(click to enlarge)

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. It has been used by The Dust Brothers, Chemical Brothers, Devo, Rod Argent, David Bedford, Lyn Berger, Dave Greenslade, OMD, Loaded and Mixmaster Morris.

28 VISITOR COMMENTS

Xian

February 2, 2012 @ 11:43 pm

Current market value is atleast $1500 for a SRM, on eBay. Ive heard that they are closer to $2k depending on condition. I need to replace the OSC 1 modulation wave switch on mine. If anyone has any info with that please let me know. Cheers.

bmccallister

August 27, 2011 @ 12:40 pm

Sorry, that link didn't work for some reason. But the post is in the "Community" section of the site under "Gear for Sale".

bmccallister

August 27, 2011 @ 12:38 pm

If anyone's interested in buying one of these, I'm selling my Octave Cat SRM

http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t =63819

Theen

August 17, 2011 @ 12:24 pm

Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow just raffled off his Octave Cat.

Rob

August 8, 2011 @ 2:20 pm

Current value is like $1500 - $2k+, depending on condition and what sub-model it is (SRM is best)

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