Being a bit of a collector, I`m interested in an old synth currently on eBay, namely an Octave CAT. Does anyone have any experience of these over the years? I think production stopped way back in the early eighties. Seems to be in very good condition, but is over top book price however:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3701421667&catego ry=20080

This article from Sound On Sound might be interesting

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may99/articles/octavecat.htm?session=f 84af37f1d8f36a1608c76ce826b9c41

They were developed by Octave Plateau in the late 70`s, there was also another smaller one called a Kitten which i have and a modulation controller called a Cat stick or something, they are quite interesting synths sounding kind of Arp like but nothing like a minimoog, more like the Tom Rhea designed Multimoog.I would imagine they would be quite rare being a sort of niche synthesiser.Octave later moved onto synth expanders (i believe New Order were big fans and used a bit of their rack stuff)
But over 700 quid seems a bit excessive.

Hi

Ive played with one 10 years ago (a buddy of mine bought one it in a junk shop for around 40 U$

Dont know if it was busted or not (or some knobs were stuck) but i could only produce bleepy noises with it.
which were cool for a while...
(also my synth knowledge wasnt what it is now

i wouldnt go for more than 100 U$ for one, even as a collector. (i allready have a juno-106 and a Moog prodigy) (and of course zillons of "virtual analog" sounds available...

Cheers

That`s a very interesting article in SOS Jon - the seventies Octave heritage leading right through to Voyetra and then merging with Turtle Beach.

Thanks for all input!

I have one..albeit an original (non-SRM) version. It's amazing. .easily one of my favourites. Here's my impression of it.. I prefer it's sound to that of the Arp Odyssey.. the CAT has a raw meaty sound but is extremely versatile. It has oscillator sync like that of a Moog Prodigy, yet the filter is a bit different. I would agree that the filter on mine (different from that of the SRM version) is a bit like a cross between a Moog and Arp filter if you had to compare it to anything..it's warm yet cutting, and can make huge bass sounds. The original filter is nice and raw and dirty, very characteristic.. I don't know about the SRM .. I hear it's not as dirty. It also has an audio input for processing with the filter. It can do really low basses like the Prodigy, but also screeches like a banshee (the filter is really squelchy. You can do all sorts of interesting things that a Mini or Prodigy can never do .. cross modulation of the oscillators, S+H, envelope looping.. so you can do all sort of R2D2 bleeps and effects. It has so many mod routings that it makes noises other monosynths can't make. I think the other thing is that it has a fat fat fat sound which can sound very much like a Minimoog. The reason it sounds so fat and ballsy is because although it only has 2 osc (with sub oscillators) and a noise source, you can add multiple oscillator feeds at once. Basically you can add 2 sub-oscillators, 3 triangle/saw osc, 2 square waves (one pulse width sweepable) and a noise source all at the same time. So mixing 8 sound sources and an audio input sounds HUGE. I feel it's as versatile as my other favourite monosynth the MS20, but it's versatile in other ways & you can get quick results. The Prodigy is nice, but I would rather have the CAT. I think it's one of the most undervalued mono synths around (actually it's duo-phonic .. so it can play 2 parts which can make some cool sounds). The filter is touchy, it'll screech and blow your speakers if you are not careful. Oh ya the other great thing is that mine is all discrete components, so I'll never have a chip die and not be able to repair it like the newer analog synths (basstation, andromeda, digital synths, etc).

All in all it's a killer synth and I don't know why they aren't worth near the asking price of a Mini. Probably one of the best deals out there.

Here's a page for reviews on it:
http://www.sonicstate.com/synth/cfman.cfm?manid=24

lung wrote:

the CAT has a raw meaty sound but is extremely versatile.

I wonder what kind of sound a vegetarian synth would have?

Great comments lung; thanks for responding!

You know, I`m close to going for this CAT based on stuff I`ve discovered and owner reports such as yours. Really sounds like a cool piece of kit that owners are loathe to part with. Thanks again.

While that one is in really nice shape, I saw one
go for less than half of that on E-Bay a few weeks
ago.

Cheers.....CL

lung's comments are dead on.

I owned one (the SRM model) for several years that I used with an older Kenton 2-Ch CV/Gate converter. It was in bad shape when I got it, but spent about $200 to get it fixed into what was absolutely mint condition.

I've owned many analog synths back in the day, including Moog Source, Moog Rogue, Akai AX-60, MS-20, EMS Synthi, ElectroComp 101, and more. And the Octave Cat still owns some of my fondest memories. To me it was far more versatile and fatter sounding than the Arp or the Mini. And the modulation capabilities on it were killer. You could get all kinds of mad modular type noises and bleeps that you simply could not get with most mono-synths. This was due to the oscillator cross-modulation, and the ability to route VCO 1 to modulate the filter. Instant FM madness if you put the filter into self-oscillation. Also being able to trigger the secondary AR envelope with the LFO was a cool way to get all kinds of arpeggiated rythmic type analog sounds and FX.

But, I use software synths now and will never go back. So, is it worth it? Not unless you are absolutely convinced that you MUST have an analog machine. Otherwise, there is an emulation of the CAT in Reaktor that is fabulous. Close enough for me to not have to deal with lack of presets and no MIDI CC control.

good luck on your choice.

peace.