated population in the hundred. Also, the intriguing little Andean Mountain Cat, illustrated to the right.

And speaking of house panthers...

Weekend Cat Blogging #151 is hosted by Luna's "twin" Puddy, along with Katie of A Byootaful Life.

And that's not all. The Carnival of the Cats is being hosted by the Diamond Emerald Eyes (whose mom created Luna's collage at the top of this article) at House Panthers!

The Bengal Brats may not be "house panthers", but we still love them. They are hosting the Bad Kitty Cats Festival of Chaos at Pet's Garden Blog.

And lest we forget, the friday ark is at the modulator.

weekend cat blogging WCB WCB151 cats luna wild cats endangered leopard oncilla margay carnival of the cats

Last Saturday at 1510 8th Street

amar — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:59:14 GMT

A quick review of a pair of performance at 1510 8th Street in the Oakland last Saturday. Yes, I'm a bit slow on posting these. Hence, the "quick" part. Plus, I didn't bring a camera...

...which is unfortunate, because the first performance was quite visual. It featured improvised music and movement by saxophonist Phillip Greenlief and dancer Karen Fox. Greenlief's performances are often full of motion, but the combination with Fox was something quite different, indeed her improvised movement was quite fun and provocative.

The second set was the "Kristian Aspelin Quartet" featuring (not surprisingly), Kristian Aspelin on Guitar, Damon Smith on bass and electronics, Scott Looney on piano and electronics, and Weasel Walter on drums. Although both Looney and Smith had laptop-based electronics, I probably would not characterize this performance as "electronic music." But that's not a criticism, I do like to hear more acoustic sets. The main word I would use to describe this set is loud, indeed one of the louder I have heard at 1510. Of course, these are were plenty of quieter moments, where I was able to hear Looney's prepared-piano work (I would love to do more prepared piano myself). There were moments when all four members seemed to match the sound of the piano, or one of the other instruments, all bells, or all harmonics. And then there were more the loud moments.

1510 oakland improvisation experimental music

CatSynth pic: Black and White

amar — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:29:59 GMT

From threeblackbirds at Flickr, via matrixsynth:

"maddi, please be careful with my synth."

cat syntheszier ensoniq