Christian Kleine aka Max for Cats is finally back with a brand new Max for Live synth. SynthieCat was inspired by the EMS Synthi A model, an amazing synth released in 1971 with three oscillators and a unique patch system. It was made famous by Pink Floyd, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Hawkwind, and more.
In the video below you can watch the creation of Pink Floyd’s song On The Run from the album The Dark Side of the Moon, which heavily features the EMS Synthi A. A groundbreaking piece of music at the time, which has aged incredibly well.
Just like the original, SynthieCat is fantastic for sound design and experimentation. It features three oscillators with a very wide frequency range, ring modulator, noise generator, built-in reverb and the ability to process external signals. At its heart, a 16×16 matrix allows you to connect signals and modulators.
See SynthieCat in Action:
Key Features:
- 16 x 16 matrix to connect signals and modulators
- 3 oscillators (sine or sawtooth)
- Noise generator
- Low Pass Filter
- Ring modulator
- Trapezoid envelope shaper
- Reverb
- Patchable XY pad
- 32-note keyboard
- Sidechainable to use as an effect
- Push Mappings
- MIDI Sequencer
SynthieCat by Max for Cats comes as a self-installing Live Pack for Live 11 plus Max for Live with an integrated lesson in Live’s Help section in English and German. Until February 22 it will be available for EUR 19.99 in the Sonic Bloom shop. Afterwards the price will go up to EUR 29.99.
New Website Online
The new website design (v3) is finally finished and online. It’s been a massive amount of work. The site should be loading much faster. I’ve done a huge database cleanup and tried to make this content ladden site as lean as possible. Design wise it’s not very different from the previous one, because I actually still like it. It also fits with the corporate identity (I’ve got an MA in media design), and when I asked in the newsletter if anyone had complaints, I got zero replies.
There are still things I’d like to improve, but that’s my designer mindset coupled with perfectionist tendencies. Those things I will do bit by bit over time. In case you still notice anything not working or looking a bit wonky, please let me know. I’d really appreciate it.
The German version is no longer, since I’ve had a lot of issues with the language plugin. It also promptly proved my point by deleting some English content (added back in manually), when I got rid of the German bits. Plus it’s also been twice the work and after 10 years I had to admit it’s too much to maintain if I ever want to be able to get back to making music myself.
However, the blue globe in the top right of the site allows you to switch to various languages with the help of Google Translate. The languages currently on offer are: German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese. I hope that’s a decent enough compromise.
Also gone is the Course area. I’ve moved the existing courses to Gumroad instead. So if you’d previously purchased a course or course bundle, you should have received an email from me with a discount link, so you continue to have access to all the contents. If you didn’t and can’t find one in your spam folder either, hit me up via email.
You’re welcome to let me know what you think of the new design in the comments below and if the site indeed loads faster for you. Does the blue globe make sense or do you think adding flags to denote the different available languages would be better?
