[sdiy] Octave cat??

[Bob Weigel]

First, the cat was released to compete with the Odyssey which of course 
had been out 4 years or so when the cats started to get known.  I think 
it's a basic case of being able to charge more because you are first to 
a great degree, though when you re-engineer something several years 
later, obviously you can cut some costs since technologies were getting 
cheaper after all in those days. 
     All VCO synths have some oscillator drift during warm up.  If yours 
doesn't maintain tuning very well when warm then possibly there is a 
component having troubles.  Tempco resistor on mine was totally open 
when I got it taking out vco1.

      The timbral mixing is a nice feature but not one that is tied into 
the most expressive elements of the synths.  Switching between tones is 
a more profound effect and panning through the between points is more 
subtle and a manufacturer has to consider whether they want to spend 
panel space and $ for the extra sliders or use the space $ for something 
they might view as more productive at the time.  Filter control is more 
elaborate for instance on the Odyssey.  And the ring mod is cool but the 
Cat's able to produce totally different kinds of sounds and in a show, I 
think I prefer it actually overall for smoothness of operation and the 
range of experimental/musical directions one can go.

-Bob

      Personally it's hard to choose between the two synths. 

SealsCrofts 1 9 7 5 wrote:

>I was curious if anyone else thought about this- 
>
>Why is it that most of the mid/late 70s synthesizers
>offer oscillators that only allow the selection of
>one waveform? My cat allows me to blend all of the
>waveforms, as opposed to selecting between certain
>ones. Is this really as unique as it seems? Or is
>this a gimmick? If so, it would make sense. I cant
>see why in 1977 the cat sold for 600, while the
>oddyssey pushed $1000. Why would something seemingly
>more limited in the osc. deparment fetch higher
>prices? 
>
>I have heard many conflicting reports about this
>synth's sound. I have the original 1976-1978 Cat, and
>it really has a nice tone to it. At loud volumes with
>vintage spring reverb, it can really produce some
>creepy sounds. 
>
>It also seems that the oscillator design is different
>with one another. If I tune VCO 1 sub-osc to match
>the square wave on VCO 2, they sound different even
>though the are the exact same pitch (and supposedly
>both plain square waves).  
>
>Thanks for reading 
>
>
>PPS- What causes my Cat to drift up in pitch? What
>specifically in the calibration department can be
>done to correct this? Thanks, for any info
>
>-JWV 
>
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