Description | Octave released this analog classic - the Cat - during the era of the Minimoog and ARP Odyssey synthesizers. The Cat is actually very much like the ARP Odyssey, so much so that ARP had sued them in the late 1970's for cloning their designs. The Cat is a monophonic/duophonic analog synthesizer with 2 oscillators capable of square and sawtooth waveforms. VCO 1 also has a triangle waveform. Each of the waveforms can be played simultaneously and mixed together and there are additional sub-octave oscillators on each oscillator to blend new and interesting sounds.
The original Cats were purely monophonic, but then came the SRM update which added the duophonic (2-voice) capability. The Cat (SRM) has a 2-note sample-and-hold feature for each voice too! The Keyboard can be switched between 2-voice (poly) and 1-voice (mono) modes. In mono mode the 2 oscillators can be stacked for a rich mono-bass or mono-lead synth sound. Poly mode limits the richness of the sound because each VCO becomes a separate dedicated voice. In this mode you can create slightly more complex melodies with overlapping notes or very basic pads. The sub-osc plays at an octave below the actual note played which nicely adds some warmth or bottom to your sounds.
|
| Brand | Octave |
| Model | The Cat SRM |
| Device | Synth |
| Type | Keys |
| Engine Type | Analog |
| Engine | VCO |
| Voices (max) | 2 |
| Oscillators | 2 |
| Sub | 2 |
| LFO | 2 Sample & Hold, Sine, Square, Delay |
| Noise | Y |
| Engine Detailed | 2 VCO's (2 sawtooth, 2 square wave, and 1 triangle) plus 2 sub-oscillators |
| Filter (VCF) | 1 24dB Slope (4-pole), Low Pass, Resonance |
| Envelope (VCA) | VCA, 2 EGs- AR and ASDR |
| Keys | 37 |
| Key type | Keys |
| Velocity | N |
| Aftertouch | N |
| CV-gate | CV/GATE |
|
Produced: | 1977 - 1981 |
| Legend: |
Obvious |
Y: Yes, N: No, N/A: Not Applicable |
| VCO |
Voltage Controlled Oscillator |
DCO |
Digital Controlled Oscillator |
| LFO |
Low Frequency Oscillator |
Sub |
Sub Oscillator |
| VCF |
Voltage Controlled Filter |
VCA |
Voltage Controlled Amplifier |
| Velocity |
As with a piano, the harder you hit a key, the louder the sound, unlike most organs which always produce the same loudness no matter how hard you hit a key. |
Aftertouch |
Pressing a key after you activated it. Channel Aftertouch, no matter which key, it will send a Channel message. Poly Aftertouch, sends the pressure per key instead of the whole channel. |
| Values for OSC, LFO, Filter, Envelope are per voice unless stated otherwise. |
