Factory Mods?

Cherry Audio’s Octave Cat synthesizer emulates The CAT duophonic synthesizer unleashed by Octave Electronics in 1976.
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MourneMaschine
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2024 1:15 pm

Factory Mods?

Post by MourneMaschine »

I have been a long-suffering owner of a Cat SRM since ... um, 2007, I think :D
It sounds amazing but it's never been the most reliable machine (the underside of the synth is just hardboard! What were they thinking?!)

So, a soft-synth version which never needs to go to the repair shop is very welcome, in my view.

One thing about the Octave Cat: back in the day, Octave offered various factory mods for it.

A photocopy of the original Octave brochure for them has been online here for donkeys years:
https://synthfool.com/docs/OctavePlatea ... t_mods.pdf

I had some of these done to my Cat (multimode, 2pole/4pole filter, pink noise, Ring Modulator...)

I was wondering if Cherry Audio had considered any of these for the next iteration of their Cat VST?
Steve W
Posts: 805
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:55 pm

Re: Factory Mods?

Post by Steve W »

First, thanks for sharing the upgrade/modifications doc. I am a big fan of exploring things beyond their typical (first glance) use.

Not saying a new version of CA's Octave Cat wouldn't be welcomed, but as a fan of setting up realtime controls in Voltage Modular using the Plug-in Host (among other methods), I am wondering if some of those mods (if not all) can be simulated by accessing the exposed parameters. I have not done a deep dive into CA's Octave Cat, but I see it has 150+ specifically listed accessible parameters.

Of course, CA could probably save Octave Cat users time by designing a complementary control panel that implements those (and maybe other) mods.

For example M-07 LFO Sine Amplitude Control seems doable in VM (or other parameter control hosts), though you'd have to supply your own pedal.

Just a quick thought. Again, thanks for the document!
Steve W
Posts: 805
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2020 5:55 pm

Re: Factory Mods?

Post by Steve W »

You got me wondering, so I set up a quick VM patch (based on M-07 LFO Sine to VCA Volume, using VM's Super LFO) and decided to try a few things using a USB Keyboard (Notes, so far) and a nanoKontrol (some CCs, so far). Thanks for the inspiration! :)
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